EPL: Arsenal vs. Southampton - Tuesday 02/02/16 - 19:45

[Lady_Gooner]

They have our number away, not at the Ems. Relax guys.
Im going 2-0 to us, if we don't win though I'll be seriously worried. We need a clean sheet as our attack doesn't seem to know how to close out games.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

Lee Mason is a dreadful referee, what's in our favour though is we're at home. He tends to gift decisions to the home team once fans put him under pressure, he often buckles.

I think we'll win this game, we have players back and unlike when we played them over christmas we've got decent options from the bench too. Coquelin absolutely needs to start, I don't even want Flamini on the bench.

 

[Hunta]

Need to put these in their place, state of the game raising ****s when they play their cup final against Arsenal every season. We'll have our best team available bar Wilshere as well so we'll ****ing smash these and go on a run.

Cech
Bellerin Gabriel Koscielny Monreal
Ramsey Coquelin
Campbell Özil Alexis
Giroud

Ospina Mertesacker Gibbs ElNeny Rosicky Chamberlain Walcott

7-0​

 

[Mitch]

Considering how poor Flamini & Ramsey looked in comparison to Elneny & Coquelin I hope the later pairing start.

I would like to see the following line up (however no doubt despite his form the past 2 seasons Wenger will squeeze the golden boy Ramsey into the line up).:

---------------Cech-------------------
Bellerin Gabriel Koscielny Monreal
----------Elneny-- Coquelin----------
Campbell----- Özil-------- Alexis
---------------Walcott-------------

 

[Aevi]

If Elneny's role really is to make himself available to teammates as a linkup option, he really might be a good shout in this fixture. Southampton's pressing game is ineffective if it's easy for us to pass.

This is in theory of course, Elneny might not be experienced enough just yet, and tired after playing a full game.

 

[Sweggeh]

Coquelin and Ramsey to start as the CM partnership.

This game is EXTREMELY important. Drop points here and its all over for us as far as the title talk goes.

 

[Aevi]

Coquelin and Ramsey to start as the CM partnership.

This game is EXTREMELY important. Drop points here and its all over for us as far as the title talk goes.

How often have we said that this season?

 

[Sweggeh]

How often have we said that this season?

It gets more and more true all the time. We have our backs firmly against the wall now. We have 15 fixtures left and 5 of them are away at very difficult teams. We need all the points possible from the other 10 manageable games.

Drop points against Southampton and we are done. In fact, drop any points in our next 3 games and we are done.

 

[Gooner n Proud]

Cech
Bellerin Gabriel Kos Monreal
Coquelin Arteta
Campbell Özil Alexis
Walcott

Bench - Ospiiiiiiiina, Chambers, Per, Elneny, Ramsey, Giroud, Ox

 

[aaronramseybolton]

Am I the only one who feels like Iwobi deserves a start on the right on Tuesday?

 

[SuperGoon]

Please, Arsenal.


Get a solid win.

 

[GunnerInPluto]

We will win ALL our matches in February. Alexis back, Le Coq back, the midfield to attack transition should be tighter now. Southampton will not get it easy.

 

[fabo]

City are going to batter the **** out of Sunderland away so we absolutely have to win this one.

 

[haha_arsenal]

time to drop/rest Giroud but Theo, Ox, Chambers never do well against former club.
I wish we had other choice.

 

[AbouDiabyMilitia]

A defensive pairing of Elneny/Coquelin + Ramsey on the right wing might be really helpful here. Southampton's pressing is ridiculous and we need be able to defend strongly and pass out of bad situations. Would be a good test for Elneny.

 

[Rimaal]

We'll see Coq and Ramsey in midfield, Alexis, Özil and Campbell in attack, and Giroud as point man.
Merts, Kos, Bellerin and Monreal will make up our back 4.

 

[Frenchy_Gooner]

Massive game even if it's only Southampton, we desperately need 3 points. After we took 2/9 and blew away a home game we can't afford any more slip ups at home. Four games in the PL without a win would take us to a mini-crisis, drop points and we're nearly done in the title race.

Now some reasons to be optimistic about this game. This team tend to produce great performances when they have theirs backs against the wall and after big disappointments (yeah yeah "bouncing back" mentality as they say). Furthermore, we now have something that looks like a midfield with Coquelin and Alexis is 100% physically. We also have to get a revenge for that humiliating 4-0 defeat.

Southampton are back into form and they will press us hard. Big test for the Coq-Ramsey pairing, with Santi and Wilshere still a few weeks away, we need this pairing to work quickly. Guys have to be patient, not make stupid mistakes, and we'll be fine.

----------------------Cech----------
Bellerin-----Kosc----Mertesacker----Monreal
-----------------Coquelin----Ramsey---------
--------------------------Özil------------------
Campbell------------Giroud---------------Alexis

 

[Jury]

The team is taking shape now. Coq and Alexis returning means we got up from 63% to 90%. I've done the sums.

This (post above) is our best 11 in the eyes of quite a few.

 

[nicky47]

So after this fixture, next weekend we face Bournemouth and City play Leicester, and then we face Leicester and City play Sp**s... We absolutely have to get back to winning ways and put a run together through this period. Things could change very quickly over the next 2 weeks.

 

[RandyMarsh]

Can see us struggling here tbh. A draw is pretty likely.