Henry and Arteta return but will Arsenal play reserves against Villa?
It is great news that both Mikel Arteta and Thierry Henry are returning from injury this week, but although it is certain that these two will be starting against Aston Villa in the FA Cup this weekend, who else will Wenger be putting in the starting line-up.
Wenger has made it clear that his ultimate aim is to win fourth place back from Chelsea, and with that in mind is he likely to give his over-used back four a rest as well as other obviously fatigued players like Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott?
Many Arsenal fans would be happy to admit that Arsenal’s only real chance of a trophy is in the FA Cup this season, so they may want Wenger to play his very best available team against Villa to make sure they secure a place in the next round, but with Wenger’s obsession with finishing in the Top Four is he likely to rest as many top players as possible.
If you were Wenger what would you do?
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I would drop walcott and ramsey because they arent playin well not because they are tired, with the possibility of them playing against bolton depending on how theyre replacements do; I would play
Szczesny
Yennaris Koscielny Mertesacker Verm
Song Arteta
Arshavin
Ox-Chamb Rosicky
Henry
I wud give Arshavin one final go in attackin mid since every1 is saying its his best position, and play rosicky on the wing as he was great there a couple of years ago before the injuries…
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
67 
7
shezzy
yennaris mert or djourou miguel tv5
artea roskicky
the ox arshavin park
henry
i hope he plays something like this, i know arshavin but play him in his favourite role!
Opinions divided. What do you think?
22 
15
do we even have a first and a second right now i dont know want to belive players like ramsey walcot are our first choice players its an embarassing
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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9
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Out of tune?. Like or Dislike:
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24
Just seen LIVERPOOL V CITY game all smiles at end crowd cheering they werent worried about 4th spot Happy they are in final and with playing all the first team no youth or players to see our they go,it was important to get a trophy thats what the fans want to chere about something all wenger wants is 4th just to rub shoulders with the board and make his bonuses up for retirement to see Dalgliesh all so happy no wonder Liverpool are the best loved team in the world, WIN OR LOOSE CB
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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8
all very well saying sell all the under-performing – overpaid – long term out of form – surplus to requirements – constantly injured so called stars…..
january window…no queues round the block to pick up a ‘bargain Squillacci’ or a ‘one time special offer Almunia’
they are all happy to just collect their 40 – 50 – 60k a week and give an inward smile….or if its Arshavin a broad full fledged grin – as he sends yet another one over the bar
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@clive belcher
Ofcourse they are happy and all smiles! They’ve just beat city in front of a home crowd! it will be a completely different story in may if they do badly in the league. fyi, on bbc live text on saturday, many liverpool fans were tweeting and texting in about how abysmal their team was and how depressed they were.
(P.S. I’m not condoning what they did, just showing how depressed the fans actually are).
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Out of tune?. Like or Dislike:
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12
Szesny
Yennaris. Djorou. Mertesacker. Vermealen
Arteta. Song
Walcott. Arshavin. Rosicky
Henry
Rest koscielny, he has played every game for ages and done well , we dont wanna lose him. Give djorou a chance as centre back because he hasnt been able to play there for ages, give him a chance. Vermealen should be subbed of at 60/70mins because he only just came back. Give ramsey a break so he has been rubbish recently. Give arshavin a chance in the middle HIS TRUE POSITION! thats why he doesnt defend when played on the left wing, he isnt used to it or good at it. Play rosick there instead . You dont have to have pace to play on the wings, look at bryan ruiz for fulham. Rest persie, play walcott so he can get his form back, rest chamberlain ahead of bolton. He will own their defence niw cahill has gone. Bolton have NO PACE, take advantage of that.
Opinions divided. What do you think?
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5
Pliz wenger jus try to add at least four better player maybe our depth will get better.we need FA and we need to finish fourth as well.can we do that with this small squad?look,once two or three regular players got injured our rhythm is lost.up to when should we cry for a medal?
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1
NO! We must play the strongest squad against villa! We must win FA cup. United play against LFC, and there is no other strong team left in the FA Cup.
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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1
come we must not be playing assrubbishbin as his confidence is shuttered n is suicidal. We should play scezny
Yennaris vermalen kosh miquel
arteta rosicky
ox benayon henry
park
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4 
4
Seszny.yenaris,per,squllaci n vermalin.(kosecinly should be rest)song,arteta,rosicky(midfield) ox ,henry, park.wat a formidable force.we will ni to get rid of bent n abgolahun.
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0 
1
Kevin…
U’ll place Ashavin dat cant mark, tackle or track back to help defending, in midfield but push the revitalized Rosicky( who’s the only midfielder we have now that knows what being in midfield is all about ) to the wings. Is dat yes of SoccerManager talkin or just Alcohol.
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1 
5
Sczesny
Yennaris Vermalen Miquel/Mertesacker Coquelin/Miquel
(If Coquelin is healthy, Mertesacker rests and Miquel plays CB. Otherwise, Miquel is LB)
Arteta Rosciky
Arshavin
(Ramsey and Song both need some rest for the league. Ramsey in particular. AM is Arshavin’s “best” position – let’s hope he can do something useful after that confidence shattering booing against Man U)
AOC, Henry, Benayoun
(again, Walcott and VP need rest for the league…)
The lineup is driven by the league. We need 4th spot (or better), and have to prioritize. We have been overusing the Song Arteta Ramsey trio, which is why their performance has fallen off a lot. We are seeing the same thing with Walcott. Resting VP is precautionary as he is irreplaceable for the league.
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1
Looking forward to Villa game, may as well go for it. Theres enough to mix it up a bit. Not sure if gibbs and sagna are available or not. If not bolton would be nice. Try and get back on the winning streak again.
Scezny
Yennaris mertsacker kos verma
arteta song ramsay/rosicky
ox henry park
walcott, rvp, djourou and micquel or sagna and gibbs if available, rosicky/ramsay, benny, Fab.
Its good enough for next 2 games
Up The Arsenal!!
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THEY SHOULD PLAY THEIR SECOND TEAM CAUSE THE BEAUTY OF THE GAME WE LOVED IS GONE AND MAKING MONEY FOR THE FAT CATS IS KING, MONEY MONEY MONEY
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1
I’d like to see chezz in goal miguel vermy kossie and johan defence midfield arteta song and benayoun then front 3 of henry park and ox… This team would definitely be enough to overcome aston villa in my opinion
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1
Polecat (Sczcesny)
Yennaris, Kossie, Mertesacker, Vermalaen
Song, Park, Rosicky
Walcott, RvP, AOC
I would rather play Park in AM over Arshavin, because first of all Arshavin has been given chance after chance and still looks lazy and unenthusiastic. Park needs more game time and he has a great long range shot. He will be sure to play his heart out as he hasn’t been given much game time to do so. We can expect a good performance from him for sure.
Subs: Miquel, Henry, Benayoun, Djoure, Arshavin, Fabianski (terrible bench but it’s all we have)
I agree we have to play our best squad. Top 4 is still achievable but come on Arsene its time for us to focus on a trophy. We saw the other night that United weren’t actually that great. We can beat them with the right squad if we meet them in the F.A.
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—————-Szcesny—————–
———–Koscielny–Vermaelen———
—-Yennaris——————–Miquel–
————-Song———————–
——————–Arteta————–
———-Arshavin———————-
—–Oxlade—————–Park——–
—————-Henry——————-
Why did we let frimpong go on loan? Let Arshavin have his chance in the AM spot. If that doesnt work I say we throw Rosicky there. Our squad is faaaaaaar too thin.
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3
The team I would go for would be
Szeszny
Yennaris Miquel Koscielny vermaelen
Coquelin Arteta (frimpong if he was here)
Chamberlain Arshavin Miyaichi
Henry
Nevertheless, i think we will lose the game 2-1 and realise that our season is officially. Except the champions league which we do not have any chance of winning.
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Guys i just hate every time i hear AW targets 4th position. It seems it has always been his ambition in every 6trophyless seasons we passed coz we qualified for Champions League and that seems enough. For my view,this season has just show how AW thinks 4th position is good enough for Arsenal thats why he has no any real plan to buy best players to improve the team.
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0
fabiasky
yenaris vamalen koceny muquel
rocisky song arteta ox
van persie/park henry
if we cannot defend vry well den lets score more goals.442 in the answer
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Scezney
Miquel Mertasacker Koscielny Yennaris
Arteta Rosiscky Song
Arsharvin Henry Chamberlin
Bench: Fabianski Vermalen Djorou Ramsey Benayoun Walcott Van Persie
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3
Leaving Ramsey and Walcott out would be a blessing, just drop in Ox-C and Rosicky to form the mid-field with Arteta and Beneyoun. RVP and Henry up front and a back four that could read something like Sagna (if fit), Mertesacker, Koscieny and Vermaelen. (leave Ashavin out, he too needs a rest) Back to the 4-4-2 formation, now we can play.
Just off the subject for a minute. I watched Craig Bellamy`s exhibition for Liverpool against City.
He was an example of the kind of energy and committment needed at Arsenal.
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Park should play up front. He needs games to get used to this league.
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Off topic but what about tevez to arsenal. He’s a lethal striker with proven premiere league quality so would be a good buy.
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5
Look wat jus append after daglish mauled his team after Bolton game. They fought there lives out n got through to the final . Wenger plz make a statement
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wenger will play reserves, lose, and we will once again be w/o a trophy.
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2
Wenger PPLLLLLEEEEAASSSEE give Park a chance, we’ve barely seen him.
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Who is this Park anyway? Haven’t seen him and we only signed on short contract as he must go back and do militarty service! Why did AW panic buy? Is the same going to happen again and again?
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Jambo,
We need the best team to face Aston Villa, it will be a shame to second team being given such a chance while they havent won for two months. Same thing our first team were given headache by Ason villa in the last match they played. We are not only aiming being fourth position but first. No body is appreciating the game man u/c are playing that its good. They are all strugling like us. Wellcome Arteta to the team.
Mombasa Kenya.
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Why not playing our best available squad? FA cup is big competion, after all do we even have 1st and 2nd option squad. C’mon gunners let’s end this trophy drought!!
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Park
Henry Rosicky Arshavin, AOC
Song
Miquel Koscielny Mertesacker Yennaris
Fabianski
Bring on Afobe, Benayoun, and depending on how we’re doing, another youth/Arteta….Still wondering about Henry on the wing..would prefer him up front….Wenger will put Arshavin on the wing…so maybe Benayoun and Rosicky in the middle, give Theo, RVP, and Ramsey a rest unless we need Theo/RVP.
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The reason all the winners have left is that whilst 4th is the Moon for Wenger and the board, for top ambitious players it’s not good enough. Nor are the wages for that matter. Expect Wenger to play it cautious with the fans and have a weakened team but with a strong bench. (If you can actually call the squad strong).
Wenger should not need to motivate the players. Personal Pride and respect for the fans should be all they need.
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So now we are suggesting using a weaker team for what reason exactly?
Are we going for four trophies and need to rest players?
Do we win so many trophies every season that we will just let the FA cup go somewhere else this year?
Go out and and field your best team and give it a shot for the love of god.
We want a trophy and if the board and AW have any sense they should want one as well for the simple reason to get the supporters off their backs.
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PLEASE EVERY MATCH IS IMPORTANT NOW.PLAY ME THE STRONGEST TEAM AND LETS TAKE IT ONE MATCH AT A TIME .WE NEED FA CUP AND WE NEED 4TH POSITION.THEN WE TAKE IT FROM THERE NEXT SEASON…ARSENAL TILL DEATH
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I would play
Yennaris Djourou Merte Miquel
Rosicky Arteta Benayoun
Arshavin Henry Chambo
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3
Play OX and PARK and see what they can do. I love OX. Please leave WALCOTT Out the team. He needs to learn how to control, dribble and pass a ball then we can give him a game.
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Hazard is seen in north londen with his agent and wenger has offered lille a 25 mill pound deal for hazard Ps sagna is back right?
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I’m so confused as to why we havnt bought Kyle Bartley And Henri lansbury back from loan to add depth and experience in the first team !!
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My team would be
Fabianski
Yennaris – koscielnly – Verminator – Miguel
AOC. – song – Arteta – Rosicky
Henry – Theo
i don’t get why everybody overlooks and is brainwashed by the formation, does anybody realise that we’ve won nothing since we changed to this 4-5-1 formation? Bring back good old 4-4-2 and with it a little bit of shape and a bit of bite up front, give theo a chance in his favoured position and let him run at players up front on the last man!! That is all (RVP on the bench incase we need him)
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The shame of it is (bar RVP, TV5, Song, & possibly Arteta), we only have a second team. Our last 3 matches show, we are not top 4, but a middle order team who aspires for fourth. (Our own manager has said this). Over the last few years we have aimed for the top, and gotten 3rd or fourth. So logically, What do we think we’ll get when we aim for fourth? We need to wake up and smell the BS we are being served up week after week. (And I don’t necessarily mean the teams efforts).
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The FA cup ia realistic trophy to win for arsenal this season. The champions league is not, the 4th place spot is slipping fast so to play the reserves will be a disgrace! Respect the fans for once arsenal wembeley in may is one of the best days out!
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I can’t believe most people selections include Arshavin….especially after all his antics…. To be frank if i had an option that guy would sit on bench until he grows roots…. I have zero faith in that guy…. Wenger should just offload him…. When was the last time he had a descent game…. Am not amused… It’s better to put Benayon if we want to rest players….
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@Red DB I always agree with what you have to say. No trophy in 7 years, the F.A is probably the only obtainable cup for us this season, unless Wenger makes some serious signings then we will have a good chance at CL. But the problem is Wenger stated in an interview he isn’t too interested in the F.A Cup. I mean what is he smoking, any freaking cup will do right now. The fans also need something to keep us going.
All we need is for Sagna, Wilshere and Santos to come back and we will be formidable. I honestly think Wenger needs to invest into 3 new players. Samba, Hazard (talks of him being seen in London with agent?), Matias Suarez (precontract already been signed and he won the Belgium golden boot last year.) So perhaps Wenger is in negotiations, just keeping it on the low down. Who knows where Redknapp’s spies are.
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Save Arsenal FC, sign this petition!!! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-arsenal-fc
Get every Gooner you know to sign it…
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Hazad’s agent is probably there to negotiate with chelsea. Lately, like man city, chelsea have bought hughly linked gunners targets which are lukaku, mata, cahil
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2
Fabianski
Yennaris, Djourou, Squillaci, Miguel
Song
Arteta Arshavin
A O-C Rosicky
Henry
Bench: Szczesny, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Ramsey, Benayoun, van Persie, Park.
Mertesacker, Ramsey and Walcott have played too many games recently and have started to look a little short.
We’ve also been over reliant on Koscielny and RvP and all of these players need a rest.
Yes, the FA Cup is important, but if we over-play some of these guys and they end up missing league games we’ll be kicking ourselves.
Forget the 2 games against Man Utd and Man City, but we’ve already dropped other points recently against Swansea, Fulham and Wolves. We can’t afford to keep doing that and more dropped points against Bolton, Blackburn or Sunderland would amount to suicide in the hunt for a Champions’ League place.
We must prioritise and I believe the line-up above – while clearly not our strongest – will be enough to win at home to a Villa side who have only won 3 of their 11 away games this season.
Whatever line-up Wenger goes with we HAVE to get behind the team and keep cheering them on.
Come on the Arsenal!
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Seriously though, Ramsey can’t start, he needs a rest and is getting himself into some bad form. Arshavin is still better than Ramsey at CAM(should be?) Arshavin at his best he is in the best 5 players at Arsenal, Arshavin at his worst(wing) is well… BAD.
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oh well play the reserves, against villa kiss the season good bye, they maybe good, but i fear that if he even played the same team he did against man utd, we would still lose, arteta is good but. hes no fab,
and mr wenger stop moaning about players going out on loan to other clubs,u wont buy players for the same reason you wont take them on loan, u dont wantv to pay thier wages, watch out for robbie keane on sunday, he could put the final nail in ur arsenal management career, play a weak team and its. good bye to u at long last.
you los t it since the invincibles, thinking u could build another invincible team, u failed miserably, from invincible to unconvincing
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Wenger doing the right thing? I think we are being a bit optimistic here
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tosser wenger will play our reserves against Aston Villa what a total pri-k i cannot wait for him TGTF the FA cup is what we should go all out for but no lets fu-k around and win fu-k all
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We need to rebound from the Man U. loss with a win. I don’t care who’s in the squad and if it ends 1-0 to the Arsenal as long as we win.
Theo and Ramsey need a rest badly. The BFG needs a rest as well.
I’d start
Fabianski (only to give Szczesny a rest)
Yennaris, TV5, Kos, Miquel
Ox, Arteta, Song, Arshavin
Henry, Park
Bench: Theo, Szcz, RVP, Ramsey, Per, Yossi, Djourou, Ryo, Squid
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why the hell does a keeper ‘need a rest’
give me a break….he’s a kid who eats a big breakfast
needs a rest…..make him have an early night
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Not saying Szczesny “needs” a rest, just give him one. If any position player should be able to play every single game in a season (barring an injury) it should be a goalie. But its’ nice to give them a break every now and then.
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2
szczensy
Yennaris koscielny vermalen miquel
Song Arteta
Chamberlain Rosicky
Arshavin
Henry
The FA cup is still a major trophy,therefore we NEED a good team seeing as Aston Villa are an established premier league side.
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I don’t see any reason y we hv 2 play the second squad? Wenger has 2 know that fans r dying throughtout the world! We just need a change and focus on top players… 4 me none is supposed to miss this game of Aston.
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Absolutly agree with Ollies line-op
szczensy (Possibly Fab, rest szczensy)
Yennaris koscielny vermalen miquel (Yennaris Did good vs. ManU, Kos and Verm are the best central def good if they get to play together and Miquel is then the ATM bets RB
Song Arteta
Chamberlain Rosicky (The Ox was the best player against ManU)
Arshavin ( I’d like to see Arshavin as a central midfielder before he can be dismissed in the squad)
Henry
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0