Arsenal News

Official teams and preview of Arsenal v Chelsea at Wembley

There is some good news for Arsenal fans in the shape of the Chelsea team, with their first choice centre forward Diego Costa missing out and being replaced by Loic Remy, because of a reported hamstring problem. But Arsenal have also been hit by an early injury to the unlucky Jack Wilshere who does not even make the bench.

So with Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck already unavailable, it is probably us that has the most weakened of the two teams for this Community Shield clash. Arsene Wenger has gone for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain instead of Wilshere and I expect he will play on one of the flanks.

The other one could be filled by either Santi Cazorla or Aaron Ramsey, because Theo Walcott has been given the centre forward role, with Olivier Giroud starting from the bench. There are not many other surprises in the Arsenal starting line up, with Petr Cech set to face his fomer team mates and manager for the first time, Monreal getting the nod over Gibbs, and Coquelin detailed to provide the back four with good protection and perhaps stop Eden Hazard running the game.

I am a little surprised to see Bellerin chosen over Debuchy but the young Spaniard is proving himself all the time and perhaps his extra pace could be key on the massive Wembley pitch.

Cech
Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal
Coquelin, Ramsey
Chamberlain, Ozil, Cazorla
Walcott

subs: Debuchy, Gibbs, Gabriel, Arteta, Giroud, Martinez, Iwobi

Can this Arsenal team finally give Wenger a victory over his arch rival?

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Tags Costa Walcott Wilshere

112 Comments

  1. Walcott over Giroud, I am surprised but happy.

    With Remy playing I would of liked Gabriel instead of mert

    2. where the f is wilshere?????….he should have started these game but enough with the whining….i hope walcott scores in order to officially relegate the big guy whats his name again?? to the bench….walcott will get two AkB’s

    3. Theo instead of giroud is a big mistake. Giroud is the only real striker we have in our entire squad.Theo will be eaten by terry and Cahill . at least giroud has the physical ability, Theo only offers speed which would be no use for us today.I’m very surprised.

      1. Not sure how using a big guy in Giroud against two big CBs who will mark him out of the game is a better idea.

        1. Theo is showing exactly why he’ll never be a CF. No presence, no dribbling ability, no link up play, he can run and finish….not good enough to lead the line vs top teams by a distance.

        2. More power/strength in one on ones?
          Better finishing in tighter positions?

          Theo is great when there is space, but of course against well drilled or non gun ho teams there isn’t any…

          Apparently AW does not know this (yet).

      2. Absolutely agree with you. Giroud suits our system far better than Theo! Frankly we have ox, Alexis with speed we need. Theo is a squad player for me.

    4. Ox will have a breakthrough season. Giroud is better than Theo unless our tactics change to counterattack.

  3. I like the lineup generally.

    I normally HATE IT when Wenger puts Cazorla on the wing. But I suppose he has fewer options with Sanchez and Welbeck unavailable.

    And he is always looking for a way to put Ramsey, Ozil, and Cazorla on the pitch together – so this solves that problem.

    1. Good one, he’s right. Seriously the season didn’t even start and we have 4 players out injured.I prefer to see flamini instead of arteta on the bench.that’s how useless arteta is. We have no players to call on if we need to, only giroud!!!!

      1. Arteta is way better than Flamini and I can’t see anywhere that Flamini is actually injured. 4 injuries isn’t exactly a lot.

  5. Are you sure that Cazorla will be on the wing ? I think Wenger ‘ll put Ramsey on the wing … I hope not because we will need some physics on the midfiel so Coquelin and Ramsey will be perfect for me .
    COYG

    1. Another shocker is debuchy on the bench.we need his defensive qualities today. I don’t like the line up…

  7. Surprised Arteta doesn’t start ahead of Coquelin! :)))))) or Flamini..;)))))

    Team looks good. Let’s see how Theo does on his own against a well drilled, experienced and not overly offensive defence..might not get the space that he needs to be effective.

    Would have liked to see him on the right where he does most damage and giroud up top to put it about a bit against a strong and experienced back line.

    can’t wait..

    #iHateBTSport

      1. lol…
        as diaby leaves the emirates for marseille, jack runs out..fear not abou… i will avenge u

  11. Great line up… Wenger finally learnt his lessons. Coq and Ramsey can help nullify any counter attacking threat they may play and also we have enough to hit them on the counter too… Theo scores today, anyone should put a bet on that…

  13. Michael Owen ‘ I would have like to see Jose in a suit today’

    I would have preferred a mankini!

  14. Wow, Sanchez rested, Wilshire injured and suddenly our depth doesn’t look too deep does it, we need to buy.

  29. Our player still look so clueless defensively, no one is picking up any runs and chelsea are having a nice time at our right side..

  31. That’s the problem with Walcott as our main striker, all the high ball are useless, he does not even bother to jump, so the pressure keeps coming back..

  32. I think without Alexis, you almost have to play Ozil on the left and Cazorla in CAM as Ozil has experience playing on the left for Germany too even though his best position is CAM. Walcott can play on the left but he is playing up front

    On the right we have two top RW. On the left we have Alexis. If Walcott is staying up front, we should get another top winger

  33. We have to be cautious on the right side though. Funny our successful attacks are also coming from right side.

    1. Goal came when they finally switched the field after trying to weave thru the crowd on the left.

      Switching the field was EVERYTHING in that goal. It gave Ox his chance to thrill us.

  34. lame!!! cech could’ve saved that..Chelsea’s keeper is soo pathetic, what’s his name? court-what?

  36. ok czech in goal feels great, bellerin speed is lethal, wow he can close down, i lov the team on the pitch but need a true consistent striker up top, hope theo can find those spaces, not sure how long wenger goes w him up top if he struggles, so happy football is back!

  37. Still believe Arsenals best squad is with Ramsey on the bench and Theo on the wing. Other than counter attacking opportunities, Theo offers nothing upfront against physically imposing CBs like Terry/Cahil. I promise this isnt a piss on Walcott piece but this would be my starting eleven going forward.

    Benzema( Maybe overpriced but needed)
    Sanchez…….Ozil…..Theo
    Carzola…..Le Coq
    Nacho…..Boss…..Gab(Chambers)…..Hector
    Cech

  41. Cech really doesn’t have an outlet to punt to. These ariel battles between Theo and Terry are futile.

  44. I honestly don’t see Theo scoring. I hope I’m wrong
    I think Giroud has got better positioning and hold up play if not having speed or better finishing. I think Walcott is awesome on the wing

    We really need another Top CF.

    Anyway, I hope we end up holding the trophy. Lets score another goal

  52. this is how chelskie used to win, take a 1-0 lead and let cech take over, the pace of arsenal when sanchez added will drive defenses crazy, just wish there was a suarez style striker to finish propel this squad, a hungry fast animal driven to score,

  56. Wenger has taken off, arguably our most dangerous attacking player.

    This tells Chelski we are happy to try to defend our lead and will off no counter threat to them. I JUST DONT GET IT!!

    #iScoff@TheTitleLeProf

  61. FACK YES¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡

  62. Finally Wenger meats mou, awesome!
    Would we have won that game with Scez or Opsina in goal? NO!
    #cechlegend.

    Now sign that striker!!

  64. Hose A can pretend it doesn’t matter but he knows he’s crying into his pillow tonight.

  69. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!! WE FKN DID IT.. COME
    ON YOU GUNNERS.. COMMUNITY SHIELD CHAMPIONS
    2015/2016… I LOVE YOU ARSENAL.. # AFC # COYG #WIN ..
    THE JINX IS FINALLY BROKEN… YUPPPPPIE…

  70. Josey can now break all the new dish ware his wife bought after he broke the dish ware from the Cech sale.

    1. knowing this website, it’ll be “MOURINHO LOSES, but it’s in a match that doesn’t mean anything’

  75. Still I won’t be surprised with people that can STILL FIND ARGUMENTS FOR NEGATIVITY

    We didn’t score a second/ Mou wasn’t really trying cuz for him its not a trophy/ this trophy is not valuable or Mickey mouse trophy/ the real games are the league ones/ Giroud (add your favourite here) / now we won’t buy anyone/ Costa was injured so this doesn’t count / you ll see Falcao destroy us in the league/! Giroud (added second favourite here)/ Arteta is still old/ Kroenke isnsrill rich/ Arsene still earns millions/ Giroud (adddddd another one for fun ….ok more later.

    Well fk all that I for one am enjoying that WE WON ANOTHER TROPHY AND THAT WENGER BEAT MOU …AND TO A TROPHY!!!!

  76. The look on racist terry’s face was priceless…reminding me of the slip at the UCL final.now take your wrecked bus back to the bridge.

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