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TEAM: My Preferred Starting XI To Play Newcastle: No Ozil Or Giroud

By mac14 on December 27, 2013

Arsenal will be at St James Park on Sunday to take on Newcastle United with another vital three points up for grabs.

Thursday’s 3-1 win over West Ham saw us move back to the top of the Premier League and with Chelsea playing Liverpool in Sunday’s other big game, we have a great chance to widen the gap.

Arsene Wenger has confirmed he’s going to have to make changes to his starting eleven in order to keep the team fresh during this gruelling festive period that see’s us take on Cardiff on Wednesday.

I think we could see Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud finally rested which might mean Lukas Podolski starting up front. The German came off the bench to change the game at Upton Park and is surely a better option than Nicklas Bendtner?

Jack Wilshere will return from his two-match ban and may play on the left-wing if Wenger decides to go with Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini in midfield. Tomas Rosicky is also likely to start having not featured against the Hammers so this could see Santi Cazorla rested after his MOTM display on Thursday.

It would be a shame to see Cazorla dropped after such a positive outing but we need to keep the players fresh as we’ve seen what can happen if a player is over-played with Aaron Ramsey picking up a thigh injury that’s likely to keep him out for a few weeks.

Nacho Monreal could come in for Kieran Gibbs at left-back but I think we’ll see Thomas Vermaelen keep his place in defence as the boss doesn’t want to rush Laurent Koscielny back too soon from his knee injury.

Here’s my preferred team:

What do you think of my team?

31 Comments

Olumide Osanyingbemi

December 27, 2013 at 9:01 pm

Good team……but i would replace wilshere with carzola

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- mike
  
  December 27, 2013 at 9:04 pm
  
  I was going to suggest the same. Replace Wilshere with Carzola.
  
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- muyiwa
  
  December 27, 2013 at 10:39 pm
  
  nice team but I prefer gibbs bco we need some1 that can over lap very well and move into pace .newcastle team are very’ giant ‘so,we need who can put them to speed.
  
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- Peter
  
  December 28, 2013 at 1:23 am
  
  Szcezsny
  
  Sagna bfg kozzer Gibbs
  Flamini wilshere rosicky
  Walcott podolski santi
  
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George

December 27, 2013 at 9:06 pm

Disagree I’m afarid.
Back 4 is Ok and I’m glad to see you’ve gone with Monreal.
I would go Walcott, Flamini, Wilshire, Carzola, Podolski with Giroud upfront.
Bench;
Flappy, Jenkinson, Kozz, Ozil, Gnabry, Arteta, Bent Foot Bendtner.

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Olumide Osanyingbemi

December 27, 2013 at 9:09 pm

Giroud needs rest at d moment, so is ozil,Gibbs. Vermalen is playing well,so dropping him might affect his confidence.arteta and flamini can give us the much needed steel in the middle. Walcott,carzola can do the damage. Arsenal to win 3-1 again

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George

December 27, 2013 at 9:09 pm

Carzola and Wilshire are wasted in wide positions. I thought we looked so much more balanced against west ham when Ramsey went off, Podolski played on the left and Carzola dictated things from a central position

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Afcalex

December 27, 2013 at 9:16 pm

-Chezzers-
-sanga-mert-verm-gibbo
-flamini-wilshere-
Walcott-carzola-rosicky-
-poldi-

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- Afc
  
  December 27, 2013 at 10:53 pm
  
  Definitely the right line up to play.
  
  Reply
- Nickson
  
  December 28, 2013 at 5:08 am
  
  thats the winning line-up,i support u.
  
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- joseph
  
  December 28, 2013 at 5:41 am
  
  @afcalex, i like ur lineup, nice to full backs with great pace and the main strker being poldosky. Hope castles fullbacks won’t have time to overlap coz walcott wen given space i understand it will b a big trouble for them
  
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Casey

December 27, 2013 at 9:17 pm

I reckon put cazorla through the middle with rosicky out wider and perhaps wilshere instead of arteta who’s has been super inconsistent

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- George
  
  December 27, 2013 at 9:19 pm
  
  Need Flamini in there especially away to the Geordies. Yep Arteta has been too one dimensional and is looking a bit slow.
  
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Lucas

December 27, 2013 at 9:20 pm

I prefer this formation: http://www.footballuser.com/898709/Arsenal .

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- Afcalex
  
  December 27, 2013 at 9:26 pm
  
  No no no no no y would you want to change pretty much our full team…. Ridiculous
  
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Dennis

December 27, 2013 at 9:39 pm

I would put Carzola on the left Ozil in the middle,poldolski up front,wilshire next to flamini.

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dave

December 27, 2013 at 9:54 pm

Hopefully you’ll play that team and it’ll be a comfortable home win. Remy and Cabaye 2-0.

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gol

December 27, 2013 at 10:16 pm

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gol

December 27, 2013 at 10:17 pm

http://lineupbuilder.com/?sk=21py7

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mekino

December 27, 2013 at 10:22 pm

Giroud shuld b replacd by podolski…..oliver really is a let-down. Theo, rossk, wilshere & flamini shuld all feature. Ozil needs t b restd….i guess he is nt used t playin during this time of d year. Here is my line-up.. Szsceny…sagna…per… vermalen…nacho…arteta…flamini….walcot…wilshere…rosicky….podolski

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mr

December 27, 2013 at 10:24 pm

if it’s me
…………………szny……………………….
sagna…..per……………..ver……..gibs

………………atreta….wilshere,…………..

ozil…………..cazorla…………………podlisk

……………………theo……………………..

you selected monreal but him with vermalen that left side is poor look what happened last season agains tottenham and this season against man city

you droped ozil but he have to play coz newcastle is big team so they fear to play against him

and cazorla is good player when he is playing inside ACM so give hi more chance to play there coz ozil is better the cazorla in wides

giroud needs rest i agree with you

play theo up front like we did last season , they think we play with giroud so we have to what they thinking and our tack tick

so after we score more then 2 goals off ozil cazorla arteta bring rosiscky fallamini and gnabry

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Francis Angrey

December 27, 2013 at 10:26 pm

Gibbs should be in for Monreal. Cazorla could also start .

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Howard

December 27, 2013 at 10:31 pm

Nacho will be destroyed by Ben Afah same as Navas did

He lacks pace

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AaronFc

December 27, 2013 at 10:51 pm

Arteta should be benched. Wilshire in the middle and Santi out wide.

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gutaabdiaziz@rocketmail.con

December 28, 2013 at 1:10 am

I love Arsenal is the best club and bigest in the world is my heart Arsenal i will never leave Arsenal fc cuse they are champion.

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dilip

December 28, 2013 at 2:34 am

no I don’t agree with this 11 why wilshere he is a poor player and rosicky is fine with cazorla superb

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Austin

December 28, 2013 at 5:17 am

i dnt agree wit your lineup..it has too many changes.gibbs shld start,rosicky to replace ramsey.giroud shld stl start n poldi to stl come as a sub

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NW

December 28, 2013 at 6:05 am

…………………szny……………………….
sagna…..per……………..ver……..gibs

………………atreta…. Flamini…………..

Walcott…………..cazorla………………Wilshere

……………………Poldi……………………

Can exchange Cazorla and Wilshere’s position. If you do not think Wilshere can run the show in the middle and prefer Cazorla on the left, then deploy Rosicky.

Needs time to get Poldi into single striker mode so this type of “easier” game is a good time but to be safe, Giroud might need to sit on the bench.

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samex

December 28, 2013 at 7:27 am

My team would include jack and santi in midfield. Those two have been wasted on the wings for too long….
WS1
BS3. PM4. TV5. KG28
MF20. JW10
TW14. SC19. LP10
NB23.

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Brzy F1

December 28, 2013 at 10:07 am

Boss Kozzer fa BFG,he needs a rest too

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tungee

December 28, 2013 at 11:17 am

I believe we should rest players but not weaken the playing team to much especially against a side that’s riding high at the moment…so here’s what I’d say
Szny

Sagna. Bfg. Tv5. Gibbs

Flamini. Wilshere

Walc. Cazorla. Rosicky

Podolski
Yep that’s it. bringing in monreal will
Only weaken the left side of the defense and ozil giroud and arteta all need rest to come back to form without destroying the balance of the team too much
Man this was long and I hope you agree

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