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3-4-2-1: Ramsey in, Torreira out | How Arsenal should line-up vs Tottenham

By on December 19, 2018

aaron ramsey arsenal

Arsenal welcome Tottenham to the Emirates tonight in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup. This is the line-up I’d like Unai Emery to select…

Goalkeeper: Cech

Petr Cech was surprisingly left out during Arsenal’s win over Qarabag in the Europa League last week but he should be recalled for this League Cup clash meaning Bernd Leno gets the night off.

Defence: Mustafi, Sokratis, Lichtsteiner

Sokratis is back in contention after serving a one-match ban. Ideally he wouldn’t be risked in a League Cup game but we have few options at the back with Rob Holding and Dinos Mavropanos out. Laurent Koscielny has played two games in four days and is clearly not back to his best yet after so long on the sidelines so I’d give him a breather tonight.

Shkodran Mustafi is back in training after a minor hamstring injury so if he’s fit I’d bring him in alongside Sokratis with Stephan Lichtsteiner starting on the right side of the back three.

Midfield: Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Guendouzi, Monreal

Hector Bellerin is struggling with a calf injury that he picked up during Arsenal’s defeat to Southampton on Sunday so he won’t be risked while Sead Kolasinac is also nursing a thigh problem so we have issues in the wing-back positions.  Nacho Monreal is back so I’d go with him on the left and Ainsley Maitland-Niles is a viable option to start on the right.

mesut ozil arsenal 2018

Emery is expected to rotate his squad so I hope we see Lucas Torreira given a rest as he’s given a lot in recent weeks and we don’t want to burn him out. Granit Xhaka is also due a breather so Mohamed Elneny can come in to start alongside Matteo Guendouzi in midfield.

Attack: Ramsey, Ozil, Lacazette

It will be interesting to see how the Arsenal boss lines-up in attack but I hope Alexandre Lacazette is recalled up front with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang given a well earned rest.

Aaron Ramsey is pushing for a recall after recovering from a minor ankle injury that he suffered against Manchester United so I’d like to see him given a chance to impress against Tottenham tonight.

Mesut Ozil is also in contention and I’d start him this evening. If he can’t get himself motivated for a North London Derby then he doesn’t deserve a starting position. It’s time to deliver, Mesut.

That means Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan will drop to the bench with youngsters Eddie Nketiah and Buyaka Saka also expected to be named in the squad against Spurs this evening.

Here is the side I hope we’ll see:

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