Arsene Wenger confirmed that there will certainly be changes for the visit of Everton to the Arsenal side that struggled against Monaco.
Arsenal host Everton on Sunday, in a match where the home has a chance to go third in the Premier League race. Apart from strengthening their position in the league, a win against Everton will also help Arsenal to recover from their home defeat against Monaco in the first-leg of the Champions League round-of-16 game.
Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, in his pre-match conference, revealed that there would certainly be changes to the side that came up against Monaco. We saw the Arsenal defence doing a sorry job in the game against Monaco, leaving too much space to allow the opposition to attack against the run of play. Wenger could look at giving Gabriel Paulista a chance, to display his skills in the defence on Sunday. Mathieu Debuchy is suffering from a shoulder injury and will remain sidelined.
The midfield remains to be the most concerning in terms of physical fitness for Arsenal. Diaby, Arteta, Flamini, Ramsey and Wilshere are still out, recovering from their respective injuries. While Ramsey and Flamini are just days away from returning to full training, they will not be risked in the game against Everton. On the other hand, Wilshere and Arteta will not be available for selection. Cazorla and Coquelin are expected to start in the deeper midfield role.
It will be interesting to see which three players feature for Arsenal upfront. Alexis Sanchez and Mesut zil are in great form and there is no reason to keep them from starting the game. We could expect either Theo Walcott or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (who scored Arsenala s only goal against Monaco) to start the game on one of the flanks.
What remains to be seen is who Wenger selects to start in the central forward position. His trusted striker, Olivier Giroud, experienced a terrible night against Monaco but has been in good form throughout the season. The Frenchman has enjoyed a run of eight goals in 12 games and it does not seem likely that Wenger will be resting the striker.
a Olivier has done well until now,a Wenger said. a He had a night where he missed chances and that can happen to any striker – every world-class striker has had that.
a I didna t take him off to punish him – I just took him off because I felt that on the night, when you have three, four or five [opportunities], you always have less chances to be successful and you want to give a different problem to the defence as well. It was not a punishment, it can happen. I understand that completely.a