Arsenal v Southampton, 20:00 BST (21/04, SS Main Event).

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Instead of Xhaka yes

And I’d play Kiwior instead of Holding to see how he plays alongside Gabriel with a view of making them a potential centre back pairing against City

I have zero expectation that any of this will happen

Things we can agree on :shock&horror:

A Partey and Jorginho partnership should have been tested at least once, and so should Kiwor instead of Holding seeing as even the blind can see his pace is an issue.

Yes it can be argued that making all these changes just before Citeh is s crazy and confirms we're succumbing to pressure...but is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results not the true definition of insanity (according to "Einstein" anyway)??

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Yes i suspect so too, silly really, he could just sit down and explain to Saka that it's resting him for Citeh or whatever and say the same publicly

It would be a no brainer if he wasn't learning on the job.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Things we can agree on :shock&horror:

A Partey and Jorginho partnership should have been tested at least once, and so should Kiwor instead of Holding seeing as even the blind can see his pace is an issue.

Yes it can be argued that making all these changes just before Citeh is s crazy and confirms we're succumbing to pressure...but is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results not the true definition of insanity (according to "Einstein" anyway)??

In an ideal world change would be made to a team before it becomes necessary…but if you’re winning games you will become more reticent to change things up.

Regardless of what Xhaka has or hasn’t done, it seems sensible to me to look into the possibility of whether two midfielders who play a more defensive role can work together simply because even with your strongest defence you need that extra protection when going away to a big side.

Apparently the whole “Definition of Madness” quote attributed to Einstein is apocryphal, read this very long article once about how there is this tendency to misattribute quotes to famous people. This is of course clearly irrelevant to the point that if something isn’t working in a football team to attempt to remedy it (either through tactical or personnel changes) is not unreasonable.

Frankly after last week the only player I can definitely say I want to start is Jesus

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Apparently the whole “Definition of Madness” quote attributed to Einstein is apocryphal, read this very long article once about how there is this tendency to misattribute quotes to famous people. This is of course clearly irrelevant to the point that if something isn’t working in a football team to attempt to remedy it (either through tactical or personnel changes) is not unreasonable.

Frankly after last week the only player I can definitely say I want to start is Jesus

Yeah, probably why I put the quotation marks on his name...though people swear its the sort of thing he would have said.

As for the team, the undroppable on current form to me is Martinelli, and thats saying a lot.

But whatever Arteta chooses to do today, the fact is this is the last dress rehearsal he has before the main event, if he's smart, he'll make it count.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Yeah, probably why I put the quotation marks on his name...though people swear its the sort of thing he would have said.

As for the team, the undroppable on current form to me is Martinelli, and thats saying a lot.

But whatever Arteta chooses to do today, the fact is this is the last dress rehearsal he has before the main event, if he's smart, he'll make it count.

Wasn’t acquainted with him, so not sure. A lot of Einstein’s theories turned out to be wrong (and in his lifetime…worth looking up a chap called George LeMaitre) but I guess the thing with science is the expectation that you come up with ideas and then someone will tweak your ideas when they come up against other discoveries that disprove your suggestions.

Oh and Einstein would definitely have been cancelled because some of his views on non white civilisations

This has nothing to do with football however but it is interesting all the same

Martinelli isn’t doing a lot wrong but does sometimes drift out of games and like Saka there is an argument that he has been over played

Jesus even with the yellow card was our best player against the Ammers and I think the one thing everyone agrees on here (I think) is that it was folly to remove him

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Arsenal: Ramsdale, White, Holding, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Partey, Vieira, Odegaard, Saka, Jesus, Martinelli.
Subs: Turner, Tierney, Smith Rowe, Nketiah, Kiwior, Trossard, Jorginho, Nelson, Walters

Southampton: Bazunu; Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Bella-Kotchap, Perraud; Walcott, Ward-Prowse, Lavia, Elyounoussi; Alcaraz, A. Armstrong
Subs: McCarthy, Lyanco, Caleta-Car, Aribo, Orsic, Onuachu, S. Armstrong, Sulemana, Diallo

[HCZ_Reborn]

Arsenal: Ramsdale, White, Holding, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Partey, Vieira, Odegaard, Saka, Jesus, Martinelli.

Xhaka not on the bench which suggests to me that the only reason he isn’t playing is because he’s not fit

Yep disappointed that Arteta hasn’t taken the opportunity here to change things up

If I’m right and Xhaka isn’t fit for Wednesday i don’t think I’d want Vieira starting that game.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

He was ill this morning apparently

[HCZ_Reborn]

He was ill this morning apparently

Yep just read that on sky sports website

[Marc Overmars]

Completely forgot Vieira even existed.