To ditch his League Cup
regulars or not? Decisions that come with being in ‘the big chair’.
v Arsenal
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game which, for me blog wise, was our frustrating draw at West Ham United:
10/11.
There are so many possibilities
for error with my conjectures here with our manager perhaps caught between
wanting to continue to give some fringe players this cup competition whilst, at
the same time, recognising the huge threat this opposition carries. ⚠️
There’s also the theory that with
both sides vying for the league title, the winners of this will get a enormous
psychological boost. 🚀
Plus the fact that it is a chance for a piece of silverware after all; the first of the season no less. 🙌🍾🏆
Here goes…
A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 / 4-6-0 (occasional 3-6-1):
______________________________________________
__________________Marmoush___________________
__Samenyo_____________________________Cherki__
_________O’Reilly_______________Silva(C)__________
___________________Gonzalez____________________
Ake______________________________________Nunes
_________Khusanov____________Dias(VC)___________
____________________Trafford____________________
Subs: Donnarumma, Ait-Nouri,
Stones, Rodri, Foden, Reijnders, Doku, Savinho and Haaland.
Having played for Bolton Wanderers in the 2023 EFL Trophy final on 2nd April
and having been on the bench as England faced Belgium just 11 months later;
this will be the Cumbrian born
keeper’s first appearance at Wembley in a City shirt.
I’m going with a back-4 choice of Nathan, Abdukodir, Ruben and Matheus.
Nico-G takes over the Rodri role, with a 4 come 5 ahead of the
defensive midfielder in the shape of Antoine, Nico-O-, Bernardo, Rayan-C- and
Omar, who may ‘lead the line’ but possibly in a fluid, slightly deeper position
[than Haaland would most of the time].
Gigi takes a rare seat on the side as reserve stopper, while Rayan-A- and
John make up just two defenders next to him, if I am correct that is of course.
Midfield back-ups come in the form of Rodders, Phil and Tijjani; wide options
are Jeremy and Savinho, with Erling as a change of striker option.
I’ve not even stuck any EDS players on the subs bench, such is my uncertainty on this occasion.
In the second leg of the
semi-final, not only did Max Alleyne make the bench but Ryan McAidoo and Sverre Nypan
too; a player who had only just returned from loan at Middlesbrough. Only Max got to see any minutes that night when he replaced Nathan Ake
at half time.
I mean, Rico Lewis is fit once
again following a brief ankle issue – he could be on the bench or Pep may even decide to start the rarely used 21-year-old instead of Matheus
Nunes. Phil Foden and Tijjani Reijnders start most games on the bench these
days, so perhaps they’ll both get a blessing from their manager. However, that
would likely mean no place for Pep’s favourite, Bernardo Silva, at least.
The way I see it, I have put
five non-regular starters in ‘the 11’ and three of those have
full-international caps, so I don’t think I’ll be far off with that.
It's definitely a tough one to
call though but I’ve done my best to mix it up when considering all of the
above.
Notable absences:
-
Marcus
Bettinelli – Not selected.
-
Rico
Lewis – Not selected.
-
Josko
Gvardiol – Out with a fractured tibia, for which
he has had surgery.
On 23rd January, we were informed that it will be at least 2
more months before the Croatian international might be ready to return, which
takes him up to the end of March.
-
Marc
Guehi – Ineligible.
-
Max
Alleyne – Not selected.
-
Mateo
Kovacic – Not selected.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Mmmmm…against Arsenal in a
final? I think I’d swap Gonzalez for Rodders, as much as I like the Spanish
Under-21 international, and perhaps choose a more-natural, pacier left-wing back than
Nathan but I would understand this line-up, should our manager choose to do so.
Result?
Looking at both side’s form, in the league The Gunners have
a last 6 of, D D W W W W and for
us it’s the reverse, W
W W W D D. Throw into the
mix their Champions League results against
ours and it makes it even clearer who goes into this game with the best form.
League goals for:
Arsenal 61 (from 31 games), Manchester City 60 (from 30 games).
League goals against:
Arsenal 22 (from 31 games), Manchester City 28 (from 30 games).
I had a quick look at our opponents line-up in their
two-legged semi final and apart from a couple of youth / fringe players they
didn’t appear to “weaken” their side all that much against Chelsea, especially in the second leg I noticed.
Perhaps we should take heed.
It could be close, it could be a really tight and tense affair.
This is a clash of two sides with the first and second best
defensive record in the division and it’s clear that both sides have goals in
‘em too; again, first and second best. However, whereas it’s been noted just
how many Arsenal goals have come from set pieces this season, the shear number
of goals we have scored could and should have been a lot, lot higher had we converted more of the many
chances we often create in open play. Who is going to blink first and will one
blink be all that is needed this afternoon?
Both sides have very few injury concerns with us just having
one long-term absentee in Josko Gvardiol, so whichever side Pep decides to go
with he’ll have plenty of decent options on the bench to pull from.
I’m straining against matchday / pre-match optimism here
when I say…I really, really, really, really, really want to say that we’ll win
this and I really, really, really, really, really hope that I am wrong when I
say that I don’t think we will. 🙁 When I look at the
general consistency of both sides and individual players, I have to give this
one to side from North London. Sorry
Blues… 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match
prediction and result:
Prediction: N/A
Result: N/A
Expected weather conditions
during the game: Nice. Not quite as warm nor as
sunny as was earlier in the week but I don’t think you’ll find too many fans
complaining at 12C with sunny intervals on 22nd March. ⛅😎🥧🌭🍔🍟💷🍺⚽
 |
| Solidariry |
