Simply, a must win game. Emery's men were woefully below par last Thursday night in Belarus and fell to a pretty bang average BATE side who stuck to their game plan. The return leg however, considering the aggregate score and Arsenal's consequential needs, should be played at a far difference pace, in a completely different manner.
Unai Emery may be forced into ditching the back three formation, as much like last week, BATE are unlikely to trouble the Gunners through on the deck build up play. Their threat will again lie in set pieces, and the occasional counter attack. Arsenal, now at least, are ready for it. In theory. They know what's to come and they know what they need to do. The visitors will sit deep with two solid banks of four, with a fifth midfielder dropping in to make life difficult for Emery's men. However, ninety minutes of onslaught should get Arsenal over the line, one way or another.
With only three senior team injuries to deal with now, Emery has a strong pool to pick from. With disappointments last week, added to Alex Lacazette's silly red card, changes are afoot. Reverting to a back four could see Monreal or Kolasinac miss out. Of late, both have been pretty average so it could be either but it'll most likely the Bosnian that starts given his attacking exploits. Above all, one of Ramsey or Ozil must come back into the starting XI, especially with Lacazette unavailable. There has been little or no transition and link up from midfield to attack of late, and these two are the only two who have proved that they are capable of delivering on this front. So the likely shape is a 4-2-3-1 with Aubameyang spearheading the attack in his preferred central striking role. The flanks are likely to be occupied by Iwobi and Mkhitaryan, who have both been frustratingly disappointing of late. Denis Suarez remains a viable option but in a game of this magnitude, Emery is more than likely to opt for players who know his Arsenal system and his ways in English football that bit better. Ideal scenario is to see Ozil and Ramsey come in which would mean one of Iwobi or Mkhitaryan missing out, but in reality it's only likely to be the Welshman coming in as a straight swap for our suspended French striker. In central midfield, Guendouzi and Torreira should be the starting partnership after Granit Xhaka's slow start and average shift last week. Having had another full week of training though, he could look that bit sharper - and his deep lying play making skills could be vital to feeding our attacking play.
The other small question Emery needs to ask himself is; fairness or competitive edge? Petr Cech looks pretty past it now and although Leno hasn't yet reached the heights that are expected, he is that bit quicker in reflexes and more importantly, is more capable with the ball at his feet. In keeping the ball flowing, Arsenal will be able to maintain constant pressure on their visitors. Cech lumping it long with little accuracy each time won't help proceedings at all. Leno gets my vote but in all honesty I see Emery going for Cech, to stick to his cup keeper deployment.
After smashing down Big Macs last Friday morning, BATE would have been back hard at work on the training ground this past week preparing for Arsenal's attacking football. They must be thinking 'Arsenal can't be as bad as last week can they?' Logic says no so their preparation is key. Targeting Arsenal's shaky back line with set pieces once again, the visitors will know that one goal and it's a mountain to climb for their hosts. Arsenal however, will be buoyed by a 6-0 thumping of BATE at the Emirates in last season's group stage. Although the man in charge, the club and the board level management have all changed; the players haven't and they know they are capable to get the job done and progress into the next round.
Expected lineup:
GK: Petr Cech
RB: Ainsley Maitland-Niles
CB: Skhodran Mustafi
CB: Laurent Koscielny
LB: Sead Kolasinac
CM: Lucas Torreira
CM: Matteo Guendouzi
CAM: Aaron Ramsey
RW: Henrikh Mkhitaryan
ST: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
LW: Alex Iwobi
Prediction: 2-0, with Aubameyang back score sheet.
@craigbennett10
Comments
Post a Comment