It’s crunch time for the Gunners in the FA Cup on Sunday and there are many nervous Arsenal fans drinking in the Tavern this week.
An indifferent season really has seen the North London outlet struggle in the Premier League, which has meant Arsene Wenger has seen his side fall to sixth place and become in danger of missing out on the Champions League spaces.
However, Sunday will provide respite for the Gunners as they look to progress to their third FA Cup final in four seasons and our landlord feels that if they can get a positive result against Pep Guardiola’s strong Manchester City side, then they have a great chance of bringing the cup back to the red half of north London.
With that said, the game is not coming without concerns for the Arsenal punters in the Tavern, who are especially concerned about their defence which has left a lot to be desired of late. Wenger simply must make sure that everyone knows their job among the Gunners’ back line, especially given the change of formation he employed in the last game against Middlesbrough which saw them utilise a 3-4-2-1 system.
Wenger’s selections will be judged on the personnel he chooses to represent the Gunners in such a big game and our landlord has outlined the THREE centre backs who must start the game for Arsenal on Sunday…
Shkodran Mustafi
The German missed Monday night’s game against Middlesbrough with a thigh injury but our landlord believes Mustafi must simply play against City if they are to have any chance of winning.
Whilst sustaining a strong partnership with Frenchman Laurent Koscielny this season, Mustafi has bought a strong mentality to the Gunners’ back line – meaning that the team look at loss when he is missing. Although the Arsenal defence has been shaky at times, the fans in the Tavern have been impressed with the Summer signing of Mustafi.
Mustafi also possess some good memories from this season against Manchester City, scoring the equaliser against them at the Emirates at the start of the month.
Laurent Koscielny
Arsenal’s dependence on Koscielny is borderline ridiculous and the Gunners really do look like a worse team when the Frenchman doesn’t take the field.
Koscielny has really lead from the back this season and has also taken the captain’s armband in the absence of the injury stricken Per Metersackar. This has led to many of our resident Gunners in the Tavern calling for him to be made the outright club captain, a view our landlord certainly agrees with.
Our landlord has also noted that Koscielny’s performance on Sunday will go some way to deciding who goes one step further in the FA Cup, with his match-up against City’s marksman Sergio Aguero being one of the key battles in this one.
Rob Holding
A wonderful defensive talent, can Rob Holding maintain a run in the Arsenal first team until the end of the season?
Our landlord certainly thinks so and was very impressed by the Englishmen’s accomplished performance in the back three on Monday night against Boro. The view from the Tavern is that Holding will edge out Gabriel for a starting spot in this one.
