This is what I want to see:

------------- van Persie ---------------
-- Nasri ---- Wilshere --- Arshavin --
-------- Song -------- Ramsey -------
Clichy - Squillaci - Koscielny - Sagna
---------------- Almunia ----------------

ie. no sign of Rosicky, Chamakh, Bendtner, Eboue, Denilson or Diaby sullying the starting line-up

If Ramsey is not selected ahead of Diaby and Denilson...

Wouldn´t surprise me at all when I come to think of it.

He won't be, that's why I was so desperate for Aaron to start against Man United. Not starting him told us everything we needed to know about Wenger's immediate plans for him.

Denilson and Diaby had another shot at proving how crap they are, especially together, against Man U. That should be to Rambo´s advantage one would think.

One would think, but it won't happen.

Caligula wrote:

This is what I want to see:

------------- van Persie ---------------
-- Nasri ---- Wilshere --- Arshavin --
-------- Song -------- Ramsey -------
Clichy - Squillaci - Koscielny - Sagna
---------------- Almunia ----------------

ie. no sign of Rosicky, Chamakh, Bendtner, Eboue, Denilson or Diaby sullying the starting line-up

Would be perfect. We need to go gun-ho attack here. Relentless pressure, bag goals asap and then pray that the HMS Alsquidkos doesn't completely sink.

Something tells me that a healthy Song, Wilshere and Ramsey will be our hardest-working midfield. This is theoretical, of course, cos I've never seen the 3 play together

So glad Ramsey is back. Will be massive alongside jack next season

Ricky, I still don't understand why you're reading so much into Rambo starting from the bench at Old Trafford.

asajoseph wrote:

Ricky, I still don't understand why you're reading so much into Rambo starting from the bench at Old Trafford.

Because, for me, it signaled Wenger's intentions. It was the perfect game to throw him back into, absolutely perfect, and it would have set him up nicely to compete for a spt in the side in the coming weeks.

He won't throw him in now against West Brom. We both know he won't.

Why? The kid hasn't played top flight football in a year, throwing him in from the start at Old Trafford would have been brutal.

I actually think he will play him against West Brom.

At this point I start with what I want, then go opposite from there and reasonably end up with what Wenger is actually doing. Using that logic - Ramsey won´t start.

I guess I just don't see what's so perfect about a pressure tie against Manchester United at Old Trafford for sending in a kid who's not played at this level for a year and trying to get over a broken leg (cf Paul Scholes' tackling!).

Asa, you're right. This is the perfect time to start Ramsey though. He will be playing against a team of similar quality (if not style) to what he has been seeing in the Championship

Did it look like a brutal afternoon for Denilson and Diaby? Stroll in the park more like, there was no midfield battle to be had.

No, but Scholes would have picked up a red card for one of 2 brutal tackles if he had been a Stoke player.

Ricky, I'm not saying I don't think Aaron would have done a better job - he's a much better player than either of those. Rather, I can really understand why Wenger might be just slightly cautious with him, and am not too worried that he might have written off his chance of contributing in the immediate future.

You wouldn't put money on him starting against West Brom though would you? And that's with both Diaby and Denilson playing pretty crappie once again.

No, but I wouldn't bet on Diaby and Denilson having too many more chances to get it wrong in the next few weeks either.