You're right, Holding's a weakness. But all else being equal, far more experienced and I reckon he performs up there with what Kiwior produced in Lisbon. Anyway, we've got five subs so plenty of latitude for Arteta to balance making sure Kiwior gets minutes with not throwing this tie out the window.
Claudius Holdings very solid. If he'd played last week we'd have won comfortably. I wouldn't write off Kiwior yet but he needs more time to settle by the looks of it. If we had any injury or suspension to our centre halfs between now and the end of the season I'd go Holding over Kiwior every time (though I'd probably have White and Tomi over either at CB anyway).
Hopefully see some rotation but we should hopefully have enough numbers to put out a strong team.
I hope Vieira starts. He's looked pretty good recently.
Turner Tomiyasu Holding Kiwior Tierney Partey Viera Xhaka Nelson Jesus Trossard
Would like to see this potentially.
KingslandBarge -- that team screams a loss to me. No way we'll debut a new CB pairing, with neither player having played as of late, in an European cup game.
Looks decent, but start Saliba instead of Holding and pull the likes of Partey, Xhaka and Trossard off early if we are well up and in control. Might be worth protecting Jesus's legs after an hour too.
I would keep Partey as far away as possible from the pitch tonight.
There is an international break coming up and he broke down this time last year and we saw how that ended. With how important he is to us, we should be mitigating any risk of injury. He'll probbaly play 180 mins for Ghana, don't want him going there fatigued to begin with.
Ring the changes. I reckon Smith Rowe starts tonight having not played a min on Sunday.
Turner Tomiyasu Saliba Kiwior Tierney Jorginho Smith Rowe Xhaka Vieira Trossard Nelson
James -- I like the look of that.
Could see ESR (as an 8) running of Viera nicely. Line up also lets us add firepower via Saka or Martinelli as needed.
James would you not have Vieira at AM, Nelson on the right and ESR on the left?
Don Pacifico Many possibilities with those 4, and that is another.
Arteta went heavy
Ramsdale Tomiyasu, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko Jorginho Xhaka, Vieira Nelson, Jesus and Martinelli
Hopefully they can finish the game quite quickly. Should be able to.
Surprisingly strong team. Glad Saka gets a rest. No injuries please.
Feel a bit for Turner, Tierney, Kiwior, Smith-Rowe. If they arent starting this they may as well not be here.
Jesus starts! Excited to see him back.
Panda I think we won't see much of ESR until preseason. He just isn't ready physically and probably has a large post-op mental hurdle to get over first.
Shocked to see Jesus starting. Hope he can get a goal, he needs to get that monkey off his back asap.
Pepe LeFrits really?
Think it makes a lot of sense. He hasn't been rushed back and needs to get minutes in.
Pretty happy with this team, Saka and Partey have been given a rest and I think it makes sense to start both centre backs here. No excuses for not getting through.
Is this fuel for the Arteta doesn’t rotate camp?
Proper bench innit
Pepe LeFrits Proper bench innit
Some nice impactors on there tonight.
Surprisingly strong, but good rotation also were required.
Have to wonder when Smith Rowe will get minutes. Tierney is clearly done also.
As for Turner, Arteta is probably looking to stem the leaking of goals via set pieces. Unfortunately that had probably cost Turner his cup tie spot.
