Not sure Sterling has done enough to earn a start tbh.
Don’t think White will be fit enough to start. Agree with the rest of the team and Nwaneri should get serious mins.
I'm pretty sure Sterling will return to Chelsea without starting many games. He's here to provide relief, not to be a starter. Martinelli and Trossard are our players, Sterling is not and regardless of how well he plays, we're unlikely to sign him outright.
Relief is giving Martinelli a rest…
We need Martinelli to get some momentum, he should start this game. Sterling is still building up to Arsenal-level fitness.
Yep, Martinelli isn’t going to play much over intl break and could do with another goal to keep his momentum going
Doesn't look like Timber or White were in training but Tomiyasu was. Guessing it will be Kiwior and Calafiori at full back then with Tomi maybe getting some minutes.
Rest of the team picks itself.
Sicario2 - Tier 1 He's an enigma. Don't know the exact injury details, suddenly injured, suddenly training again, suddenly in the squad.
Raya, Partey, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Havertz, Jorginho, Rice, Saka, Jesus, Sterling
Partey RB. Sterling starts.
GOOD ROTATION. Arteta really learning well man. Rotating early in the season in easy home games. Like finally
Clrnc Partey RB.
FFS not this experiment again. And Havertz in midfield with Jesus up front. Reall, really hope we never see this lineup again. Against Southampton it should hopefully be enough but this is a recipe for disaster against stronger teams. Hell might have been a recipe for disaster against Southampton today if they weren't so shit.
Clrnc hopefully this is Artetas way of pulling all the rested players out of international duty.
Big Willie FFS not this experiment again
understand the disquiet given past events, but this seems less an experiment and more needs must.
Qwiss how would that be?
RocktheCasbah understand the disquiet given past events, but this seems less an experiment and more needs must.
Yeah I agree. And on the bright side we haven't moved 3 players in defence all at once like we did when shifting White inside and Saliba further to the left.
Though in midfield I'd have preferred Havertz to remain up top with Tross coming in as the Havertz and Jesus combo has always disappointed for me. Feels like we've dropped points a number of times with that setup vs the Trossard and Havertz combo.
Jesus did nothing to deserve to start over Trossard.
This is a game that we have to be winning with all we've seen in the recent seasons you cannot afford to drop points in these fixtures. I understand the rotation instinct but I don't feel totally confident with some of those decisions. See how the game pans out, Southampton have looked poor.
Assume Havertz will be more up front with Jesus in a 2 rather than in midfield.
Surprised Martinelli and Trossard on the bench though.
Should be enough to win surprised by the rotation but not complaining.
Let's see if it isn't just a 3-5-2
We may be shuffling a little bit, but this is Soton... at home.. They are a terrible team, and will so straight back down. If we don't comfortably beat them, i will be pretty disappointed.
Said it before but I’ve never understood the freak out over Partey at right back. I was there when we put 5 past Wolves with a great performance with him in there and it worked well.
Folks pinned our slow start last season on him being at right back but then seemed to ignore that nothing really changed after we stopped doing it.
goon Said it before but I’ve never understood the freak out over Partey at right back. I was there when we put 5 past Wolves with a great performance with him in there and it worked well.
The freak out last season was because it resulted in Gabriel being taken out of the side and deprived us of his abilities in midfield just to go to right back where, although he played there for Altetico, is not his best position.
This season there is no freak out. It just reminded me of last season. We obviously have 3 right backs out at the same time so not much of a choice as @RocktheCasbah said.
That said Havertz in midfield and Jesus up top when Trossard is available isn't forced upon us though. Kind of worried about that.
