One down. Two more to go for hell week. We came away with the three points we needed and now we have the extremely quick turnaround hosting Everton Tuesday. Given the way in which we won against Norwich, I believe Wenger has more questions about his starting lineup than answers (not a bad thing when the options are good)…

The unknowns:

Ramsey: The guy hustled his butt off, linked up well, and Arsene has confidence in slotting him back on defense if needed. A must start in my opinion.

Theo: Had great pace, is well rested given that he only finished off the game against Norwich. Put him up top and let him run wild.

AOC: He quickly injected the stuff people like about Gervinho and his run at defense set up one of the goals against Norwich. Getting closer and closer to that form of last year…

Podolski: Some miscues on first touches but his great shot from outside the box is exactly the shot we tend to miss in the lineup this year. I think he has earned a starting spot this time around.

Gervinho: He had some great runs against Norwich but his typical miscues has caused the cat to go “missing” and the remote to be glued back together… Give him starting minutes to stroke his confidence? Hmm… I think I agree with one writer who pointed out that a professional player shouldn’t need confidence stroking to play well.

Jack: The poor boy had a bit of down game and that is not to be unexpected when you are coming off an injury with a lengthy spell of not playing… Sorry Jacky boy but I think it best for you to sit this one out at the start.

Rosicky: The man has been the older, wiser and more palatable version of Ramsey and him fit again means some competition in the midfield. Not a bad thing, but we still have another game this weekend and rotation isn’t a bad thing right now. Not sure I would put him back in quite yet.

Defense: The back line almost worries me more than the mid/front right now. BFG vs. TV is a wash to me; I almost don’t care who starts because either one could have a great game or a miscue and I am not too concerned with either lacking “pace”. Same kind of argument goes to Sagna for me right now. His crossing has been subpar as of late but the guy is always capable of putting together a stellar game and I would rather him get his minutes than not; unless the boy is dog tired and then rotation becomes necessary. The harder decision for me is Monreal vs. Gibbs. I really enjoy watching Gibbs’ style of play. He moves well, is quick to get up to the attacking third and tracks back really well. Gibbs also had that booming shot earlier in the season that was a peach to watch on replay. Monreal appears to be more the “quiet” defender but that isn’t a bad thing. I like not hearing anything about my defenders because their play just shuts stuff down. Nacho also has the familiarity with Cazorla that could pay dividends in the link up action. Here, I think I give Monreal the start knowing that there is another game coming up and I want fresh legs for what we know is a better team in Everton. I also have to give the edge to Nacho in the experience column because the man has played against some serious attackers in La Liga (some dudes name Ronaldo and Messi I hear are quite good at this soccer game).

I think my starting lineup for Tuesday would be as follows:

Poldi-Giroud-Theo

Cazorla (if he needs the rest then perhaps Rosicky?)-Ramsey-Arteta

Monreal-Kols-BFG-Sagna

Fabianski?

Here is why: I think we need Podolski’s shot interjected with Theo’s pace. The lay off and shoot approach can really work well for Arsenal when they actually do it (seriously, how awesome/hot was that chest down to Lukas from Giroud that just nicked the bar? That is the kind of shit that really gets me excited about our team chemistry). If I was Wenger, I would take the German aside and make sure he understands that I bought him to load that shotgun leg of his up and shoot at the damn goal. His attempted layoff to Cazorla late against Norwich was cute but I would rather him pull the trigger next time. If Poldi ends up tired, etc., then you can put AOC or Gervinho in to keep the pressure on Everton’s back line. If you can’t stomach him starting then maybe this time we pull Giroud off early and put Lukas in the middle paired with some pace at the end. Either way, the benefit of AOC/Gervinho not starting is that if we pull another Norwich we can yank any combination of the three up top and put in two sets of fresh legs to create some havoc in the down the lines and in the middle. As I said before, instant pace creates instant space and that is how we score our goals. Additionally, the benefit of Jack staying on the bench this time around means that he can easily take the place of any of the mid-fielders and just needs the instruction from Arsene on what to do: hold, attack, defend. Pretty simple (so says the armchair quarterback). Plus we can keep him fresh for Fulham and what is another three points we must take.

On a nervous note, turns out that Fabianski may be out against Everton. I might normally be concerned but I actually believe we have quality depth (albeit not necessary greater or less quality) at the keeper position this year and the fact that we can slot in the man who was our starter for most of the season is pretty nice. Szczesny has experienced his ups and downs this year but the guy is young, big, strong and I think the spell on the bench has probably done him some good. If Fabianski is truly out tomorrow, as Wenger is casting doubt on him playing, I am not too worried about the young Pol’ slotting in Fab’s place. And for the record, no I don’t particularly think we need to spend big money on a keeper this off season (that can/will be a different post).

Additionally, there is news that Rosicky is back fit and training with the team. I like to take the approach of working guys back into the lineup after injury; not throwing them in. That being said, if Rosicky truly is healthy, here is my prediction for what Arsene will actually start tomorrow:

Cazorla-Poldi-Theo

Ramsey-Rosicky-Arteta

Whatever the hell here…

Szczesny

Check back after the match starts to see exactly how far off I was…