Arsenal team to face Barcelona with Welbeck to start!!
With the Arsenal team that Arsene Wenger selected to face Hull City in the FA cup 5th round match just a few days ago, it was fairly obvious that the Frenchman had one big eye in the Champions League encounter with Barcelona tonight, as he made none changes and rested most of what you would consider to be our best players.
Obviously Wenger is hoping that the Arsenal team selected to face the UCL holders tonight would be as fresh as possible and they will need to be as we are likely to be chasing the ball for long periods in the game. Unfortunately for the boss he was not able to rest Mertesacker and Koscielny because of the injury situation and the fact that Gabriel has not recovered in time means that they will have to start again tonight.
At least they did not have much to do in the Hull game. The only other starter from that game to keep his place, in my opinion, will be Danny Welbeck and the boss did take him off around the hour mark. I think that we will go with Welbeck because of his pace and power. With Alexis on the other side that will give us greater threat on the counter attack while keeping the energy and desire to help out the defence.
The height and aerial ability of Giroud might also be important for that while he is likely to be a big threat from set pieces as well, one of the visiting sides few weaknesses.
Cech
Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal
Coquelin, Ramsey
Welbeck, Ozil, Alexis
Giroud
Would you go for Welbeck or do you think Arsenal should start Campbell, Walcott or Chamberlain instead?
