Attention now turns to our first Champions League match of the season which kicks off this evening with our trip to Montpellier. Much has been made about whether or not Olivier Giroud will start after being left on the bench on Saturday which did surprise me in all honesty. I thought it would have been the perfect game for him to play but maybe Wenger had half an eye on this game. With it being his old club as well where, from what I can gather, he was idolised I think it seems almost written that he would score his first Arsenal goal today, should he start. However as Wenger has stated there is a lot of pressure on him and he might rest him to try and take some of that off of him.
As for the rest of the team I think we will see some level of rotation tonight as we have Man City on Sunday and we may have some players that aren't quite rested fully from Saturday. I have a feeling we might see Walcott start tonight possibly along with Ramsey who didn't feature at the weekend. Gervinho could start sitting in the CAM role behind our main striker whoever that may be, with Cazorla shifting out to the wing, or he could start in place of Giroud. He played well at the weekend and there are suggestions that we may have found a role that suits the Ivorian. For me that remains to be seen realistically, we shall see how he performs as to be honest I find him frustrating. Diaby is expected to be fit to play so we'll either see him start or I think he'll come of from the bench after his fantastic performance against Liverpool. Koscielny is another player who could start but I think we may see Mertesacker retain his position for this match and then maybe drop out at the weekend.
The big talking point amongst Arsenal fans has been goalkeepers. Now Szczesny, I'm not gonna sugar coat it, had a day to forget on Saturday and not just because of the mistake that led to the goal. He overall wasn't great. Now Arsenal have come out and said he has an ankle knock, whether that played a part in his performance is difficult to tell, but one thing that is for sure is that we are taking Mannone tonight with young keeper James Shea on the bench.
I'm not gonna predict players to watch for on their team because I know so little about them. I just know they've got off to a poor start in league currently sitting 16th. A player said the other day, if they play like they did at the weekend against Arsenal, they'll concede 8. Confidence for sure then. My line up would be: Mannone, Gibbs, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Jenks, Diaby, Arteta, Poldi, Cazorla, Walcott, Giroud. We'll see what Mr. Wenger goes for. COYG!
Prediction: Montpellier 0-2 Arsenal
