Another Chance For Ox To Prove He Isn’t Bobbins

Match Preview – Sheffield Wednesday vs Arsenal – Capital One Cup – 27.10.15

We’re less than 2 hours away  from kick off in what should be Arsenal’s least concerning, and lowest priority, of the season so far. However, early noises suggest Wenger has picked a pretty senior line up.

I’m not sure how I feel about Cech playing but if we are going to play senior players I think we need to give Ox another run out. He has a real chance to prove his worth to the team as a starter but hasn’t made the best statement with his performance against Everton.

There are things you can see on the TV that you can’t in the stadium and vice versa. In the stadium you can watch an individual player more closely and I can tell you that watching Ox live was even more infuriating. He was pants for large swathes of the match and it’s just so frustrating. This is a player with untold potential who insists on wasting his opportunities to show it with shoddy decision making, an erratic final ball and an overeagerness to impress.

We need Ox to play for the team rather than himself as Tim Stillman recently wrote. Watching him live you see him take up poor defensive positions, lose track of the opposition and run with his head down when a quick glance up would show him exactly where he should be putting the ball. I recently said he reminds me of Ramsey when he tried too hard to impress but Ox doesn’t really have anything to worry about in terms of competition now Ramsey is injured.

Walcott is a striker now and it’s unlikely Wenger will interrupt his development to play him on the wing for an extended period and Campbell couldn’t muster the opposition to someone asking him if he wants custard in his shoes. I really liked the look of Joel to start with and had really high hopes but he doesn’t seem to do anything when he comes on and watching him warm up against Everton was an experience. Maybe he knew he wouldn’t get on but that’s no excuse to stand pretty much stock still for 10 minutes by the corner flag watching the game. He was a total spectator and the sad thing is it was during a pretty dull period – it’s not like the game was particularly enthralling.

Chamberlain really needs to grab this chance with both hands and it starts with cutting out the nonsense and just doing the basics right, the rest will come. Wednesday is a great opposition to start against and start keeping things simple so I really hope for his sake he gets the nod.

I’ve no idea what youths will start, if any, but it’s suggested Bielik, Iwobi and Sheaf will get game time today. I’m hoping to see Iwobi start tonight because he looks ripe for a breakthrough.

Arsenal really should have too much for Sheffield Wednesday and I hope to God we smash them. We’ll never hear the end of it if we don’t.

Arsenal from; Cech, Macey, Bellerin, Chambers, Debuchy, Pleguezelo, Gibbs, Mertesacker, Flamini, Sheaf, Bielik, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Iwobi, Campbell, Walcott

Predicted Line-up

Cech, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Chambers, Gibbs, Flamini, Sheaf, Iwobi, Chamberlain, Campbell, Walcott

Match Quote

“It’s down to me to manage the workload of the players without diminishing the quality of the team”  – Arsène Wenger

Last 3 Meetings

• Arsenal 3-3 Wednesday (09.05.2000)
• Wednesday 1-1 Arsenal (03.01.2000)
• Arsenal 3-0 Wednesday (09.03.1999)

Form Guide

Arsenal Last 5
WWWWL

Wednesday Last 5
WWDDW

Opposition watch

Wednesday are unbeaten in their last 8 matches and hoping for promotion this season. Their manager hasn’t given them much of a chance in this match stating they have a 10% chance of winning…. which usually means they’re going to raise their game by that amount against us.

Factfile

• Arsenal haven’t won away at Sheffield Wednesday since 1993
• Wednesday have never beaten Arsenal in the League Cup
• Wedneday haven’t lost at home in the League Cup for 7 years
• Arsenal have kept one clean sheet in their last 11 away games

Prediction

4-0 to Arsenal. Ox, Theo, Iwobi.

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