Match Day: Oxford United

Happy Match Day Gooners! Today sees us take on Oxford United away in the FA Cup Third Round. Yesterday we got the news that a victory will see us take on Manchester City in the Fourth Round. Based on the current fixture schedule this would come at a time where there’s a decent sized break either side of the match, so it would likely be one that sees both Pep and Arteta put out their strongest possible sides in a heavyweight battle. With that said, no point in focusing on that until we take care of business today.

Oxford United currently sit in 15th place in League One, so they aren’t exactly having a great year. We all know about “the magic of the FA Cup”, so any thought that we simply have to show up and they’ll hand us three points should be quickly thrown out the window. They’ll be up for it and have their home crowd behind them, so it’s important that we take them seriously. The odds are that we’ll see significant rotation, so there shouldn’t be any shortage of motivation for those players to put in a shift. With the Europa League group stages behind us and our early elimination from the League Cup, this is a HUGE opportunity for them to show why they should have increased involvement with the first team.

As I posted the other day, I would expect the XI to look something like:

Turner

Tomiyasu-Holding-Gabriel-Tierney

Elneny-Sambi

Vieira

Marquinos-Nketiah-ESR

ESR was pictured in training, so I would expect him to get the start on the left wing. If not, he’ll certainly come off the bench in the second half. I wouldn’t be surprised if Arteta kept two or three first teamers in the side, but I would prefer he didn’t and simply left them on the bench in case of emergency. The one exception that I’d be pleased to see in the lineup is William Saliba, who hasn’t looked like himself since the World Cup. 90 minutes and some additional rhythm could be a huge help. Let’s take care of business and have some positive momentum going into the derby on Sunday against Spurs.

Speaking of Spurs, there are reports that Qatar Sports Investments are interested in investing in an English club. Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of PSG and chairman of QSI, reportedly met Daniel Levy, the executive chairman of Tottenham, last week in London. Word on the street is that they are looking to add to their portfolio in a significant way in 2023, which currently only boasts PSG and Portuguese club Braga. The investment coming into football, specifically in England, has ballooned in recent years and this would represent yet another nation state unofficially owning a club in the Premier League. It would catapult Spurs into a new stratosphere of riches much like Newcastle’s recent Saudi investment. Like it or not, this seems like something we as supporters will just need to get used to. Interestingly, the majority of response from Tottemham fans seems to be negative. Not that this will stop it from happening, but it’s a story to watch.

Here’s to a quality performance from the Arsenal today. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for all the latest updates. COYG!