The Gunners play host to Jose Mourinho’s men on Sunday
Arsenal face Chelsea on Sunday in a massive Premier League encounter at the Emirates Stadium, but we thought we would put together a team of combined players from both sides.
Now it seems the title-race is all-but over, so stakes in this game aren’t as high as they could have been, but it’s still a London Derby and the two managers will certainly want to beat each other.
Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho have an interesting relationship to say the least, with the latter once calling Wenger a specialist in failure.
Arsenal and Chelsea Combined XI
The game is likely to be a cagey affair with the visitors looking to frustrate Arsenal by putting men behind the ball and hitting them on the counter attack. We recendly wrote Arsenal vs Chelsea match predictions and line-ups. But instead of looking further into the game and discussing the tactics behind it, we thought we would look into the team that could be fielded if Chelsea and Arsenal randomly decided to become one.
Our Combined Chelsea/Arsenal XI team
Below is the team we have gone for if we were to create a Chelsea/Arsenal XI.
Combined XI team: Courtois, Ivanovic, Koscielny, Terry, Azpilicueta, Matic, Ramsey, Alexis, Ozil, Hazard, Giroud.
Now lets remember football is a game of opinions, so people may have different XIs in their mind, but let me walk you through our choices.
The back five is self explanatory. Arsenal’s goalkeepers aren’t great, Chelsea’s is and in fact the sub ‘keeper would also come from Chelsea in Petr Cech.
Four defenders were simple enough to choose from although Nacho Monreal nearly pipped Cesar Azpilicueta due to the season the Arsenal full-back is having.
Nemanja Matic holding with Aaron Ramsey the box-to-box midfield by his side. Alexis Sanchez and Eden Hazard either wing. Self explanatory really.
Now I am sure a lot of people will question Mesut Ozil‘s inclusion over Cesc Fabregas, but we went for the German for his pedigree and his superb talent which is undoubtedly there.
As for striker, with Diego Costa a constant injury doubt, we went with Olivier Giroud who seems to have finally peaked with The Gunners.
So what are your thoughts of this team? What changes would you make?
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles
