Arsenal vs Stoke City: Monreal To Start

We take on Stoke few hours from now and looks like we might just get to see our new signing get his first start just a day after he arrived. Nancho Monreal has started training and Arsene Wenger has said he would like to access him but he is not ruling him out of Saturday's game against Stoke City at the Emirates.

If he gets to start, it would show the manager does not really have faith in Andre Santos who hasn't been in best of form. Injured Kieran Gibbs has been ruled out for 6 weeks and likely to miss the Champions League game against Bayern Munich at both the Emirates and Allianz Arena.

“Stoke may play differently to Liverpool, but we need to be ready for it,” he told Arsenal Player. “We must get the ball down and play our own game.

“That is very important against Stoke: to focus on our own game and cope with the long balls and the physical side of things. And then get the ball down as quickly as possible and show what we can do.

“We will try to put them under pressure so they can't play those dangerous balls into the area, and don't have a lot of set-pieces. We have to get them away from our goal and focus on what we need to do.” 

 Arteta is back so it means Ramsey might not start or could get to start ahead of Santi Cazorla who hasn't been his best and a bit jaded in recent games. Abou Diaby could also get a start because of the aerial bombardment from Stoke City. His presence would be key in foiling Stoke’s threat from set pieces.

It’s a game we can win only if we can give a good performance in both halves and try not to lose concentration at the back. Ahead of the game, Vermaelen is a huge doubt while Coquelin and Gibbs have been ruled out but the good news is that Arteta is back. We would surely need his concentration and discipline.

Team News 

Vermaelen - doubt
Arteta- back from injury
Coquelin- out
Gibbs - out