Keep 3 at the back but tweak the rest of the formation

By 1970's Gooner

A lot has been written on this and a lot of other blogs with regard to Emery's ineptitude to take Arsenal forward and into the top 4. This coming run, of what is considered a set of relatively easier fixtures, against Southampton, Norwich, Brighton and West Ham should tell us and more importantly the Arsenal hierarchy whether Emery should be relieved of his duties.

We should all however get behind the team and give them all the encouragement they need to regain their confidence and begin to carve a way forward towards the top 4.

For the Soton game coming up I would keep the 3 at the back as this gives the team a much better defensive cover but I would certainly not play Aubameyang and Lacazette on the wings as Emery bizarrely chose to do against Leicester (with Ozil playing as a false number 9 on occasion).

The formation should be 3 4 1 2.

The 3 at the back should be Chambers on the right side, Luiz or Socratis ( I would choose Socratis) in the middle and Holding on the left.

Bellerin and Tierney would be my choice for the wing backs. 

Guendouzi and Torreira should be the cover in front of the back 3. Pray that Emery doesn't start Xhaka.

In the absence of any other creative midfielder I would start Ozil behind the two front players of Aubameyang and Lacazette. They should play close together as in an old fashioned pairing of twin centre forwards. This will bring the best out of them as they seem to be so in tune to each other but it will also allow our wing backs the room to roam forward.

Overall the philosophy of the game plan should be to take the game to Soton and play on the front foot higher up the pitch. There is no more room for conservativism as we have to make up the points we have fallen behind the teams in front of us. 


                  Leno

    Chambers  Socratis  Holding

Bellerin  Torreira  Guendouzi Tierney

                 Ozil

Lacazette   Aubameyang


Prediction: Arsenal 3 Southampton 1