It’s FA Cup action today for The Arsenal and after having a wee chuckle at the Tiny Totts (they were terrible in that first half so I’m glad I didn’t bother with the second) yesterday evening as I was cooking, Arsenal need to get themselves a win at Fratton Park against Portsmouth.

We’ve all spoken this season about how impressive our squad is, how it hopefully will set us up for success, but so far this season the only way in which it’s really been able to be used is via the League Cup, and even then I think Arteta has prefered to go with a strong team given we’ve faced Premier League opposition most of the time. So today is another chance to see some of those rotational options get on the pitch and I think – with all due respect to Portsmouth – it should be one in which large-scale rotation is on the cards.

So for me, the team I’m lining up with today, if I was Arteta is:

  1. Kepa
  2. Salmon
  3. Lewis -Skelly
  4. White
  5. Gabriel
  6. Norgaard – DM
  7. Eze – Left eight
  8. Nwaneri – right eight
  9. Gabriel Jesus
  10. Madueke – right wing
  11. Martinelli – left wing

I don’t think Arteta will do that, because I think he’ll play Merino, but I’ve left out Merino purely on the basis that he has played a lot of minutes this season compared to the others, and I think this game, of all of the upcoming ones, offers the most opportunity for large-scale rotation. It’s also why I’ve stuck in Salmon at right back, but again, I doubt Arteta will do that. If I go with what I ‘think’ will happen, it will be White at right back, Saliba and Gabriel at centre-half, Eze at right eight and Merino at left eight. There is an opportunity to surprise me though; we can also use the midweek League Cup game away to Chelsea as an opportunity for a fair bit of rotation too and I suspect Chelsea will go quite strong in that one, because it will allow Rosenior to very quickly get fans on side if they beat us over two legs and then also get to a final with a chance of winning a cup.

So if anything, that game in midweek probably needs a stronger XI, which means I hope Arteta goes a little harder on rotation today. I spoke yesterday about how Portsmouth is doing, having reviewed some of the available statistics, and it is a team that will likely play a long game, sitting compact and looking to counterattack on the break. In an ideal world, you need players who can probably operate in small spaces and I think Eze can definitely do that, I think Ethan has tight enough ball control and dribbling ability to do that, so given this game at Pompey might need a few more lock-pickers on the pitch, why not go with two creative eights, rather than Merino who is more of a physical, duel-winning, box-threat eight?

There’s probably also an element of protectionism of Ethan too, because I’ve seen a lot of fans online, on pods, videos, etc, all talking about Ethan and how we get him minutes. We all have a lot of affection for the boy, and we want to see him, hence why I think I – maybe like you – am desparate for him to be slotted in to this team today. Let’s see if it happens.

Let’s also see if we get some Havertz airtime too. That would be brilliant. By the sounds of it in Arteta’s pre-match press conference, the signs are good, so if I was a betting man, I’d probably say that there’s a job share opportunity with Jesus and Havertz today. If Jesus gets 70 minutes and we’re winning, let’s see if Kai can do 20 minutes up top. Much like Jesus’ minutes have been managed so far, we need to do the same with Kai, and so I’m looking at this game as the perfect introduction. It sounds like Arteta is judging by his comments. It will be so good to see him back, although I think most of us are reasonable in our expectations; this guy has basically been out for over a year, and expecting him to have any major impact in the coming weeks is probably a little too far-fetched. I’m looking at February-time for him probably being able to start a match, and by Marc,h he might start to look a little like the Kai of old. But for now, what we need is glimmers of the old Ka,i and with Big Vik looking more and more confidence-shorn, having another option from the bench feels like it’s a big plus for our aspirations this season.

For Gabby Jesus, this represents an opportunity to say to the manager, “Remember – I was THE guy at nine. So here’s my re-audition to be a starter,” and, given that Big Vik has looked anything but lethal in recent games, if he performs today, I think the clamour from the fanbase to start him will only grow. I’m getting there too. That Liverpool game feels like a bit of a watershed moment for Gyokeres; he wasn’t great, he didn’t offer a lot, and when Gabby Jesus came on, you saw a guy so much more involved. Yes, he also wasn’t great, but I think the challenge Big Vik has is that people can’t ‘see’ him. Everyone can ‘see’ Jesus because it’s the kind of wasp-like character he is across the pitch.

I want us to win this game. In previous seasons, our squad hasn’t been big enough to cope on multiple fronts, but given I’ve just been able to name an almost completely rotated XI that still looks very good and doesn’t even include Merino in it, that is evidence of the fact that we have the squad that should be able to challenge. And we’ve been knocked out in the third round of this competition too many times recently. Last season to United (which was a joke), the season before to Liverpool, two seasons before that it was Forest. In fact, since we won it in 2020, we haven’t progressed beyond the fourth round of this competition. It’s time to change that. And this team has the depth and quality to do it. Now go and prove it, Arsenal.

I’ll be back tomorrow as usual to do a bit of a de-brief, but for now, I’ll leave you with the rest of your Sunday and let’s hope we can do the business this afternoon.

Laters kids.