After suffering one of their most devastating losses of the season on Sunday to 13th-placed Chelsea at home, Arsenal are looking to recover from the 1-0 loss, as they prepare to face Burnley on 30th January in the FA Cup fourth round.
On the surface, it looks like it should be an easy win for the Gunners, but they were caught out by another lower-league side in Sheffield Wednesday in their second Capital One Cup in a 3-0 loss, so they will look to improve their record in this season’s domestic cups.
Additionally, with the sense of disappointment lurking in the dressing room, Arsene Wenger will certainly make adjustments to the squad.
Here are some suggestions for the French manager that could help him succeed.
Take Mathieu Flamini out of the team
Throughout the match against Chelsea, the French midfielder was constantly either too far back on the pitch when his side were attacking or he was caught too far up the pitch when the visitors hit them on the counter-attack. For a defensive midfielder, Flamini is showing an obvious lack of fitness and stamina, so the only choice the coaches can make going into the FA Cup tie is to drop him from the starting XI.
The good news for supporters is that there are actually dependable options who can replace him in the recently-acquired Mohamed Elneny and the finally fit Francis Coquelin.
Start Calum Chambers
With Per Mertesacker suspended for this FA Cup game after his red card in the last match, it is required that Arsenal put a new face in their defence. Laurent Koscielny had an uninspiring performance against Chelsea, particularly when he let Diego Costa create enough space within 10 yards of the net to score the lone goal of the match.
At the beginning of last season, Chambers played some phenomenal games at centre back, so Wenger should go ahead and give the youngster another chance.
Drop Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
The Ox really cannot take care of the ball and has not been what supporters had hoped he would be by this stage in his career. He consistently misplaces passes and loses the ball while dribbling, and it is time that Wenger sends him a message to improve or not play as much as he has been.
The Frenchman should drop the winger from the matchday squad against Burnley at the weekend in order to lessen the number of mistakes made from last weekend.
Focus on keeping the ball and staying composed
Especially after going down to 10 men, Arsenal looked very anxious on the ball and misplaced a lot of passes that would have been made correctly on any other day. The team looked scared to lose more than they looked eager to win, which is a major problem for a team that wants to contend for the Premier League title.
Wenger’s team should focus on staying calm in possession and dictating the flow of the match in order to win and regain form as a result.
Introduce Tomas Rosicky back to the matchday squad
The veteran Czech Republic international always comes through for the Gunners when he is needed. He did just get back from injury, but after playing 45 minutes for the under-21 side, he should be ready for a 10-15 minute cameo off the bench on Saturday. His experience will add an important part to the side and so will the energy he always brings to a match.
Rosicky has been missed because he was the go-to guy for his teammates to rely on either for a goal or for a spark to create offense when he was healthy, so his appearance after a long injury layoff will be a boost for the squad as a whole.