By Ollie Irish
“Hmm, the chicken or the fish?”
Firstly, a disclaimer: I know modern Premier League teams have big squads which they rotate, and I know there’s quite a difference between the team you pick for a home match and an away match. Just so we’re clear on that.
Okay, with that in mind, and remembering that this is just a harmless bit of fun, I want you to pick Arsenal‘s best starting XI for the coming season.
I’ll go first.
The formation: As I mentioned in my season preview for the Gunners, I’m very tempted by the currently popular 4-2-3-1 formation, and as I’m a sucker for temptation, it’s what I’m going to choose here.
The line-up:
Manuel Almunia (oh dear)
Bacary Sagna – Laurent Koscielny – Thomas Vermaelen – Gael Clichy
Alex Song – Abou Diaby
Samir Nasri – Cesc Fabregas (c) – Andrei Arshavin
Robin van Persie
I like the look of it – having two defensive midfielders would really give Fabregas the freedom to pull as many strings as he wanted.
There, I’ve shown you mine. Now you show me yours…