How Arsenal Will Line Up Against Borussia Dortmund
After securing arguably their most thrilling and certainly most aesthetically pleasing victory of the season last weekend, Arsenal will face a very stern test in Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.
The Champions League runners-up will travel to the Emirates Stadium in the first of their two meetings that are their most crucial group-stage matches. Dortmund are only one point behind undefeated Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and have only suffered one loss themselves.
When Arsenal played—and won—this fixture a couple years ago, Arsene Wenger had many fewer options from which to construct a starting XI. This time, it's a different story. Let's look at how he might put his side together.
Goalkeeper: Wojciech Szczesny
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There's absolutely no reason for Arsene Wenger to drop Wojciech Szczesny, who has really matured and become consistent after some brief early-season struggles.
The Pole has played every minute of Arsenal's Premier League and Champions League campaigns because he is quite simply the most effective option for the Gunners in the short and long term.
Wenger brought in Lukasz Fabianski for his first start of the season against Bayern Munich in March, but don't count on that happening again.
Right-Back: Bacary Sagna
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Sagna's inclusion against Norwich City last weekend was somewhat surprising considering that, according to Wenger, he was only 80 percent fit and he would be needed against Dortmund in a few days.
Yet the manager so appreciates Sagna's quality and ability to lock down the right flank that he played him for the full 90 minutes and will most likely do so again.
The Frenchman has returned to his consistently excellent self this season after a significant hiccup last campaign. The defensive stability is present as ever, but Sagna has recently displayed an ability to pick a cross that has taken his game to a different level.
Center-Back: Per Mertesacker
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A healthy Per Mertesacker will almost always be included in Arsenal's starting XI because there is simply no other player like him in the team.
He is the only one who is willing to stay back and play the role of calm distributor, letting his more pugnacious partner (whoever that may be) pursue the current attacking threat.
Mertesacker's presence has helped form the bedrock of Arsenal's defensive revival, and his inclusion in matchday squads is now not even a matter of debate.
Center-Back: Laurent Koscielny
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The easiest way for Arsene Wenger to reintroduce Thomas Vermaelen into the starting XI is by excluding Laurent Koscielny, but there has not yet been any reason for him to do so.
As he has been during almost every game he's played, Koscielny was excellent against Norwich City. He combined his usual tenacity when attempting to win the ball back with a dominating presence in the box that allowed him to be effective in all aspects of defense.
At times, he could even be seen pushing forward, remaining up front at certain times when an Arsenal corner kick seemed to yield a promising chance.
Vermaelen can do all these things, but surely not better than Koscielny has shown he can during the last several months.
Left-Back: Kieran Gibbs
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Gibbs' situation is similar to that of Koscielny: A perfectly capable and respectable option is waiting in the wings, but Arsene Wenger has no reason to make a switch.
The Englishman has been excellent in both attack and defense when started at left back, which is now just about every game. Nacho Monreal has proved somewhat effective when he's gotten game time, but he is not as dynamic as the man above him in the pecking order.
So while Gibbs might be a bit strained after exerting himself twice in a few days, he is still preferable to Monreal.
Midfielder: Mikel Arteta
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With Mathieu Flamini forced out of the lineup due to a minor concussion, Arteta is a virtual certainty to anchor Arsenal's midfield unless he injures himself before the match starts.
As he has been for the last season, Arteta is the metronome that allows Arsenal to successfully execute their tiki-taka style to such great effect. Attacks and counterattacks are sustained largely because players like him keep the ball moving and allow the forwards to work their magic.
He will also sit in front of the defense and snuff out any emerging threats with more discipline than many others in the team can muster. In the absence of Vermaelen, he'll lead the team out of the tunnel.
Midfielder: Aaron Ramsey
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After delivering a breathtakingly stellar man-of-the-match performance against Norwich City, Ramsey is a virtual certainty to start against Dortmund.
Arsene Wenger tried to rest the Welshman by putting him on the bench, with the knowledge that he would be run ragged a few days later.
Unfortunately, that plan did not work out. But one would hope that Ramsey, who has been one of Arsenal's fittest players this season, can muster 90 more minutes of the lung-busting aggression that has made him so devastatingly effective.
If Ramsey lives up to the incredibly lofty standard he has now set for himself, Dortmund will have no way of coping with him.
Attacking Midfielder: Mesut Ozil
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Ideally, Wenger would have given Ozil a breather at the end of the Norwich City match so that he could be fully energized before playing the best opponent will have seen since signing for Arsenal.
Ozil has seen Borussia Dortmund several times before while with Schalke and Werder Bremen. While at Real Madrid last season, he played Jurgen Klopp's side four times—twice in the group stage, and twice more in the semifinal.
He will thus have the luxury of being familiar with his opponent—more so than if he had played for a Bundesliga club last season.
It is not as though Ozil would not have been picked otherwise, though. His dynamic creative talent is the sort of world-class element that Arsenal have been missing against the best clubs in the world in recent seasons. Ozil was purchased for precisely these sorts of matches.
Right-Winger: Jack Wilshere
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Wilshere turned in arguably his best performance of the season on the right wing against Norwich City, so why not give him another run out there?
When he was mistakenly deployed on the left, he was forced into the role of an out-and-out winger, which he most certainly is not. However, when shifted to the other side, Wilshere was able to use his technical nous to cut inside and wreak havoc upon Norwich's defense.
Also, this happened. How does a player not earn another start after pulling that piece of sheer magic out of his proverbial hat?
Left-Winger: Santi Cazorla
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Arsene Wenger did the wise thing after taking the risk of starting a partially fit Santi Cazorla on the left wing against Norwich last weekend. After the Spaniard put in a fine shift for almost an hour, he was hauled off and allowed to rest.
Cazorla might still be a little rusty, but there is simply no better option on the left than him. Even a mostly fit Cazorla is preferable to a fully fit Lukas Podolski in most instances. Wenger will certainly not want to take the risk of starting either of Ryo Miyaichi or Serge Gnabry.
Cazorla it shall be, then. It will be interesting to see whether he is allowed to—or capable of—completing an entire match against an opponent whose exceptional quality in every area will make his task much more draining than usual.
It would be advisable to keep him on the pitch for as long as possible.
Striker: Olivier Giroud
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There would not have been any doubt about who was going to start up top for Arsenal regardless of Olivier Giroud's performance last weekend, but his sensational display was further proof that he is one of the best strikers in the world at the moment.
The fact that he did not score against Norwich is besides the point; his technical ability and therefore his link-up play are outstanding. Very few strikers possess Giroud's ability to quickly manipulate the ball in small areas, much less those as physically powerful as him.
Giroud is therefore integral to the other forwards' and midfielders' ability to find space in and around the box. And when the opportunity arises, he is more clinical in his finishing than ever.
If Giroud continues to render insignificant Arsenal's inability to purchase a striker last summer, Borussia Dortmund will find it very difficult to contain the Gunners' lethal attack.
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