Arsenal: Attacker to return; Giroud on his season; Xhaka tackling technique criticised

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Arsene Wenger will be boosted by the return of Theo Walcott on Saturday, who has been out with a calf injury since December. Per Mertesacker and Mathieu Debuchy are also back in training and could be involved in the matchday squad at Southampton. It is expected that the Frenchman will rotate his squad on Saturday, resting key players and giving an opportunity to others in the squad. The FA Cup isn’t a priority this season, but Wenger will want to put out a side that is good enough to reach the next round.

“We’ll put a team with first team experience in there. Maybe one or two younger players in there.”

This is the right move from Wenger as he can’t afford to lose any of his more important players through an injury contracted this weekend. The Premier League is the tightest it has been for years and a top four finish is imperative for the future development of the club. Arsenal are also in the Champions League and face a difficult tie against Bayern Munich next month. The FA Cup is their best chance of a trophy, but they should be able to go through with a weakened team. It will be especially useful to give Walcott some minutes as he has something to offer over the remainder of the campaign.

Olivier Giroud was not in the starting eleven at the beginning of the season, but he never doubted his quality and he has once again become a prominent figure in attack for the Gunners. Alexis Sanchez started the season as the first choice striker and was a revelation in the role. However, Giroud has been on an incredible scoring run recently and has broken back into the first team, shifting Sanchez to the left wing.

“I never had doubts about my quality.”

“When you show what you can do on the pitch it’s better for a striker. I want to carry on like that and keep efficiency high.”

The French international in unfairly criticised by some sections of the Arsenal support, who don’t believe that he is a top tier striker. That may be true, but he is a very good one. He consistently scores goals and his contribution extends to much more than hitting the back of the next. Arsenal are more capable of making the ball stick in the final third when the Frenchman is on the pitch, due to his impressive holdup play. He has a huge role to play over the coming months and deserves to be a regular starter for the club.

During his pre-match press conference ahead of the Southampton match, Arsene Wenger has been discussing Granit Xhaka. He has told the Swiss midfielder to stop tackling because his technique is poor. Xhaka has now received two red cards since joining Arsenal, and Wenger has attributed that to a bad tackling technique rather than aggression on the midfielder’s part.

“He’s naturally not a great tackler and in his decision making.”

“It is more the way he tackles that is not convincing. He doesn’t master the technique.”

It is something that will be worked on by Arsenal during training sessions, but it is difficult to correct at this stage of his career. The Gunners signed the midfielder to add bite and aggression to their midfield, but he is too much of a liability at the moment. He has shown flashes of his ability since joining, but he isn’t much use to the team if he keeps getting suspended. It will be interesting to see how Wenger manages Xhaka for the rest of the season, as the player has something to contribute.

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