Starting XI – Manchester City vs Arsenal – Your Choice
With the Premier League set to return after a hiatus, we asked you Gooners to pick your favourite XI to start in our first game since lockdown (link), and as always, you didn’t disappoint. So first things first, on behalf of all of us at Arsenal Kerala, here’s one big
THANK YOU !
Votes came in from all over as Gooners across the nation donned Arteta’s shoes and shared their vision for the team. Given below is the team you picked for our game against Manchester City.
Note: The lineup has been chosen based on the players who received the most votes for each position with the percentage votes indicated next to each player
Goalkeeper
Bernd Leno – 98.6%
Was it ever in doubt? The German took home the win with a very small minority preferring his understudies – Martinez and Macey
Right Back
Hector Bellerin – 95.7%
Another position for which there was little contest. Then again you’d expect nothing else from fans when the alternatives are Niles and Soares, with the latter yet to play in Arsenal colours.
Left Back
Kieran Tierney – 75.7%
It is with the left back position that we begin to see some semblance of competition, at least on paper. However fans clearly seem to prefer Tierney over Saka, who has stood in for the Scot in recent games, and Kolasinac, who finishes in third place.
Center Backs
David Luiz – 40.7%
Shkodran Mustafi – 20%
Here’s where it gets tricky. Since we wanted Gooners to have the full range of combinations possible at their disposal, we listed all 6 centerbacks for both the positions available. The final two have been chosen based on the percentage votes received, putting both the positions together. Luiz and Mustafi finished up top, with Mari coming in at number 3 with 16.4% votes. It is also interesting to note that a whopping 78.6% fans voted to play Luiz in the first CB position, making him the clear choice ahead of the competition, even though his average percentage dropped by around 38% using our aforementioned metric.
Central Midfield
Granit Xhaka 30.9%
Dani Ceballos 23.3%
Mesut Ozil 22.8%
Another position for which we wanted fans to have all possible combinations available, with the final 3 decided based on the percentage votes received putting all three positions together. On their respective top performing individual questions, Xhaka scored 65.5%, Ozil scored 50% and Ceballos scored 42.9%, making those choices seem even clearer. Votes for the next best finisher – Lucas Torreira were more or less evenly split between the three questions, garnering him a total percentage of 14.7%.
Left Wing
Pierre Emerick Aubameyang – 50%
Our top scorer for the season just had to be in there, the only question being – Where ? With his versatility, he has been deployed all across the front three positions in the past season and fans seemed equally conflicted. 37.1% fans preferred to have him play as the center forward and another 11.4% chose to play him on the right. In the left wing position, Martinelli finished second with 30% votes followed by Bukayo Saka with 20%.
Right Wing
Nicolas Pepe – 85.7%
Arsenal’s record signing now also holds the record for the most popular attacking player in our poll. Perhaps the lack of alternatives was also a deciding factor. Finishing in at number 2 was Aubameyang, as mentioned earlier, with Reiss Nelson at third with 2.9% votes.
Center Forward
Alexandre Lacazette – 47.1%
In spite of missing his scoring boots in the final few matches before lockdown, Lacazette’s form against the Big 6 in the premier league speaks for itself. Aubameyang ofcourse finished a close second with 37.1% votes with Martinelli in third (11.4%) and Nketiah fourth (4.3%)
So there you have it…
This is the final team you have picked to play for our return against Manchester City.
Definitely looks good, how good, we’ll just have to wait and see this upcoming week.
What do you think about the team above? Is this the same that you’d have picked? What are your predictions for the match? Let us know in the comments below.