‘Arsenal must drop Ozil and sulky Sanchez for derby’

Daniel Storey

Sky Sports pundit and former Arsenal player Charlie Nicholas says that Arsene Wenger should drop Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez for the north London derby.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Nicholas believes that Wenger should pick the team that drew 0-0 with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, a game in which Ozil and Sanchez did not start.

Nicholas says that neither player does enough in big games, and that Sanchez is sulky at playing out wide.

“If Arsenal are serious about winning these big games, I would go with Alexandre Lacazette and Danny Welbeck and leave Ozil out and Sanchez out,” Nicholas said.

“Are they two of our best players? Of course they are, but they don’t do enough in these big games.

“Welbeck isn’t as talented but what you’ve got to do against a back three is move them about to create chances, while Lacazette is our best finisher and sulky Sanchez doesn’t like playing out wide.

“I’d play Alex Iwobi as well. People will question me for leaving those two out but it worked against Chelsea.

“I’d have Aaron Ramsey in central midfield with Granit Xhaka, but my concern is that Wenger sticks with his principle of playing two holding midfielders, even though he doesn’t have the right players to play in those positions.”

Hey, it’s ballsy. We will say that. Real ballsy.