Manuel Pellegrini may well be set to drop Mark Noble from the match against Arsenal at the weekend as he seeks to solve his midfield issues.
It has become apparent very early that he will need more energy in midfield and the Daily Mail – which has good links to the training ground – reckons the captain is heading for the bench.
A midfield partnership of Noble and Jack Wilshere simply hasn’t worked but where the manager will look for an answer is a puzzle> However, the answer looks key to Noble’s first team future.
He has already tried Declan Rice in midfield which saw the youngster hauled off at half time against Liverpool and then exiled from the 20 man squad for the game against Bournemouth.
Carlos Sanchez looks the likely replacement although Pedro Obiang remains in the frame and room is likely to be found for Andriy Yarmelenko who, despite picking up a yellow, was impressive when he appeared as a second half sub.
Pellegrini has regularly hinted that the captain may not be a regular starter and Saturday may be the start of that process.
It’s an interesting one. I know Sanchez only played about 15 minutes on Saturday but when he came on he looked far more mobile than Noble (or Wilshire) had been, and his pass completion was, I believe, 100%. Definitely worth a punt in a game that nobody expects us to get anything from.
It’s very worrying that we don’t know our best side after pre season..there is a lot of chopping and changing and you will never get result s li!e that ..if I’m honest I’m worried already ..