Slaven Bilic looks set to start with the team which enjoyed a 2-0 victory of Huddersfield at West Bromwich Albion tomorrow.
And that means he will start with a three at the back formation against a team that prefers to sit off and try to hit on the break.
‘Arnie’ comes in for Sam Byram but in sticking with the same line up it means Chicharito is again set to play on the left although with licence to move inside and support Carroll when required.
And Arnauatovic’s availability would allow the manager to change the formation should it be required by withdrawing one of the central defenders and moving Chicharito or Diafra Sakho alongside the big man should game conditions demand it.
Bilic has been working on both defensive systems in training this week paying particular attention to set piece defending which is an integral part of the West Brom game.
Not so sure about this approach!
Chicharito is our no.1 central striker..
I don’t think he was playing on the left flank.
Our team should play a style which gets the ball to Chicharito, not Andy Carroll.
In addition, I’d prefer to see Chicharito playing with Sakho in a 3-5-2, or even a 4-4-2.
In either of these formations, Cresswell and Antonio should be assigned to attacking roles down the left flank and right flanks, respectively.
We cannot defend properly with a flat back four, so he has little choice really other than to stick with a five. It proved more successful last year and looked fairly solid on Monday night. As BFS told us endlessly, if you don’t concede then you tend to get better results! We’ve a wealth of striking talent and look capable of scoring when we get the ball forward. COYI