Will Arsenal change Ramsey’s position for trip to Swansea?

Who will start in the right-forward role looks the biggest dilemma for Arsene Wenger

Injuries are fairly common throughout the Arsenal squad at present, but it is in the right-forward role where they look the most short of current options.
Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Tomas Rosicky are all on the treatment table, with Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski also out of their trip to Swansea.

This leaves Arsene Wenger with a bit of a headache in terms of who to start from the right, with four potential candidates for the role.


Teenage German Serge Gnabry has started in the position for Arsenal’s last two games, but three starts in a week may be too much to expect from the youngster.

Mesut Ozil often started from the right for Real Madrid, but given that he has already contributed three direct assists in just two Premier League appearances from a central role, Wenger may be loathed to move him to a less influential position.

Nicklas Bendtner has played from the right in previous seasons at Arsenal, but given that he is a striker by trade, from a defensive standpoint he may be a dangerous choice against Swansea, as Michael Laudrup’s full-backs don’t need much encouragement to get forward.
Therefore, by process of elimination, the in-form Aaron Ramsey may be asked to do a job in that position until someone from the injured list returns.

Ramsey has been a revelation in one of the two deeper central midfield roles, with seven goals in eight appearances in all competitions.

However, the battle for places in this position have increased now that Mikel Arteta has returned from injury, with this duo battling Jack Wilshere and Mathieu Flamini for starting roles.

Wilshere’s flexibility has already resulted in him having to play from the left and Ramsey is far more versatile from a positional point of view than Arteta and Flamini, who are limited to central roles.

However the Gunners line up in Wales, it is 6/5 that Arsenal win, 23/10 that Swansea secure the three points and the same price that honours are even at the final whistle.