“I am 99 percent confident”.
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Wenger may be without a number of players, but he will take confidence from a terrific personal record against Watford.
An exclusive from Squakwa emerged over the past few days stating that Wenger had been pursuing a move for Griezmann during the summer but it had been scuppered by Chelsea’s refusal to sell Diego Costa back to the Spanish giants.
At the other end of the pitch, Wenger could again be without striker Olivier Giroud.
The match is likely to come soon for Olivier Giroud – who reached the final with France – to start and Wenger is frustrated by the timing of next week’s worldwide break considering some of his squad are only just returning to full fitness following the European Championship. But Wenger said on Friday that he was “still a little fraction behind physically”.
Meanwhile, Mesut Ozil has been handed his first start of the season. The Welsh manager believed Aaron Ramsey’s injury could have been avoided.
It’s a must-win game for Arsenal already. Starting away at Southampton, they led for most of the game before Nathan Redmond’s equaliser saw the game finish 1-1.
Watford (0-1-1) also arrive into the game low on confidence, having endured a tricky start to life under new manager Walter Mazzarri.
Watford have made some changes before the season, and so far it’s not looking good. He also focused on the boost of new signings Daryl Janmaat, Younes Kaboul and Roberto Pereyra. However, Mazzarri wouldn’t confirm how many, if any, of that trio would feature against Arsenal. “They have just arrived and I need to be sure they know what they need to do”. “I want to start from the good things we did against Chelsea, so it’s almost impossible all three will start. It’s almost impossible that all three will start”.
Both teams have managed only one point in their first two matches, and both are eager to get their first win of the season.
“Because the longer I wait, the more hard it will be to lose the addiction”.
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To elaborate, it is apparent that rather than see Xhaka and Francis Coquelin as alternatives, Wenger may see Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny as competition for the deepest role. Arsenal were ahead after just four minutes through Alexis Sanchez, and strolled to a convincing 4-0 win thanks to additional strikes from Alex Iwobi, Hector Bellerin and Theo Walcott.
