Arsenal: Iwobi, Walcott, Perez Or The Ox; Who’s The Starting Right Winger?

Alex Iwobi is set to return to the Arsenal squad for Saturday’s game with Southampton. Should he replace Theo Walcott in the starting lineup?

Arsenal’s squad is beginning to come to the boil. Many injured players are returning, fatigued stars are finding their match sharpness and new additions are just starting their Gunners’ career. Consequently, without too many injuries to cope with, Arsene Wenger has a host of selection dilemmas to sift through for Saturday’s match with Southampton.

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With Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez coming into the squad for the first team, accompanied by the long awaited return of Olivier Giroud, Wenger has to make choices at both ends of the pitch. One position that perhaps raises the most uncertainty, however, is wide right.

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Due to the makeup of the squad and the versatility of many of the attacking players at Wenger’s disposal, whoever plays on the right wing is seemingly the last name on the teamsheet, affected by the decisions that are made at other positions in the side. Whether Sanchez or Giroud plays up front will determine whether Oxlade-Chamberlain will be considered for the wide left role rather than the wide right. If Perez is determined a striker rather than a wide man, then perhaps that drops Giroud to the bench, providing Wenger with one less option at right wing.

Consequently, the likely lineup will see Giroud resume his role as the central striker with Alexis Sanchez moved back to his usual role on the left wing. That leaves Perez, the Ox, Walcott and recently returned Alex Iwobi to duel it out on the opposite wing. Perez will most probably start off the bench and the Ox is clearly behind Theo at least in the pecking order so far this season. Therefore, the battle of the right wing is most likely between Iwobi and Walcott. So, who should Wenger choose for Saturday’s match?

The first thing to take notice of is Iwobi’s injury lay-off due to a hip injury he suffered on the opening weekend of the season. With Wenger having already felt the full force of rushing players back to the starting XI without them being fully fit, it would seem rather assured that Walcott will continue as the starting right winger.

The issue comes in Wenger’s ambiguity in his valuation of Theo. Le Prof clearly prefers the 26-year-old as a central striker due to his liabilities as a defender and is also a fan of Iwobi’s talents having broken into the first team after a terrific performance against Barcelona last season, one that few predicted would even happen, nevermind springboard him towards success.

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Nonetheless, while perhaps Iwobi is the better player – or at least has the most potential of the two – and has now established as a fully fledged member of the squad as evidenced by Wenger blocking him from playing in the Olympics, the fitness of Theo Walcott should see him into the starting lineup on Saturday. The competition is fierce, though, and Walcott will have to perform if he is to remain the starter.