Despite a less-than-brilliant turn as a number 9 against Manchester United (partially due to his limited mobility), many expected Lukas Podolski to be dropped for the remainder of the season, simply because he couldn’t do the right job there.

However Arsene Wenger appears more than keen to start him there again while Olivier Giroud is out. In an interview with Arsenal Player, he said:

“I believe so, he has the qualities because he is a good finisher,

He has a good technique and because we have a game based on very quick combinations I believe he can be a part of that. Overall I am convinced in the coming games he will show it.

At the moment, yes I will. A definite decision has not been made but if there is an opportunity then there is a good chance I will do it."

The other options are Gervinho and Walcott for that position, and considering in these last three games Arsenal need to finish whatever chances they get, I can see his reasoning. His link-up play may not be great, but if a chance is created I’d rather have Lukas Podolski on the end of it than quite a few other players.

Predicted line-ups

Which brings me onto the subject of Arsenal’s line-up against QPR on Saturday evening.

I can’t bring myself to be optimistic about this game, because A. Relegated teams always make a go of it and B. Arsenal are always crap during evening kick-offs.

I can’t envision many changes, due to the above news and the fact that on the whole the team were excellent against Manchester United. The only change I can see is Sagna being replaced by Jenkinson, but Wenger does trust the Frenchman to come back from his errors as he has done numerous times this season. We’ll have to see.

Szczesny; Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Arteta, Ramsey; Cazorla, Rosicky, Walcott; Podolski

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