Slaven Bilic’s team selection is going to come under all sorts of scrutiny on Thursday. Will he throw caution to the wind and pick a strong team or has he lost patience with the vagiaries of the Europa League. My guess is that he’s not that fussed if we go out, but his pride will stop him from putting out a side which hasn’t got a cat in hell’s chance of winning. But we all know Arsenal on Sunday is far more important in what it could mean for our season.
So I thought I’d have a go at picking both our teams to play in Romania and the Emirates.
v FC Astra
Randolph, Jenkinson, Page, Burke, Henry, Oxford, Poyet, Nolan, Zarate, Lanzini, Amalfitanov Arsenal
Adrian, O’Brien, Cresswell, Ogbonna, Tomkins, Payet, Noble, Kouyate, Obiang, Sakho, Jarvis
Actually, I think my selection to play FC Astra is quite a strong one. Bearing in mind we do actually need to win or draw 3-3 to go through it may be that Maiga or Eliot Lee might play rather than Lanzini. It couldbe that Winston Reid makes his comeback against Astra, too.
Anyway, feel free to have some fun with your own selections.