Arsenal Players Left ‘Stunned’ By Emery’s Tactical Decision Against Chelsea

Aaron Ramsey and his fellow Arsenal players were left ‘stunned’ by Unai Emery’s decision to drop the midfielder for Saturday’s defeat at Chelsea, according to the Mirror.

The Welshman started in the number 10 role during Arsenal’s opening weekend loss at home to Manchester City but was largely ineffective and was replaced by Alexandre Lacazette in the 54th minute.

The Mirror claim Emery was unhappy with Ramsey’s performance against City and that was the reason he was axed from the starting eleven to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening.

This decision left Ramsey and some of his Arsenal team mates ‘stunned’, according to the newspaper, as the players couldn’t believe Emery had dropped the 27-year-old for such an important game.

The report says Ramsey spoke with Emery after the City loss and the Gunners coach insisted he didn’t blame any individuals for the defeat but was simply trying to find the right balance in midfield.

Ramsey was subsequently left out against Chelsea while the likes of Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil kept their places, despite also putting-in poor displays against City.

Both Xhaka and Ozil were hauled off at Stamford Bridge with Ramsey coming on for the final 25 minutes but it’s going to be interesting to see how Emery lines-up for the visit of West Ham to the Emirates this weekend.

The Spanish coach is clearly struggling to find his preferred line-up in the middle of the park. The former PSG boss has always favoured two holding midfielders with Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi, Mo Elneny, Ramsey and Xhaka fighting for those two positions.

Ramsey isn’t a natural holding midfielder as he likes to get forward and support the attacks so it seems he’s going to have to fight it out with Ozil for the number 10 position in Emery’s line-up.

It all comes at a time when the former Cardiff City midfielder is involved in contract negotiations as he’s in the final year of his current deal and Arsenal are struggling to reach an agreement over an extension.

One things for sure, Ramsey is far less likely to sign a new deal if he isn’t playing regularly, so Emery needs to figure out a way to get Ramsey in his starting eleven or Arsenal face the prospect of losing one of their best players.