Xhaka and Perez must start against Chelsea unless we want to lose again

Former Gunner Nicklas Bendtner lined up for Nottingham Forest against his old club, but it was Arsenal’s new arrivals who shone at the City Ground on Tuesday night.

Granit Xhaka rifled another goal from 30-yards out to open the scoring after only 23 minutes. Lucas Perez then scored a penalty-kick to get off the mark for his new club before rewarding his own hard-work with a fine individual goal. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain calmly finished to net the fourth goal in injury time to send the Gunners to the next stage of the League Cup.

Arsene Wenger did not need an alarming reminder like this to draft Granit Xhaka back into his starting line-up. But if he somehow keeps the Switzerland international on the bench on Sunday against Chelsea, all hell could break lose among most Arsenal fans and rightly so.

To be fair, the same can also be said of Perez who, despite facing inferior opposition in Nottingham Forest, has proven to be more of a focal point in attack than having to deal with the sight of Gary Cahill bullying Alexis Sanchez again.

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