Besiktas preview: find that rhythm

Evening folks.

It's Besiktas away tomorrow and the team has already travelled to Turkey. We are, however, in a spot of trouble with some of our players sidelined, so picking a capable starting eleven can prove to be tough.

Goalkeeping

No doubt in my mind Szczesny will start. Had Ospina been fit I wouldn't be so sure, but with the Colombian international still nursing a thigh injury, he wasn't even included. Ospina, like Walcott, will miss both qualifiers.

However, Szczesny definitely needs to be told by Arsene to keep his game safe and simple. The stakes are too high and it will be hard to get a positive result in any case, we don't want to make our life harder by serving Besiktas a couple of blunders on a silver platter.

Defense

It pretty much picks itself and it's scary. We could potentially end up without Koscielny (achilles) and Gibbs (hamstring), so only four senior defenders will be available: Debuchy, Chambers, Mertesacker and Monreal.

"We will assess Koscielny on Monday; if he's fit and capable to play, we play him. It was our plan to bring the Germans back in contention for Everton. But in case of emergency I will take Mertesacker.

"But we have Bellerin, who was 19 today, who can come in. We are a bit short. I hope Koscielny responds well to today's game."

Such a summary gives me the creeps. No word on Gibbs, Koscielny is a doubt and Mert is short on fitness and could be rushed back anyway. When Arsene brought up Bellerin it became painfully obvious just how short we are in the defensive department.

Why haven't we addressed it earlier? It was obvious Vermaelen will go (he was injured anyway) and that Debuchy, Koscielny and Mertesacker will all have a short pre-season. Yes, we've brought Chambers in (as a right-back, mind you) and that is why we are still afloat. He can play defensive midfield, right-back and centre-back, so I don't expect further arrivals in the first two areas, but we were always going to end up short in the middle now that Vermaelen's tenure has drawn to a close.

I'm all for promoting Bellerin, don't get me wrong. He's impressed during the Emirates Cup and it will only be sensible to have the Spaniard in the first squad, as it allows Chambers to cover at centre-back if needed, but even in that case we only have 7 defenders, two of which are 19. A further addition is vital, even if the player won't play against Besiktas. As for the Turks, what we have, we hold. Fingers crossed Koscielny is all right and will still be after the game.