Freddie Ljungberg reveals why Martinelli, Pepe and Chambers start with Lacazette & David Luiz dropped

Freddie Ljungberg made four changes for Arsenal ’s trip to
West Ham after their 2-1 defeat to Brighton, with Gabriel
Martinelli making his first Premier League start in place of
the dropped Alexandre Lacazette .

David Luiz, Sead Kolasinac and Joe Willock joined Lacazette
in dropping out of the starting XI, with Calum Chambers,
Kieran Tierney and Nicolas Pepe selected in their place.

‘There’s a lot of games in December so there’s fatigue and
stuff,’ Ljungberg said of his team selection.

‘I wanted to get some energy into the team so thought I’d
shake things up a bit.’
Martinelli will make his first start for Arsenal in the Premier
League, having impressed in the Europa League, and
Ljungberg expects him to take that form into domestic
action.

‘He’s done very well in Europa League games, scores goals,
works hard so I think he will do really well,’ the Arsenal
caretaker manager added.

‘Pepe I thought did really well when I brought him on in the
second half in the last game.
I want him to be who he is. I want him to go one against one
and be difficult to read.

‘At the same time I want him to do his defensive work, that’s
important, we’re playing away from home.’
On the decision to bring Chambers in for Luiz, he added: ‘I
think he’s been doing well, training really well, being
competitive. When we were at Newcastle and had our away
win he played.’
Former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton expressed his surprise
at the decision to drop Lacazette, telling BBC Sport: ‘That is
a huge call.
‘Alexandre Lacazette scored against Brighton and I think he
is a great footballer who leads the line well, it’s a big call.
‘But fair play to Freddie Ljungberg, he is doing it his way and
picking the players he wants to pick.’