In midfield, Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic and Andrés Iniesta will have a tough time against William Carvalho and Rodrigo Battaglia, two tall and strong defensive midfielders who love to muscle small, creative midfielders off the ball, and William in particular will keep a close eye on Lionel Messi. (barcablaugranes.com)
Every Arsenal fan in the world was very angry that Arsene Wenger did not invest in a young strong defensive midfielder in the summer transfer window, especially as both Mikel Arteta and Matthieu Flamini were getting a bit long in the tooth to do the job for a club with title aspirations. (justarsenal.com)
As long as he is picked on merit as a player and no more bull as we had about Nolan I agree, but this week I think he should be dropped as Kouyate and Obiang are playing better and we need strong defensive midfielders away from home, I would give Tomkins the band for this week, But as club captain Nobles is the right player, (claretandhugh.info)