Both Sessegnon and Perisic can start.
Perisic at RWB , Sess to stop Saka.
If we had done this for the reasons I said before the game , then no Royal to get sent off and end the game for us.
Probably no free shot for Saka which cost us the second goal as Sess is actually very good one on one as he has shown in the past and today when he came on.
I would have gone 3 in the midfield today , at least start the the game with that and make changes later if necessary rather than having nowhere to go if we went behind which is what happened.
I probably would have left Son on the bench yet again and come on later when there was more space.
I wasn't going to post that before the game and get pelters after his hat trick but I just didn't feel this was the right game to bring him back in although with a 3-5-2 formation it would have left him with less defensive responsibility but not with a 3-4-3 away to the league leaders.
Lessons learnt :
1. Tough away games Sess should start on the left.
2. Royal isn't good enough in Contes system.
3. Hojbjerg isn't good enough. He's not the worst but he's average all round , very slow across the ground and slow with the ball at his feet , needing three or four touches to get the ball out from his feet. A good squad player for a top team , nothing more.
4. Lloris needs better cover / competition
( Unless Forster is better than I think ).
Just to add , I've never ever liked a back 3/5 , I think it makes it even harder to be "brave" on the ball when the spare man is nearly always behind you. Arteta said they were brave on the ball but that's not difficult when it's just as easy to pass forward around your opponents box than it is for your opponent to pass along their own backline.
There is more pressure on our backline when in possession on and around our area than when arsenal's midfielders/ attackers had the ball just outside our penalty area. That's just not right.
The argument that the game is won in both penalty areas and not in midfield wouldn't have stood up well today as their extra man in midfield when played right gave them the overload and goals for Partey and Xacha. They won the midfield , they had the extra man and that won them the game.