Arsene Wenger: Why I made six changes to the Arsenal team



Arsene Wenger is looking ahead to a tough fixture list

ARSENAL boss Arsene Wenger has explained his decision to make six changes to his team for their Champions League opener against Dinamo Zagreb.

 

Of the team which beat Stoke 2-0 on the weekend, only Laurent Koscielny, Gabriel, Santi Cazorla, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil retained their place.

Goalkeeper David Ospina, right-back Mathieu Debuchy, left-back Kieran Gibbs, captain Mikel Arteta, winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and striker Olivier Giroud all come into the side for the match in Croatia.

 

Petr Cech, Nacho Monreal, Francis Coquelin and Theo Walcott are on the bench with Hector Bellerin and Aaron Ramsey rested at home in London.

And Wenger revealed Arsenal's heavy fixture list in the next few weeks played a part in his decision.

He said: "We have seen last night it's difficult (the Champions League). I consider the three weeks (coming up) for the changes.

 

"Overall, an international is rested and another international comes in so for me it is not a big change. 

"Ospina had a great season last year. Cech needed a little breather. Zagreb is a good technical-level team.

"We will approach it correctly but, even if we do so, it will be a difficult game. It has all the ingredients to be tricky."