Originally Posted by Assa2:
“Arsenal & Chelsea doing their level best to reduce our CL places, then! Would make the EL all that more important. Why are PL teams so terrible in Europe lately?”
I think it's partly because previous successes have lulled them into a false sense of security where they think they can rotate their squads and still win. There is also an ongoing preference to prioritise their A-teams for the PL games at the weekend.
Last night Arsenal once again neatly highlighted the jeopardy in resting even a couple of first-teamers these days. But, for us this week, the Everton game just has too many important aspects to it that I can understand not taking chances with, and resting, the likes of Mingolet, Skrtel, Sakho, Moreno, Lucas, Milner, Coutinho, Sturridge and possibly even Ings. ( ideally I put Clyne in that list as well, but I don't know who'd play RB in his place? possibly Can? )