But seeing Ma'el and Rosicky standing at the free-kick spot together, their worries were eased.
In the end, both sides paid for this conflict with two yellow cards, Ma'el and Arteta for Arsenal, and Scott Parker and Modric for Tottenham.
This decision left Ma'el very dissatisfied, but with the yellow card already raised, there was nothing he could do except complain.
...
"How do we play?"
Before the free-kick, Rosicky extended his right hand towards the center while asking for Ma'el's opinion.
With Ramsey out, he's the team's first choice for penalty kicks.
However, Wenger specifically instructed before the game that Tottenham's goalkeeper Friedel wasn't very good at catching aerial balls. If they could play a curved ball close to the goalkeeper, they could exploit his mistakes.
And if they wanted to take an outside curve from the left side, they had to use their left foot to play the ball.
