Arsenal’s new found depths in the squad means that the Gunners will hardly be playing a team of kids in tonight’s match against Southampton, despite making a host of changes from the weekend win over Bournemouth.
But one certainty to start is the third-choice keeper Emi Martinez who has performed heroically in the first two rounds of this competition. THE Gunners have not had it too tough so far with wins against Nottm Forest and Reading, and another home win tonight will mean we are just two more semi-final legs away from making the Final, and Martinez is determined that Arsenal will be there for the first trophy of the season.
Martinez said on Arsenal.com.”The boss told me that I would play in the League Cup at the beginning of the season and I trust him,”
“I’m playing every game so I’m really looking forward to Southampton. We have had two big games already, with Forest away and Reading at home, and Championship sides are tough sides in this competition because they’ve got nothing to lose.
“Now we’re in the quarter-finals and it’s a big game for us at the Emirates. We want to go to Wembley, we want to go all the way.
“I dreamt of [winning] it the first day. When we played Forest away I thought, ‘If we beat Forest then we’re one step closer to Wembley’.
“We’ve only got three more games now so I’m really looking forward to playing Southampton at home.”
IF Arsenal win tonight it will be our 20th unbeaten game in a row, so confidence will be very high in the dressing room. And as the draw has been very kind to us so far, hopefully we will get Hull City in the semis, rather than Liverpool, Man United or West Ham. And the longer we remain unbeaten then the naysayers will simply have to accept that this could possibly be our season after all….
Onwards and Upwards!
Admin
Well this is the opportunity for younger players to shine. It’s a case of how hungry they are to prove themselves and do something for their club which will determine how far we go. The better clubs in the league will likely play their second string players saving their best for BPL and CL games. Arsenal are in a pretty good situation as we finally have quality in squad depth and there are a number of players (Martinez, Holding, Zelalem etc) that can step up to the plate for this tournament.
I think it would be great for the young guys and for the club if we win this competition. It might even rub off on our performance in the PL which need a bit of a lift.
Having said that, I rather beat City, Chelsea or Liverpool in the PL, in terms of making a statement, or a CL knock-out stage opponent than win this cup.
For me, the real statements get made in the big competition’s big games.
I will prob gets loads of thumbs down for this but I think this article is getting us ahead of ourselves. It’s only been 26 months since we crashed out to Southampton in the same competition at the Emirates (Sep 2014) with a team that Sanchez, Podolski, Bellerin, Wilshere and Coquelin all started. They were a pretty much full strength team with maybe one first team regular missing while we started Diaby. Yes I know, we have a stronger side now and a perhaps more balanced team. To look too far ahead is not to respect your current opponents. Their coach has already said he hopes we field a young team so he can pit their youngsters against ours. But while his teams in the previous rounds have been mixed. He played a stronger one vs Palace and a weaker one vs Sunderland. I dont expec a weak Southampton team tonight and while I hope we win, I am not taking them for granted- we have a torrid record against them. Knowing our luck however, we would prob get liverpool or United in the semis anyway. Bring them all on!!!!
What did I say? getting ahead of ourselves without properly respecting Southampton who have now beaten us thrice in the last two years, including knocking us out of the same competition (again) at the Emirates (again!)
It just shows Wenger’s naivety. 1. for being goaded by Puel into pitting a weaker team and expecting he would keep his word by doing the same. and 2. for losing to the same opposition on home soil twice in 2 years showing no lessons were learned.
The only silver lining is we have six fixture in January instead of eight. Good luck to the others with eight! Hopefully their league form sufers
Team for Southampton
perez giroud ox
Ramsey
Elneny xhaka
Gibbs Gabriel holding jenkinson
Martinez
Subs ospina,beilek,monreal,coqulan,zalelem,Rene-Adelaide, akpom
Giroud is injured…