How serious should Arsenal take Southampton in League Cup?

We all know the usual drill with Arsenal in the Capital One Cup, or whatever name it had in the past, as Arsene Wenger tends to use the competition, especially in the earlier rounds, to give the young Gunners and fringe players some valuable game time and experience.

But the game tomorrow at the Emirates might be different. With Southampton coming to town, Arsenal are facing strong opposition, who have no European games to worry about and so their manager Ronald Koeman may want to keep the team that has been doing so well recently, together.

And I know that players like Abou Diaby, Hector Bellerin, Tomas Rosicky, Francis Coqelin and Joel Campbell need some time on the pitch, while a few from the academy would love the chance to play for the first team. The problem for Wenger, however, is that he will not want to lose the momentum of that win at Aston Villa.

After a slow start to the season, the Gunners finally got going on Saturday and the Frenchman will want to keep that up, with some tough looking games ahead, starting with the north London derby against Tottenham on Saturday. So I think there will be some players getting a rest, but I also think that Wenger will try to put out a pretty strong side. What would you do Gooners?

Tags Bellerin Campbell Diaby

35 Comments

      1. Picked this from Daily Fail, thought to share it:

        What does Richard the Third and Manchester United have in common?

        Both got buried in Leichester.

        Oh Lord, yesterday still warms my heart..

  1. Every team needs to be taken seriously otherwise a Manure could well also happen to us. Every team in the Epl can beat us.

  2. we haven’t got the depth of squad to compete on 4 fronts.
    play are youth tonight an couple faves like rosicky and diaby
    if we lose- dont give a monkeys

    im sure a few of you will say- we must win all games- winners mentality bla bla bla

    look at our squad- forget the mickey mouse cup

    shouts out to sepp blatter an his getout of corruption charges free clause:

    suddenly qatar is too hot to host world cup? not before, only now lol

    fifa- footballs sopranos

      1. @Sumo
        Gives some fans a lot to think about when they start gettin pissed at AW for not being able to buy certain players.
        Good article.
        (I piggy backed on the tip) Lol

  3. ospina, podolski, rosiscky, campbel, diaby and the likes are more than capable to take on Soton. No need using any player from the Villa win

  4. Other than bellerin i dont want to see a single senior squad defender in that XI we simply can not afford to risk it.
    Also give ospina, campbell, rosicky and podolski a start, they have all been very patient.

  5. Well we can’t play Koscielny or Mertesacker, can’t risk an injury. Bellerin, Hayden and Chambers should start instead. Give Ospina his debut, Campbell should start on the left with Ox on the right, maybe bring Walcott on second half if he’s anywhere near fit yet? Nice way to ease him back in. Diaby and Rosicky in midfield, Wilshere as No.10, Podolski or maybe even Sanogo up front.

  6. Don’t think we can risk Gibbs either after all he has just played two games on the bounce which is a lot for him history says he is due a breakdown any time now!!

    1. I’m not sure if we have anyone else to play left back. Monreal is injured last I heard. Vermaelen used to cover there, but of course we don’t have him anymore either…

  7. I don’t think we should go fully academy. We can still start the likes of Rosicky, Podolski, Diaby… Just to mention a few. As well as Ospina between the sticks… It will still be quite a strong side if you ask me!

  8. Considering the league cup might be the only trophy we’ll win (I prefer to brace myself up for disappointments), we should take it very seriously. Southampton are 2nd in the league for a very good reason and they have Schneirdelin and WANYAMA.

  9. Sanchez
    Podolski Rosicky Campbell
    Flamini Diaby
    Gibbs Mertasacker Chambers Bellerin
    Ospina

    Bench: Cazorla, OX, Szczesny, Hayden, Wilshere, Sanogo, Akpom, Arteta

    And we’re good to go.

  10. Ospina
    Bellerin Chambers BFG Gibbs
    Diaby Flamini
    Ox Rosicky Campbell
    Podolski

    Or swap podolski and campbell, either way I would go with that as the starting lineup…

  11. Ospina
    Bellerin Chambers Hayden Gibbs
    Diaby Coquelin
    Zelalem Rosicky Podolski
    Campbell

    subs: martinez, ormond, BFG, Flame, Jack, Sanchez, Welbeck

  12. Ospina
    Bellerin…Ajayi…Hayden…Ormonde
    Coquelin…Zalelem
    Gnabry…Akpom…iwobi
    Sanogo

    Give most of the 1st team a rest. This line up will kick butt

  13. put out the strongest available team possible because realistically this is our best hope of winning any trophy this season . the way we are playing at the moment i think southampton will beat us regardless . we are so slow and pathetic , we should have ran up a cricket score against villa , but no , they slowed down and played cross pitch training football all second half .

  14. Just wanna see this front three against Soton…….. ……………………………………………………campbell……Akpom……Gnabry.

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors