Arsenal may be forced to heavily rotate following Burnley clash? (Opinion)

Arsenal are set to take on Wimbledon in the EFL Cup third round on Wednesday evening and I expect a number of changes to be made.

The Gunners named an extremely strong starting line-up in the previous round when we took on West Brom, earning a resounding 6-0 victory, with the manager showing a clear intent on taking the trophy seriously.

Mikel Arteta will no doubt be trying to win every match, but he may well be forced into heavily rotating for the cup clash, more than he had already been planning for.

We saw both Thomas Partey and Kieran Tierney having to be replaced against Burnley yesterday, while Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka were both seen to be struggling also.

The overly-physical match which played out on Saturday could well take its toll on a number of players however, of which the extent will only be telling in the coming days, and I imagine we will be forced into an excessive amount of changes, although the League One side shouldn’t pose the greatest challenges to our extended squad players.

Many have already been expecting to see Charlie Patino make the playing squad for the matchup, while Omari Hutchinson, Omar Rekik and Folarin Balogun could also hope to play a part also.

Did you notice any other players struggling against Burnley?

Patrick

Tags Burnley EFL Cup Wimbledon

33 Comments

  1. Arteta has got to give our fringe and squad rotation players the chance, to play in the League Cup match. Otherwise they would likely be unhappy and ruin the current dressing room atmosphere

    Therefore I predict these backup players will start the game:

    ………………………………….. Leno
    …… Soares …. Chambers …. Mari …. Tavares
    Balogun . Lokonga . Maitland-Niles . Martinelli
    …………………. Nketiah ………. Lacazette

    1. Leno for this game? He might be low on confidence right now, but for a league cup our third choice keeper should start.

      1. Barring Tavares and Lokonga, the rest of the players are Wimbledon calibre so it will be a good match to watch, evenly matched, fingers crossed!

    2. You can’t play 3 out and out strikers in the game…we will lack creativity…..so we shouldn’t play Laca, Nketia en Balogun in the same starting lineup.

      I would rather have an attacking Mid in that lineup then have Balogun on the wing with Laca as no9

    3. Can Balogun, Nkethia and Lacazette all play together considering they are all CF? We need 2 or 3 regulars in the game to prepare them for Spuds on Sunday. For instance I think White needs more confidence and ESR needs to be fit.
      My opinion.

  2. To be rested.
    Ramsdale
    Tomi White Gabriel Tierney
    Partey Odegaard ESR Saka Pepe Aubameyang.
    Injured Elneny? Holding?
    Suspended Xhaka?
    Leno
    Cedric Chambers Mari Tavarez
    Niles Lokonga Kolasinac
    Olayinka Lacazette Martinelli
    Subs
    Hein Okonkwo
    Rekik Lopez
    Patino Taylor Hutchinson Cottrell
    Nketiah

  3. …………………….Bernd Leno…………………..
    Chambers….Holding Mari…..Tavares
    ……….Maitland Niles…….Sambi………………..
    Martinelli….Smith Rowe……..Balogun
    …………………..Alex Lacazette……………………….
    Failure 2 win will depend on tactics or complacency. Makes every player happy at the least.

  4. If Lacazette is fit he must play to get match fit. Martinelli for sure and maybe Balogun too later in the game. Shite I am dreading Xhaka and Elneny coming back! Xhaka will get Arteta the sack…..mark my words. Will be nice to see Nuno get a game. Ben White needs to get some movement in his game, he looked too slow and ponderous against Burnley.

  5. What is it with arsenal and injuries. Partey who was hardly ever injured before Arsenal is now a perennial injury bencher. Same with Tierney..

    We have always had a terrible injury record. Is it the training, recovery, diagnosis, treatment or what.?

    It’s just a joke how prone our players are.
    Yes it was a physical game where Burnley didn’t just sit back and admire our amazing football “;) but why is it always the same..

    1. AOT
      it.is the same.for all teams
      Because it is our team we scrutinise it more
      As for the dig at amazing football
      Win first
      Amazing football comes witj confidence and wins breed confidence

      1. Yes Alan, so you keep telling me!;)

        Let’s see shall we.

        Regarding same for all teams historically speaking; compared to other teams Arsenal have a terrible record of injuries and is common knowledge.

  6. Good idea to use young players & not-good-enoughs for Cup ties… Xhaka should be played there for the rest of the season😹👍

  7. Can anyone who has a decent IQ, possibly explain to me and anyone else who reads it, WHY the useless lump Xhaka is STILL at our club , albeit he is mercifully banned at present?

    What are these mysterious “qualities” that our last three managers must somehow see in him in order to play him as a regular?

    I can see he is big and powerful but so is Anthony Joshua and I don’t see him playing for us.

    To me, he is completely lumpish and leaden in pace/mobility(or lack of it),in usefulness(about as much use as a chocolate teapot) a loose cannon into the bargain and has been holding our long overdue progress back for the last six years and counting.
    Anyone?

    1. No need to bash Xhaka, he is a good squad player abeith, and he hardly get injured, unlike the other mid fielders we have. So not his fault the team is not in champions league, blame the mgt.

    2. Xhaka is big but not powerful. Playing ind for pound he is the weakest player in the PL. Tall but poor in the air. Big but not strong.

  8. I hope Tavares and Martinelli take their chances. Martinelli in particular was so promising before Arteta got his hands on him. Anyway, I expect us to rotate and effortlessly swipe aside Afc Wimbledon. Tottenham are showing weakness and even though Son is back, I think we won’t get a better time to play them than now! We need to start taking points of our rivals.

    1. That’s my worry with Martinelli as well ,it looks like another season being a squad player and Not getting starts ,kid as so much talent he seems to have regressed though since Arteta as been here .
      I would start Tavares as well against the spuds as TIerney is quite predictable and looks like he could do with a rest already .

      1. I agree on Tavares. From little I have seen of him he deserve more minutes. He might be a Ramsdale of Tierney’s Leno.

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