Arsenal to visit West Brom in Second Round of Carabao Cup

Arsenal are now entering into new territory as the Gunners will not be playing in Europe for the very first time in 25 years, but at least our youngsters may get an extra game as all Premier League sides not involved in Europe get featured in the second-round draw for the Carabao Cup.

 

But it is not an easy game by any stretch as we have to travel to the Midlands to face the newly relegated West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns.

 

I am pretty certain that Mikel Arteta will be rotating for this fixture despite it being one of our very few chances to get a trophy in the forthcoming season. And not only that but this game is scheduled to be played in 12 days time on the 24th August, just two days after we played the European Champions Chelsea, and just 4 days before we travel to the Etihad to face the Premier League Champions.

 

Arsenal should be fairly confident though, as we won both games against the Baggies in the EPL last season with a combined score of 7 goals to 1, including a 4-0 win in the away fixture.

 

After being relegated to the Championship, the new West Brom coach Valerien Ismael, who narrowly failed to get Barnsley promoted last season, may want to concentrate all his efforts on keeping his players fit for the promotion challenge and may not wish the distraction of a cup run either.

 

Arteta can’t really afford to not win this game though, so I just hope he doesn’t make too many changes and we can get into the Third Round, where we usually begin our League Cup venture…

 

Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Leicester, West Ham and Tottenham will all feature in the third-round draw.

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