When it comes to the League Cup, you can’t get a more difficult draw than to go up against Manchester City, who have won it in 5 of the last 7 seasons, including the last three in a row, so we can assume that Pep Guardiola will be playing a team full of stars this evening.
And Arsenal could not be in worse position than they are now, languishing in 15th place in the Premier League and without a win in their last 7 games.
But the fact is that the Gunners have got to this round by beating two quality sides in Leicester and Liverpool, and we are maintaining our reputation as a “cup side”, with much better results in knockout games.
Traditionally, Arsenal have used this competition to blood some youngsters in competitive games and mostly Arteta has followed in Wenger’s footsteps in that respect, and one fact we can’t ignore is that our last six League Cup and Europa League games have all been wins, but have also come about when Arteta has chosen his ‘fringe players’ ahead of his first team, so many Arsenal fans think they should be playing again tonight, but Arteta wouldn’t commit to playing his “Tuesday team” this evening.
He told Arsenal.com yesterday: “Let’s see how the boys are today. Auba is not fit for tomorrow, that’s for sure. He won’t be playing tomorrow so we will see who is available because we have a few doubts as well in other positions. We want to get together a very competitive team because we know the level of City and we want to win the game tomorrow.”
So it remains to be seen if Arteta thinks our reserves are much more competitive than our first team at the moment, or will he play a mixture of the two?
What sort of team do you think Arteta will put out tonight?
Yes Arteta’s pick will tell us a lot – not least what he sonsiders to be a “strong team” these days. It’s believed by those defending Arteta that he doesn’t want the kids in en masse because it could ruin their confidence and subsequently damage their development coming into such a poor, uninspired team. But I believe they are losing all motivation by WATCHING this dross, knowing they could perform better but being overlooked repeatedly. Ineresting conundrum!
Talking is cheap. Action speaks louder than words. Let him do the job. The league cup and FA cup, now we are considered as a ‘cup side’. Please don’t console yourself
If Aubas not fit I really hope Arteta gives Balogun a full game, you’ll never know if this kid has got what it takes unless you play him, and not just for 10 minutes either. Also like to see ESR given a start for a change.
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I have learnt not to trust what Arteta says.