So, it’s that time of the year where I write on why we should be taking the League Cup seriously.
A lot of football fans, no matter what the team you support, often feel the same.
We have 4 chances of silverware (others have less), nothing is better than a day out at Wembley, and watching your team lift a trophy is a moment that lives forever.
Yet Prem clubs continue to play weakened sides in the competition.
If there was ever a year where that might continue it might be a campaign where a World Cup is bang in the middle, thus managers seeing this as a week to give key talent a rare week off.
Given his League position at the time, Mikel Arteta has in fact previously viewed the EFL Cup as a chance to rescue his season, rotating his squad in the early rounds but taking it more serious once realising that it was his best chance of success.
Currently top of the division and with a hectic schedule he might not prioritise the League Cup this time, which makes Brighton dangerous opponents.
The Seagulls are one of those clubs who should be taking this cup seriously. In midtable they are not getting relegated nor are they finishing in the top 6. So why not chase a winner’s medal?
Make no mistake, if you’re a topflight side and you give this cup respect, you have a chance of lifting it because so many don’t.
Our manager keeps asking the Gunners to be ‘humble’.
Being ‘humble’ is realising we are not good enough to be putting our nose up to any trophy.
Yes, we are top of the Prem but guess what?
After 14 League fixtures last season top of the table was ……Chelsea!!!!
They ended up nowhere near being title contenders.
At the same time, Newcastle were bottom with zero wins.
My point being there’s a lot of football to be played still.
Top 4 and any trophy would be progress, so let’s put out a strong enough side to get through to the next round.
Equally if there are wholesale changes, I want to see our squad players seize the opportunity and make the moment count.
Here is my team choice…..
Turner
Cedric Tomiyasu, Holding, Tierney
Xhaka.., Lokonga
Cedric.. Vieira.. Marquinhos
Eddie Nketiah
Should that team be good enough to get past Brighton?
Dan
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I didn’t even realise we were playing tonight 😂,thought we had a free round because of Europe .
Regarding the team surely this should just be bedding in the youngsters and giving the 2nd string players a run out ,personally not bothered with the result ,if we lose, so be it ,not a competition we should be bothered about especially this season .
Top 4 ,…seriously,…is that our aim now,…man utd , Chelsea, Liverpool are no where near us and don’t seem to get any where near us,…the top two this season is already a closed deal…. city and Arsenal and all others are well below the pace…
You mean like last season when we had a huge gap in the race for top 4
@Vinod
We have only played 13 games so far. Can’t close up anything in early November when the season concludes in Late MAY.
Have you just started watching the game of football recently? That’s not how anything in real life works..
I was under the impression that Tomi was injured?
And splitting Cedric in 2 is an interesting tactic 😂
I also wish we had two Cedrics 😁 because of his skills
I’d prefer to give Xhaka some rest. He’s very fit, but we’ll need his energy to bark at and cheer up his teammates against Wolves:
…………………………. Turner
Soares . Holding . Tomiyasu . Tierney
……………………….. Lokonga
………….. Nwaneri …………. Vieira
Marquinhos ……………………………….. Nelson
……………………….. Nketiah
Meant to be Nelson lol
I forgot Elneny is fit. So he should be the CDM and Lokonga plays the left mezzala instead
Was meant to be Cedric and Soares..
😊
Not sure Tomiyasu is fit.
gai I much believe MA will start a FAR stronger team than you expect from your predicted team. IF he did choose your team – which he clearly will no – we would be in serious danger of losing. He won’t allow that to happen and will NOT weaken the team, as you would have him do!
Dan kit and perhaps some others, may not much care about winning this comp but many of us do and that includes MA FOR SURE.
@jon fox
RealTalk. We need to play to win “every” match. Winning boosts the confidence and moral and solidifies the bond of the team.
“Victoria Concordia Crescit”
It wouldn’t surprise me if the gaffer only makes three changes
Arteta has one of the meanest winning traits I have ever seen in a young manager, he wants to win everything, important or not.
This is the team I would select
Turner
Cedric, Holding. Tierney
Viera, Ben White, Catalin Cirjan, Lonkango
Marquinhos, Nketiah, Nelson
So your own selection is nowhere near the actual team you think MA will select then? I hope it is not, as such a weak team as you would pick would likely get beaten.
Unlike Dan kit, I want to win this comp very much indeed. And I say MA does too!
SO HE WILL PLAY A STRONG START ELEVEN IMO.
Wenger always played the kids ,which gave them the springboard as we saw over the years .
He might not have won but if I remember rightly they always got quite far in the comp .
I would rest Xhaka because he will be in the World cup…and no one would like spoiling his opportunity within the Swiz team.
..Turner
Cedric, Holding, Tomiyasu, Tierney,
Lokonga,Elneny,
Marquinos, Vieira, Nelson
Eddie
So Tomiyasu will not play world cup too? Since you are resting Xhaka because he will play world cup? That logic doesn’t make sense.
I think Tomi is still injured, so wouldnt risk him.
Turner
Cedric Holding White Tierney
Vieira Elneny Lokonga
Marquinhos Eddie Nelson
Bring on Gabriel for White, Zinchenko for Tierney, Smith for Elneny and Nwaneri for Marquinhos and maybe Martinelli/Saka or Jesus depending on the score
What about Ethan, is the gut feeling not there anymore ??
Nwaneri played for the U18s a few days ago and scored twice
The guys not playing in the world cup should be OK to play both games this week. Plenty of time to rest until 26 th December
Very good line up!
But we love M.Elneny to replace Xhaka this time around.
Wouldn’t be surprised to see Gabriel and Odegaard starting given that they are about to have a break. Expect Elneny to get a start as well and perhaps Viera out on one of the wings. So:
Turner
Cedric Holding Gabriel Tierney
Elneny Lokonga Odegaard
Viera Nketiah Nelson