Arsene Wenger has made it clear that he will be making big changes for tonight’s League Cup game at Sheffield Wednesday, to give our first team a well-deserved rest after their exploits in the last few weeks. Wenger has already told us that Petr Cech will play because of Ospina’s injury, and Per Mertesacker has recovered from his illness, so may help shore up an inexperienced defence.
Two fringe players that will definitely be starting tonight though are Joel Campbell and Calum Chambers. Chambers got off to a good start last season, but seemed to lose his way after our injury problems started to improve. He wasn’t helped by the meteoric rise of Hector Bellerin, but now he is a year older and hopefully a year closer to proving that he is worth the massive fee that Wenger paid for him in the first place.
Joel Campbell also arrived with great promise but never seemed to like waiting patiently for a place in the first team, but Wenger refused to sell him and obviously believes that there are great things to come from the Costa Rican international. “I like Joel Campbell very much for two reasons,” Le prof said yesterday. “One is that he has outstanding individual quality, but he is also a team player. He works very hard for the team.
“I’m convinced he will get a chance here and that he will take it. He has another opportunity against Sheffield Wednesday and I’m hopeful that he will show that he has the quality to play for Arsenal.
“When you get the chance, you have to be ready. To be ready, you have to prepare. I must say that Joel Campbell and Calum Chambers are two players who do absolutely everything right.
“They are prepared, the preparation they have created will give them the confidence against Sheffield Wednesday and I’m confident they will play well.”
So I’m wondering if Wenger has decided to give both Theo Walcott AND Olivier Giroud the night off, and will finally play Campbell in his favoured position of central striker. And Chambers has said before that he prefers central defence to right-back. Maybe he will also get his chance there alongside Per Mertesacker?
Personally I can’t wait to see Iwobi in action again. He was great in the Emirates Cup!