The Gunners face a challenging away cup tie in the third round of the Carabao Cup, against Leicester City on Wednesday night.
Both sides have 100% records in the league coming into this fixture, with both sides proving their early dominance.
The Foxes have scored more goals than Arsenal during their opening two games, but have also conceded more, beating West Brom 3-0 and Burnley 4-2.
Arsenal proved their new style and tactical success under Arteta with a dominating 3-0 win away at Fulham and a late 2-1 victory against West Ham.
Both sides have scored an excessive amount of goals within their first two games, with the strike force of both teams proving to be the focal point of this cup tie.
Arsenal are currently on a five-game winning streak and have entered this campaign with confidence after their FA Cup victory against Chelsea in August. They also defeated reigning champions Liverpool in the Community Shield, as well as beating Fulham and West Ham in their opening games.
Leicester have scored seven goals in the PL so far, with the importance of Jamie Vardy, Harvey Barnes, and rising star James Justin being highlighted. The Foxes have also scored the last six times they have faced our side.
Although Arsenal secured the three points against the Hammers, they gave us a real test. Due to the injury of Kieran Tierney, the weakness of Kolašinac was taken advantage of, with West Ham’s equalizer coming down our left-hand side. If Tierney is still unavailable, Leicester could capitalize on that weakness at the back.
Aubameyang and Lacazette have proved their importance in the Arsenal attack so far, however Nketiah has shone again with a late winner against West Ham on Saturday. The 21-year-old favours the League Cup, scoring his first two professional goals in the competition back in 2017.
Rotation in the Arsenal line-up may see the youngster start, resting star players. We may also expect to see more young prospects start against Leicester, including the well-known and talented William Saliba, and the new rising star Gabriel Magalhães, who has performed admirably so far.
Fans may also expect to see their record signing Pepe in the starting line-up. The Ivorian has yet to start a Premier League game this term and has not yet had a chance to prove his value to the squad.
Previous meetings of the two sides have proved to be tight and exciting affairs. Arsenal finished six points off of Leicester last season but have recently improved under Arteta. The Gunners are also much stronger when playing away from home for some reason.
We have lost the past three meetings at the King Power however. Arsenal won twice and drew once at the Emirates in the last three meetings, which actually contradicts our general form of late.
This Carabao Cup tie will be a thrilling test for Arteta’s side as a win will prove the Gunners recent change in strength away from home, as well as the talent and determination of a rotated young squad.
Jack Fealy
Super read, Jack!
Should be a goal fest tonight, it usually is when we play the foxes..
I’ve only ever been to one league cup game – the 7-5 against Reading… there’ll be goals, but not that many 😃 COYG