Nottm Forest v Arsenal – Expect Wenger to pick youngsters!

Why we can expect to see a young side against Nottingham Forest!

Arsenal travel to Nottingham today for the Football League Cup fixture against Championship side Nottingham Forest. Like Arsenal, Forest have a famous history and it is sure to be an exciting clash so early on in the competition. 

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has always used the domestic cup competitions as a chance to use many of his young and fringe players that are amongst the first team squad. It gives youngsters an opportunity to play for the first team, whilst the fringe players in the squad also get the opportunity to play a full match. 

The Arsenal under 23’s match last night saw many of the Gunners’ regular youngsters miss out, with Arsene Wenger keen to mix experience with youth for this Cup competition fixture. The likes of Akpom, Bielik, Reine-Adelaide and Willock all missed the fixture in favour of a chance to play in the EFL cup tonight.

With this in mind I’m expecting a few of these youngsters to get some minutes on the pitch. It should be a team balanced with youth and experience and I expect the Gunners to line up like this:

             Ospina 

Debuchy Holding Gabriel Gibbs

          Xhaka Coquelin

Oxlade-Chamberlain Reine-Adelaide Walcott

            Perez

I’d fully expect Ospina to start in goal, whilst Gibbs and Holding will see returns to the first team. Gabriel could start after returning from injury. Although we have plenty of youngsters in midfield, I’d expect an experienced central midfield of Xhaka and Coquelin, whilst The Ox and Reine Adelaide should get an opportunity in attacking midfield roles. Lucas Perez likely to get his chance up front.

The likes of Koscielny, Ozil, Cazorla and Alexis are all likely to get a rest but could still be on the bench. 

This will be a good opportunity to see what some of Arsenal’s current crop of youngsters can do. Will Wenger give them a chance tonight? 

By AH