After Arsenal completed a fantastic week of beating Watford and Bayern Munich by extending our great run against Everton on Saturday, which was enough to put us level on points at the top of the Premier League table and keep the Champions League dream alive, no one is going to be too hard on the boss for taking his foot off the gas when it comes to the League cup.
At the same time, we always want to win and a tie with lower league opposition, even though it is away from home, gives the Gunners a good chance to progress. We know that Arsene Wenger likes to use the Capital One cup games as a chance to hand some valuable playing time to young players and those that have not featured too much but he can only do that if we are still in it.
But Houston, we have a problem, a central midfield problem, because our captain Mikel Arteta was injured on training ahead of the Everton game and he joins Ramsey, Wilshere and Rosicky on the sidelines. You know that Arsenal need to rest Coquelin, Cazorla and Ozil, so that leaves us very short. Apart from Mathieu Flamini, no fit and available players have played there for us, so what can Wenger do?
Perhaps it is time to see if Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain can shine in the position that was said to be his future role. The only problem then is that he leaves a gap in the wide forward role. Maybe Wenger could try young Krystian Bielik who came to the club being compared to a young Patrick Vieira.
What do you think Gooners?