So here we are approaching our first Capital One Cup game of the season, but it seems to have a lot more importance than usual considering that it is against our North London rival Tottenham, and we are on a run of two defeats in a row.
As we are facing two games a week for the next month it is inevitable that Wenger will a lot of chances to the team. I wonder whether Wenger will think back to the first League Cup fixture last year which ended in a 2-1 home defeat to Southampton and ended our interest in the “Mickey Mouse Cup”.
The difference last year was that we were unbeaten in the League at that time, but had lost 2-0 in Dortmund in our first Champions League Group game. This is the team Le Prof put out that day:
Ospina,
Coquelin,
Hayden
Bellerin
Chambers
Alexis
Rosicky
Wilshere
Diaby
Campbell
Podolski
Cazorla, The Ox, and Akpom came on as subs when we were chasing the game, but as you can see nearly the whole team was made up of out-of-favour or youth players. At the time, Sanchez and Chambers had just arrived, Bellerin was still a youth player, and Coquelin was a failed defender. This was also Ospina’s debut and was Diaby’s comeback game (how did that work out?). If I remember rightly (I was at the game), it was also Rosicky, Campbell and Podolski’s first start of the season.
So I guess there was little wonder that Arsenal lost, and we were not that bothered at the time, but with Tottenham being our opponents this time surely Wenger will pick a much stronger side.
I expect Giroud to be the centre-forward, and The Ox to start, Ospina certainly. Debuchy and Gibbs will probably be given another chance, and Arteta must surely improve on last weeks showing in Zagreb. Who else can Wenger pick to make sure we have a strong enough team to beat the Spuds?