Steve Bould has named the starting eleven as well as substitutes for tomorrow’s play off Semi-final against Aston Villa.
James Dunne has been recalled after being a bit part player for the Under 18’s this season, and Kyle Bartley’s injury means Gavin Hoyte partners last week’s goalscorer Thomas Cruise at the heart of the defence.
Luke Ayling continues on the right of midfield after putting in a hard working display against Fulham, with Reserves hero Jack Wilshere restored to his free role behind Rhys Murphy.
The squad is boosted with the inclusion of leading marksman Nacer Barazite, who looks set to miss the Premiership clash with Derby. As well as Monday’s goalscorer Rui Fonte.
January signing Luke Freeman has been dropped from the squad, after poor performances in recent weeks however the 16 year old is expected to feature against Villa’s Reserves on Tuesday.
Szczesny
Eastmond – G.Hoyte – Cruise – Thomas [c]
Dunne – Frimpong
Ayling – Wilshere – Watt
Murphy
Substitutes -: Shea – Evina – Barazite – Henderson – Fonte
Steve Bould gives his views on the game, as does captain Jay Emmanuel-Thomas. The kick off is at 1pm (UK Time) at Villa Park.
Read our full Match Preview Here, and our analysis of our chances of winning Here.
Article By – J.Sanderson
Aaton Villas have some outstanding young players in there ranks namely Nathan Delfouneso and Harry Forrester and i personally think that the game will be very tight and the odd goal will win it
Yupp, but with the experience and talent we have, i would say we should be favourites to win for sure.
Exciting game in prospect.
Arent any of the arsenals youth going to be in the squad for the derby match then? I would have thought that would be the perfect oppotunity to blood players like Barazite, Nordveit and Wilshere.
Barazite could still play afterall he is only on the bench, but i doubt it.
Nordtveit is away with Norway, and Wilshere is starting this game.
Sunu could play or Rodgers, but its going to be more CC players like Traore/Denilson/Fabianski than Reserves.
I bet Barazite still has the chance to be in the squad. He is for sure the first player in of the Reserves. And with all these players out, it’s almost hard to find 16 first team players who are not injured.
Has Freeman really been that poor recently ?
coulf frreman be on the bench against derby?
He has been dropped from the Under 18’s so its very very unlikley he will play against Derby.
So let’s get this straight you say he’s been dropped due to recent poor performances but then you go on to say he’s likely to feature in the reserve squad against Villa next week.
I’ve seen some of Luke’s recent performances and let me tell you he’s certainly not been poor. Luke’s a schoolboy and Steve has some quality players in Luke’s position who are more senior so if Luke does not feature it is for that reason alone. Reading Steve Bould’s comments today makes me think he’ll have the team made up of mostly 1st yr players with the bench having a number of 2nd yr players.
I don’t know why everyone thinks that we are all of a sudden going to field loads of 16/17 year olds in a premiership match. I agree it’s more likely to be the likes of Traore, Denilson plus regular first teamers. Possibily the likes of Barazite might make it to the bench but i can’t see him going nuts and putting too many youngsters in.
Does anyone know whether it’s possible to see the game on TV or online anywhere?
I wasnt suggesting we start loads of youngsters but starting Nordveit against Derby wouldnt be a huge risk and Starting Barazite or Wilshere on the left would solve our problem there as Hleb, Diaby and Rosicky are all out.
abc its obvious you dont know what your talking about. He was dropped otherwise he would be on the bench and not Conor Henderson who is a year younger.
He has been poor in the last two games, especially against Fulham.
Aston Villa TV are showing the game.
John: Nordveit is on international duty right now, so Derby seems impossible for him. I still think we might see Barazite on the bench though.
Was Gavin Hoyte injured in warm-up? It seems here [http://www.avfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~1298620,00.html] that Fonte is playing instead of him. I expect that we have switched to 4-4-2 than.
John, what i think was meant was that we shouldn’t get carried away. The most important thing is to win, if we just get a draw against Derby it would feel very embarising so the best thing to do is not to take to manny risks. But i agree we could let Barazite make a substitute.
Aston Villa 1 – Arsenal 0
Delfouneson scored in the beginning of the second half. This is a dissapointing results for the youngsters. I wanna know what happened to Gavin Hoyte. Did he get injured in warm-up? It seems that Fonte took his place in the starting line-up.