The eagerly awaited Carling Cup tie between Arsenal and Liverpool comes to fruition tonight where many of the most talented young players in the country will be on display.
Arsenal comfortably beat West Brom in the previous round, where as Liverpool struggled at Leeds before walking away with a 1-0 victory. Rafael Benitez decided to play a near full strength side at Elland Road, but this time it is believed that many of his regular first team players will be rested after a stuttering start in the Premiership and Champions League. Damien Plessis, Jay Spearing, and Daniel Ayala are all expected to feature along with fringe first teamers Ryan Babel, David Ngog and Philip Degen.
Arsenal are able to welcome back Samir Nasri and Lukasz Fabianski in to the squad for the first time this season after both recovering from injury. Nasri has been sidelined with a broken leg since pre season, only playing 58 minutes of competitive football against Wolves reserves last week and it is likely that Arsene Wenger will want to help enhance his recuperation by gaining some vital playing time.
The only change at the back will see Fabianski return between the sticks, whilst the back four that kept West Brom at bay in the previous round is likely to be the same. The midfield is an extremely competitive area with Merida, Randall and Coquelin pushing for starts, but the latter is expected to get the nod after an impressive full debut against West Brom, joining Ramsey and Nasri in the engine room. Traore and Wilshere are suffering with minor knocks and will miss the clash, so the Mexican Carlos Vela will get a much deserved first start of the season. Nicklas Bendtner and Eduardo will join him to make up the front three and complete a somewhat ‘experienced’ Carling Cup team, meaning Sunu and Watt will have to settle for a place on the bench along with Eastmond, Frimpong, Bartley and Merida.
Fabianski
Gilbert – Senderos – Silvestre – Gibbs
Ramsey – Coquelin – Nasri
Bendtner – Eduardo – Vela
Subs – Szczesny, Bartley, Eastmond, Frimpong, Merida, Sunu, Watt
The last time these two teams met in the Carling Cup Arsenal strolled to an emphatic 6-3 victory and if that result is anything to go by it should be an interesting encounter that will hopefully bring out the best in Arsenal’s young guns at a packed Emirates Stadium.
You can hear J.Sanderson’s views ahead of this fixture over at Arsenal FC Blog where he appears on this weeks Podcast.
Article By – Nick Love
There’s talk oof vela being missing from tonight any truth in the matter
I’m only a little bit worried about the Right-Back Gilbert, otherwise the predicted XI look very good.
Vela is not in the squad on afc.com
come on young guns.. make up proud again yea
come on young guns.. make us proud again yea
Does anyone know why Vela isn’t in the official squad? Must have an injury I’d of thought. Was really looking forward to seeing him play tonight, as he really thrives In this competition!
Randall is in there instead of Vela
aint vela injured????????
that’s true. vela not in the squad, official website don’t have him on the list. i wonder who will get the nod, merida or watt to play alongside bendtner and eduardo.
@ goon3r. I’d like to see watt play up there. Gives us more
pace, which i think we need if we play bendtner and eduardo. And also allows nasri to play in more of a cm role, which i think really suits his game.
oh man vela has the worst luck. i guess that means merida on the left? i kind of wish eduardo and bendtner weren’t playing, but i guess that means you’d have to take senderos and silvestre out of the side as well. i just like watching the young’ns is all but i guess it is a 2nd string side more than a young’ns one.
surely merida would start???
Merida would probably start because there’s been a lot of talk about him leaving to a Spanish side for first football, and if he can’t even get into the Carling Cup XI then he’d probably want a move. I’d prefer Merida on the left as he has the vision and passing that Watt simply has not, and it would balance our front three. Although Wenger will probably start Coquelin, I think Randall deserves the start because his introduction lead to our goals against West Brom.
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The text doesn’t show up on google reader
i think merida will start
Merida, Ramsey and Coquelin will play as midfielders. Nasri will play as a defensive winger. Eduardo will man the other flank with bendtner ip fron.
Does anyone know exactly why vela isnt in the squad? I would hope we would make short work against lpools very average reserves. But we needed vela to see off the baggies.
any insiders news on vela??..he will tear liverpool apart.. where is he?! we wouldn’t have won it in the first place if he didn’t come on as a sub against west brom !
Merida will without no doubt start for Vela. Before I realized Vela was out, I was wondering if Merida might play in midfield with Coquelin playing at right back instead of Gilbert. But I expect the defence to be the same with only Ramsey and Coquelin keeping their places of the others. The midfield of Ramsey, Nasri and Coquelin will be very interesting to see.
kv. What is a defensive winger and since when do we play with one of those? Wenger sees Nasri as a midfielder alongside Cesc so he will play in there tonight with Ramsey who looks like a more muscular version of Cesc.
isn’t a defensive winger a full-back?
If you look at Wenger’s comments about Nasri ( http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_5657191,00.html ) you will see that he said:
“Nasri has pace and he can play in a role that is half a winger, a dropped winger who will come in sometimes, can go wide, so of course it has to be balanced and maybe with a striker on the other side sometimes.”
You will see that Wenger feels is it necessary to have one “midfielder” with some defensive capabilities on one of the wings with a more “striker” type player on the other. I guess that explains why Eboue keeps playing on one wing with Arshavin on the other – Wenger feels the squad needs balance. I guess that could mean Bendtner and Nasri on the wings tonight and, maybe, Nasri and Arshavin on the wings in the future. Maybe.
we wont even play wing backs!? we play 4-3-3 how can nasri play defensive winger?im guessing you mean a gareth bale type role…he will play bendtner and nasri either side of eduardo with merida/ramsey/coquelin in midfiled if not then he will put randall in for merida to give more protection…i would prefer to see watt instead of merida-i think he will cause more of a nuisance…if both were to play poorly id rather have watt cos the pace
I’m surprised to see that Vela is not in the squad announced on Arsenal.com – any idea why? He’s not listed on the injured list either.
I agree with your predicted 11 by the way- with Merida probably just pipping Watt and Randall to the start line if Vela is indeed missing.
Also- amused to see Wenger explain that Jack Wilshere is ‘just too short to play’ ; )
Gareth bale has a role named after him?
A man who has won only 1 premier league game has a role named after him?!
Maybe I should read all the comments before posting next time!
Am only seing white while using my 4ne,complained about on monday do some man.like ur articles very much but of late am nt able to enjoy ican only c peoples comments
Just seen on Arsenal.com Vela misses out with a knee injury
yeah jay..i also cant see the text..but can see the comments..
Here you go phinny: : )
The eagerly awaited Carling Cup tie between Arsenal and Liverpool comes to fruition tonight where many of the most talented young players in the country will be on display.
Arsenal comfortably beat West Brom in the previous round, where as Liverpool struggled at Leeds before walking away with a 1-0 victory. Rafael Benitez decided to play a near full strength side at Elland Road, but this time it is believed that many of his regular first team players will be rested after a stuttering start in the Premiership and Champions League. Damien Plessis, Jay Spearing, and Daniel Ayala are all expected to feature along with fringe first teamers Ryan Babel, David Ngog and Philip Degen.
Arsenal are able to welcome back Samir Nasri and Lukasz Fabianski in to the squad for the first time this season after both recovering from injury. Nasri has been sidelined with a broken leg since pre season, only playing 58 minutes of competitive football against Wolves reserves last week and it is likely that Arsene Wenger will want to help enhance his recuperation by gaining some vital playing time.
The only change at the back will see Fabianski return between the sticks, whilst the back four that kept West Brom at bay in the previous round is likely to be the same. The midfield is an extremely competitive area with Merida, Randall and Coquelin pushing for starts, but the latter is expected to get the nod after an impressive full debut against West Brom, joining Ramsey and Nasri in the engine room. Traore and Wilshere are suffering with minor knocks and will miss the clash, so the Mexican Carlos Vela will get a much deserved first start of the season. Nicklas Bendtner and Eduardo will join him to make up the front three and complete a somewhat ‘experienced’ Carling Cup team, meaning Sunu and Watt will have to settle for a place on the bench along with Eastmond, Frimpong, Bartley and Merida.
Fabianski
Gilbert – Senderos – Silvestre – Gibbs
Ramsey – Coquelin – Nasri
Bendtner – Eduardo – Vela
Subs – Szczesny, Bartley, Eastmond, Frimpong, Merida, Sunu, Watt
The last time these two teams met in the Carling Cup Arsenal strolled to an emphatic 6-3 victory and if that result is anything to go by it should be an interesting encounter that will hopefully bring out the best in Arsenal’s young guns at a packed Emirates Stadium.
You can hear J.Sanderson’s views ahead of this fixture over at Arsenal FC Blog where he appears on this weeks Podcast.
Article By – Nick Love
Why is Jack Wilshere not playing tonight is he injured?.
I cant believe Vela is missing out, Im gutted for him, what a bad time to pick up a knock!…I want to give the boy some chances as a sub for Arshavin and Bentdner in the Prem, it is not fair for him not to have the opportunity considering his scoring ratio when he plays…I feel he needs minutes soon or he might itch to leave :s…
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