It’s the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final at Stamford Bridge tonight, and while Mikel Arteta has plenty of options in midfield and up front, we’re more or less limited to the bare bones at the back. William Saliba is a doubt, according to the manager, having missed the FA Cup victory over Portsmouth due to a minor knock.
So with Riccardo Calafiori, Piero Hincapie and Cristhian Mosquera all sidelined, we have four senior defenders at our disposal later on if Saliba doesn’t make the cut. So we could see a back four of Ben White, Jurrien Timber, Gabriel and Myles Lewis-Skelly. As we’ve already seen this season, Declan Rice is a viable option in a defensive position, but hopefully we don’t have to see that again.
In midfield I think it will be Rice, with the two Martins returning to the starting line-up. And up front, three Bukayo Saka should return on the right, after which the availability of Leandro Trossard (also a doubt) could determine the remaining selection decisions. If he’s not there, Gabriel Martinelli comes into this game after scoring a hat-trick in his last game, and the question is who will start up front.
I think it will be Viktor Gyokeres because Gabriel Jesus started the game against Portsmouth and I don’t know if he is physically ready to start again so soon. If we are to manage his return to action, it would make sense for the Sweden international to get the nod, but perhaps that connection between Jesus and Martinelli is in the manager’s mind. They commit, and so far the summer signing has struggled to do that with anyone on a consistent basis.
If it’s Gyokeres, I wonder if Noni Madueke could be a consideration on the left, but given Chelsea’s threat on that side I suspect there needs to be a serious conversation about his defensive responsibilities for that to happen. There were moments against Portsmouth on Sunday when he was suspect in that regard, and if they could punish us for that, Chelsea certainly can. But against his old club, and because he was on the receiving end both on and off the pitch when we played there in the league, that might be something to exploit.
So there’s some thinking to be done for the manager, and the fact that this is a two-legged affair is also a consideration. In this day and age, with the schedule the way it is and the demands on the players, it kind of doesn’t make sense for it not to be a one-and-done game, but that’s something we have to navigate through. We will have to wait and see whether that makes this first stage a more exciting affair, or whether the relative importance of this competition plays a role in our approach.
For many, and for very obvious reasons, the League Cup is fourth on the list of trophies to win. The manager did rotate in the early rounds, using a mix of young players and those who were perhaps more ‘selection’ than ‘first name on the team sheet’. But now it’s a semi-final, a London derby against Chelsea, and that makes this a match we have to approach seriously and professionally, regardless of the bigger ambitions elsewhere.
Mikel Merino summed it up from the players’ perspective, saying:
Every game is important. For us it doesn’t matter whether it’s the Carabao Cup, FA Cup or friendly. It’s not just about the league we play for, it’s just about the badge, we play for our reputation and in every match we wear this shirt we have to give our best. We have to win and put in a good performance. The most important thing is to show that we are Arsenal, that we are ready to compete every time and that the rest will take care of itself.
While Arteta said:
The guys are very motivated and are doing it because we feel that this is where we want to go and that we have to take one more step to achieve what we want and that is the goal. We are looking forward to a big match tomorrow and how we will behave in these scenarios to achieve what we want.
This is a club that hasn’t won a trophy in the last six years. Obviously we all want the Premier League, but it doesn’t have to be either or. You can make a good argument that winning something can fuel you to keep going and achieve it, where a group of players who have come so close to success could really benefit from winning something tangible. I also think this is a big game for the manager as well. His record in the semi-finals isn’t exactly great, and I think from his own perspective this will be a two-leg draw that he will be happy to win. We know how much he values ​​improvement in every aspect, and this is something that connects him personally.
So there is no doubt that Arsenal and Arteta will take this seriously, and should take it seriously. Then it’s about delivering the kind of performance over the two games that gets us to a Wembley final. We didn’t do ourselves justice against Newcastle last season, I hope we put that right this time.
As always, you can contact us later live blog coveragewe bring you all the post game stuff Arseblog newsand there is one preview podcast on Patreon to listen to too. For now, have a good time.
Come on you reds!
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