Most Arsenal fans are looking at tonight’s League Cup game away at Sheff Weds to be a piece of cake, whichever team Arsene Wenger puts out, but I think everyone is going to be mildly surprised at the quality of our opponents. Wednesday are now on an 8 game unbeaten run, which is no mean feat in the Championship where everyone is a tough fight.
The Owls don’t really have a main goalscorer, but they have EIGHT different players that have already scored two or three times for the club, and it also worth noting that they have won their last seven home League Cup ties, and to be honest are in confident mood and really have nothing to lose tonight.
*************CONFIRMED ARSENAL STARTING XI*************
Cech, Debuchy, Chambers, Mertesacker, Gibbs, Flamini, Kamara, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Campbell, Iwobi, Giroud
Arsene Wenger was impressed after watching Wednesday’s last game. “They are a team who have just won at Rotherham,” Le Prof said. “I watched the game and they have good, tall strikers.
“They have Barry Bannan who has played in the Premier League and they look to have a very compact team who are at a very good technical level.
“They have a strong team spirit so they will certainly work to create difficulties for us and I’m sure they have the quality to do that. We have to respond with a top-level performance.”
Wenger has already said that Joel Campbell will be playing in a team of reserves, but believes that the Gunners should still have the quality to get over this hurdle. He said: “It’s down to me to manage the workload of the players without diminishing the quality of the team,”
“I believe I’m lucky because I have quality players. Even the players who do not play are top internationals.
“I’m a bit unlucky because we are two or three short at the moment [because of injuries]. But that gives me a good opportunity to give some games to the players who have not played recently, to rest some of those who need a little breather and as well to give a chance to one or two young players.
“When you are Arsenal you know most of the teams that you travel to, especially in the cup games, do not have a lot to lose. We know that type of problem and we have always dealt with it historically.
“We want the players who come in to show that they are able to make the squad successful, and do absolutely everything to help us win.”
It will certainly be a good test for our second string players, and Joel Campbell is definitely looking forward to getting a game under his belt, but he is stressing that we must not be overconfident in our approach. “We know what teams from the Championship are capable of,” he said. “All teams want to win this tournament it’s an important tournament, especially for teams from the second division playing against a Premier League club.
“They’re going to be extra-motivated to get the win – you have to respect every team you play. If we approach the match with respect, we’ll have a good chance of winning.”
Well said Joel, and it also gives you the chance to show that you are good enough to get more chances in the First XI. Show respect, but also show that you have more talent than your Championship opponents!
Listen Baby Please
I have a feeling it will go to Penalties lol
I hope not, I hope we win in Normal time
Seriously, don’t take any team for granted.
Hope our youngsters and experienced players perform well and we win without any drama
COYG
If they don’t win this one, I’d wonder why they play for the Arsenal.
Too much expectations, I guess. Our reserves haven’t played for a long time which restricts us(at least me) to expect at least a decent performance from them. However, they should give their 100% and don’t worry about the result. I am confident about them but expecting a tough match as well.
We can do this. COYG
Two players coming off with Hamstrings? I mean… Ronaldo plays 60+ games a year and I’ve never seen him come out with a hamstring…
I like this line up, excited to see our young guns playing a good team. Let’s see what chambers, kamara, Ox, Iwobi, and Campbell can do. Hopefully bielek gets minutes too.
I’m really glad wenger is not starting Walcott and I hope he doesn’t have a feature, a game like this worries me that he’ll get injured. 2-0 to the gunners!
Also maybe Walcott would not have been much effective against their deep defending. He should be introduced after 60 minutes if we are chasing or tying, instead of Iwobi maybe.
Close. … After 5 minutes, actually!
And then limped off 10 minutes later ?
####ing unbelievable ?
In other news, Mourinho has started almost his first team.
Why not? They’ve got to defend their Cup. They’re the CoC CHAMPIONS.
Letz_keep_the_engine_running#win_ugly#
Letz_do_this!!!#coyg#
RAIN not now pleaseeeeeeeeee.
i need to c ds game, av bn looking forward to it since morning.
God please stop this rain now
May you get your wish complete. I will provide updates if possible.
Looks like I will not be able to watch it completely.
It’s begun…the Mortal Kombat.
4 minutes played and OX has already managed to injure himself.. Unbelievable.
Are you kidding me OX? WTF IS GOING ON WITH THESE STUPID INJURIES
omg the ox
Another injury…. just what we wanted.
Ox_nooooooo
By the way looks like Campbell is playing No. 10
Arsenal English players and injuries. Wow
Sheffield players added new dimension to their play… Stoke rugby tactics
Meh, what are they playing there???
Chambers impressing me as usual by winning headers, perfect replacement for Mertesacker.
where is Adelaide?!!injured or?
Playing in Chile u17
Walcott injured?
Theo noooooooo
ARE YOU HAVING A LAUGH WITH THESE INJURIES??????
Exactly why wenger should of bought in the summer!! ?….. As much as i like joel campbell aswell he just dont seem to be able to do it in an arsenal shirt
At this rate, we will get all our players injured by full time.
ohh poor ox 🙁
Maybe a precautionary measure. He felt a tightening in his harmstsing.
the injury curse strikes again…. typical arsenal season….
we are soo unlucky…
Does the term “warm up” mean anything to our coaching staff and players?
shut up..dont talk as if you knew more than professional fitness coaches and players.. sorry soooo ignorant
The expert from the tunnel said:
“After OX’s injury, Walcott went to warm up. Before making a single run, he was called up by Wenger to come on for OX. The look on Theo’s face was amusement”
Not my words. You look like a proper fool now, don’t you?
Maybe for the first time I will see a least creative Arsenal.
Kamara …. impressive tackle
I also agree with Tyno i think in both cases it was more of a precautionary thing but very unfortunate/bad nonetheless
who is playing like N° 10 now??
well i dont even think that i merely hope that it was that way lol
Campbell good holding the ball then lets down with a forgettable cross.
Rotten_badluck
Buchy at his best
Hutchinson the next Shawcross.
Good response by Flamini
That was an ugly challenge.. I mean the Hutchinson
#curses#
Euphoria at Hillsborough
Campbell foe Coq back up anyone?
hahaha his tackles are really brilliant.. well its really difficult to find positive things today and those and kamaras tackles are my only source of happiness in this match ^^
Campbell for DM
2-0… We don’t look dangerous at all
It was always gonna be a tough ask to make 10 changes and expect us to play free flowing attacking football. We got another half though lets just enjoy the match
Bad_to_worse
Must say, our reserve team aint very strong
We’re missing arteta, welbeck, wilshere, rosicky and Ramsey that’s half a squad and a damn good one
Whoever we play, we shldnt be losing 3-0 to SW
Thank God we didn’t field our top Gunners… The injury curse has just struck n very hard…
I know its only Capital one cup but think its fair to say first team players like Gibbs, Chambers, Flamini and Debuchy just aren’t good enough.
Debuchy is so poor. responsible for 2 of the conceded goals.
Shawcross is just back from surgery n almost kills willian. No response from ref.
Shame we risked Ox and Walcott – hope they are ok.
Wasnt too worried about this game but very suprised as to the way we have not created a thing here this evening. Well done Sheff Wed good first half by them, we have been diabolical tbh!
Injuries will cost us this season… Arsene will need to invest in a few players as our uk players are all letting us down with bad form, injuries or not good enough. Oh by the way Debuchy you are more than welcome to look for a new club as Jenks will challenge our lil gem Hector!!
Seems Campbell will be the one playing wing this weekend and against Bayern. He’s also the only impressive one today tho
Ah I remembered, we have to play Bayern with Ramsey, Chamberlain, Theo injured at the moment. Great! Just Great.
Shane we coukdbty call on akpom and hayden for this game. Our lack of reserve strength and quality is a worry. Giroud our only available striker now. Haven’t we been here before?
Gnabry needs to be called back to hell… he not getting a shout in at west brom, get him bck as injuries to walcott/ox/ramsey leaves a huge hole… hell even sanogoals!!
I know its hard to believe but mertesacker actually
gets paid to be on that pitch.
I know its hard to believe but mertesacker actually
gets paid to be on that pitch.
Mertasacker is like a kid he cant be left on the pitch on his own without kos, absolutely shocking defender
oh right…strength in depth…different squad this year…give me a f***** break…we have 3 world class outfielders a good first team defence…without the useless lanky german…and one decent DM…we are a couple of injuries away from midtable….embarassing stuff
So that’s it now. Okay
UTTER SHAME..YOU ARE KIDDING ME? THOSE WHO ARE PLAYING TONIGHT SHOULD NEVER PUT A SHIRT EVER AGAIN..MERT,DEBUCHY,GIBBS,CHAMBERS AS DEFENDERS? SHAMBOLIC UTTER DISGRACE..EXPERIENCE PLAYERS ON THE PITCH AND SHOULD BE PLAYING FOR WEDNSDAY INSTEAD.EMBARSSING TO WATCH…I SAID IT..BURIED THEM ON THE SECOND TEAM..
Wilshere, Ramsey, Arteta, Ospina, OX, Walcott, Welbeck, Rosicky… WTF put defence there and you have full team, funny
We’re paying for our lack of rotation in previous games…
Our B-team lacking seriously in game time 🙁
Well it’s something we all knew, we are very thin in defence and attack, and can’t afford any injuries in those position. Injury to Walcott would be catastrophic if serious, and Ox less so, but still not good as Ramsey out. Don’t really give a stuff about capital 1, don’t understand why we risked such key players,
do not come with the excuse of the injuries to Ox and theo for the defeat.this is UTTER SHAMBLESS..YOU CAN NOT WEAR AN ARSENAL SHIRT NO MATTER YOUNG OR EXPERIENCE AND BEING TRASHED BY LOWER OPPOSITION AND OUTPLAYED.
Same old Wenger
same old arsenal
specialists in failures.
They don’t learn
they don’t change
season after season , no notable improvement in ideology.
Doing the same thing season after season and yet expecting a miracle.
Don’t be deceived people.
Think and think deeply
SMH
pretty sad performances all round … do we need to buy in january…depends, the 4th place junkies probably think we are in good shape…for supporters who actually want to win stuff its a no brainer…2 quality attackers and a DM…of course walcott and giroud can score goals with ozil santi and alexis providing so would ings lambert and austen…do it themselves nah not skilfull enough
no one asked if we need to buy in january!!
Uh I seem to remember a post a couple of days ago on this very site posing that question!!!!
Lack_of_cohesion#lolz#
Bielik has brought a bit of calmness and control to the midfield. I say they get him on the ball more . Kamara was a waste of space in this game ( don’t mean to trash him though).
Watching this Arsenal team is like watching a convention for virgins, absolutely no penetration.
In hindsight, I say we should have started with bielik instead of Glen.
Please when will the Arsenal play?
I have refreshed my phone’s browser for the umpteenth time. The hope is for Campbell to score…just one
Forget this game it’s over.
But what’s worse is, we’ve now lost two important players. The timing couldn’t be any worse
I think we should wait and see, I’m hopeful that Walcott isn’t too bad. I’m no medical man, but I’m surprised that the injury isn’t being attended to, I’d have thought sitting outside in the cold is the worst thing for a pulled muscle.
dont think barca youth squad will be shaking in their boots at this lot…bielik looks decent though
3 – 0 is actually not acceptable
CHAMBERS IS ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS. Also, Mert looks like a Division 2 player without Kos next to him
has giroud touched it this half?
The youth/reserve? They just did their chance of playing more football this season.
We are the Arsenal
The only team tonight to actually lose within 90mins
Deary deary me, there is a void between our dirst teamers and reserves. Mertesacker nothing without kos, bellerin and monreal. They all know how to read his gane and provide cover. Hopefully a wake up dor wenger and hopefully the injuries are not too bad. Gnabry and akpom recalled?
well DM is a MUST in the January window regarding tonight result.IF leCoq gets injured there is no chance on earth FLAMINI or ARTETA or BIELIK can cover the next phase of the EPL. you can see If the forwards get injured maybe we can shuffle but if the only decent DM we got gets injured..that’s curtains..get CARVALHO so LeCoq can rest after 4 months no stop.