Arsenal travel away to White Hart Lane to face North London rivals Tottenham on Wednesday evening in the League Cup. The Gunners will go into this after two consecutive defeats, the last one coming against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. This match against Tottenham gives arsenal the perfect chance to rebound and put down a direct rival in the process. Nothing gets the blood flowing like a victory over Tottenham.
Goalkeeper: David Ospina
The only thing that didn’t go wrong against Dinamo Zagreb was David Ospina. Petr Cech should be rested for this one, after a good display against his former club at the weekend. Ospina is likely to be the keeper Wenger uses in the Cup games and should get a start against Spurs. He is an excellent shot-stopper and there is no point in running out Cech again when the fact is that he will be playing the majority of the matches anyhow.
Defense: Gibbs, Debuchy, Koscielny and Mertesacker
Wenger will be tempted to rest his regular full-backs, Monreal and Bellerin, which means another start for Kieran Gibbs and Mathieu Debuchy as left-back and right-back respectively. With Gabriel suspended for this match Following his red card against Chelsea on Saturday, Mertesacker will return to the starting line-up alongside Koscielny. We just hope Wenger doesn’t go for Mertesacker and Chambers as his two centre-backs.
Midfield: Arteta, Ramsey, Ozil, Sanchez and Chamberlain
The biggest cause for concern right now is that Francis Coquelin is injured and Cazorla is suspended, therefore we will see Arteta in the defensive midfielder’s role. Poor against Dinamo Zagreb last week, Mikel Arteta deserves another chance to show he can still contribute to Wenger’s plans. Oxlade-Chamberlain will be expected to start on the right wing while Sanchez will occupy the left wing. Mesut Ozil is likely to start behind the striker in the number 10 role.
Striker: Olivier Giroud
Arsene Wenger is most likely to start with Giroud for this game, with Walcott on the bench. He has become Arsenal’s squad rotation striker and will continue to be until he proves himself as superior to Theo Walcott. Giroud has been itching to get back to starting ever since his rather unfortunate red card. The Frenchman needs to pull his socks up and perform if they wish to challenge for any major titles this season.