Tonight we entertain AFC Wimbledon at the Emirates in the Carabao Cup as we hope to make it three wins on the bounce.
With the North London Derby looming on Sunday Mikel Arteta is sure to want to protect some of his key players, but he’ll need to balance that urge with the necessity of getting a win.
Apart from the sense of momentum a third straight victory will give us, the Carabao Cup is one of only two possibilities for silverware this season (along with the FA Cup).
Wimbledon are doing well in League One and are notable for their aerial threat from set pieces, with both centre backs contributing to their goal tally this year.
In that regard, last weekend’s away trip to Burnley was good preparation for the long ball bombardment that’s sure to come our way tonight.
And so to the big question: does El Patron start with a really strong team and hope to rest players from around 60 minutes onwards if we’ve put the game to bed?
Or does he start with a mostly B team and keep the big guns on the bench for emergencies?
I suspect it will be the latter (see below), although I would not be surprised if he opts for a half-and-half team with a sprinkling of First Teamers in the starting line up.
Squad news is that Xhaka is still suspended and Elneny is a doubt. Other than that there’s a full complement to pick from.
Here’s my suggested starting eleven:
Leno
Chambers – Holding – Mari – Tavares
Maitland-Niles – Lokonga
Odegaard
Pepe – Lacazette – Martinelli
What do you think Arteta will do?
And what would you do?
RockyLives
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
I’d play ESR in place of Odegaard who, i think, we’d need more for Sunday
Corporate
I reckon both Ode and ESR will feature on Sunday, but you might be right about Arteta picking ESR for tonight.
He definitely sees Ode as his key creative MF/AM.
Play the youth, including Patino and Laca…;-)
The real question is if I can find the game on some place in the streaming universe.
Aaron
This one worked for me for the Burnley game: https://footybite.cc
Thanks for the writeup Rocky.
I hope we will be more experimental and instead of Odegard and Pepe we play El Neny and Balogun.
I think it’s a risk worth taking.
But of course we need a win here. Big boys can come later if needed.
COYG
Try livetv.ru/en
Can’t get a stream to watch the game. Wish I was in the ground!
Starting line up:
Leno
Cedric – Holding – Mari – Tavares
AMN – Partey – Lokonga
Martinelli – Nketiah
Lacazette
1-0 at HT
Laca penalty.
Hell, can’t find a working stream link anywhere.
Only the lame BBC live text…
Las
Same here – dismal!
Hopefully any of the regulars who’s at the game tonight will give us a write-up tomorrow.
From the stats it looks like we’re dominating.
Possession: 60% v 40%
Shots: 9 v 2
Corners: 6 v 1
But one goal is a tenuous lead, whatever the opposition.
Time for a second lads!
Goal!
2-0
ESR
Now we can relax.
wow a third just arrived 🙂
Goal!
3-0
Eddie
Mancs losing, Spuds and Chavs both drawing in their respective games…
…surely it’s too much to hope?
Do they have extra time in the event of a draw? If so, let’s hope the Spuds have to do an extra half hour…
…it’ll make their legs that much more tired in the later stages on Sunday.
FT 3-0
Well done boys.
The draw for the last 16 follows shortly…
Man Utd out.
No ET in the other games unfortunately – straight to pens.
So, come on Wolves (v Spuds).
And come on Villa (v Chavs).
Boo! Chavs and Spuds both win on pens.
Home tie versus Leeds.
I did not see the match. Anyone could let me know which players did well and did not…Pepe was not on the scoresheet, which is not always great…How was Lokonga?
Pepe wasn’t even in the side
So, the question is will Arteta torpedo the team momentum and start Leno and Xhaka?
Think Leno done xhaka always find a way to worm himself back into squad
Xhaka the death player in, but Leno out.
Saka to ESR, way to go kids!
A lead, slick passing, how novel.
Excellent game, one – nil to The Arsenal, brilliant, brilliant defending and a beautiful team goal.
COYG
ESR on the cutback, Auba with a sublime finish.
Fast pace, pushing up the field quickly, goals, hmmm think there might be something to this!
Smashing them.
What joy.
Another super quick break, and another kid goal.
Saka with a nice finish!
Brave play, beautiful passing, determination that’s The Arsenal I know and love
COYG
Guys cramping up and taking some serious physical contact and Arteta is as usual is stupefied on subs….
Let’s count together, 1, 2, 3…..
Lovely stuff.
Arteta Out?
If Kane scores that one v one, or the header, got a penalty and Ramsdale did not make that amazing save, and somehow that game ends 3-3, then yeah Rocky.
gtfo Arteta…
For now, he wins a reprieve, but we shall see, that second half was dog poo, stand back, and do the opposite of the first half, however, closing out the game is important too.
But, spuds started to dominate the game, did we even have a shot on target in the second half? Auba’s at the post maybe….
Not convinced yet, at all.
Yet, will take that W, and London is Red!
Dominant performance. Three games ago Spuds were top of the league and we were bottom. Now, three games later, we’re above them…
Funny game football.
That first half was the best Arsenal team performance in many years.
Victory Grows Through Harmony, onwards and upwards.
Well Arteta has finally got his vision onto the field with no excuses in terms of injury and suspensions, and the signs are promising. Let’s just hope we can keep the likes of Partey, Gabriel and White fit week in week out, as we are a far more solid unit with those guys in the lineup. Big praise to Tomiyasu aswell who looks a very promising signing. The guy seems to enjoy defending which is something we lacked for a long time. It appears we’ve done some good business in the summer but only time will tell. I just hope the team keeps improving and the results keep coming.
Great win. A bit like Aaron I would have liked to see us close the game out with more dominance. At 3-0 we could have punished them a couple of times more on the counter as they were forced to push on.
Seeing out a game is a skill of course so one can’t necessarily knock how went about the 2nd half but the best teams are more ruthless and would have likely punished Spurs more from a 3-0 lead.
We aren’t the finished article though of course but there were loads of positives to move forwards with and, again, a dominant win in the NLD is a massive boost.
Lots of players get a A+ in that game and it was hard to find a player who didn’t perform. One thing that struck me was how nice it was to see Auba with a smile on his face again. Get him firing with that quality and still improving midfield behind him and we could be in for a bit of a leap forward this season.
Can someone explain to my why dey keep saying the goal were made in harlen end
I know ot something to do with the the academy but not sure what exactly
Also why isn’t it made in coloney since that were the training ground is