Morning all.
We have Carabao Cup action later on when we play Preston North End at Deepdale. It’s a chance for Mikel Arteta to rotate his squad a bit, and he provided some updates on Gabriel and Jurrien Timber after they went off against Liverpool, saying:
We are still assessing him [Gabriel], it doesn’t look bad at all. He was much better than expected, so hopefully he’ll be fine. He’s had some tests.
Jurrien is fine. He was very tired, he had been out for a while and could not continue the game but there is no new injury there. He could not continue, so we decided to make a very safe call.
He did confirm that Riccardo Calafiori would be out of action for ‘a few weeks’, and suggested Martin Odegaard, despite being out on the grass, still has a ‘few boxes to tick’ before he makes his comeback. It’s hard not to wonder if Norway’s desire to call him up for the upcoming internationals means Arsenal will play it super-safe and not bring him back until there’s no realistic chance of him going away with his country. Perhaps Chelsea? We’ll see.
So, what of tonight? I think it will probably be a stronger team than people might expect, or like. I could see something like Raya in goal – because Neto is cup-tied and Arteta sounded quite cautious about Tommy Setford who is just back from injury – with a back four of White, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly.
In midfield I reckon Jorginho will start, with Ethan Nwaneri in there too, and I wouldn’t be at all shocked to see one of Rice or Merino. Then up front it’ll be a chance for Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling, and then one of Havertz, Trossard or Martinelli depending on the construction of the front three. As I wrote yesterday, I wonder about Oleksandr Zinchenko – could he play in midfield? Or could he start at left-back with Lewis-Skelly alongside Nwaneri further forward as he is very comfortable in midfield?
Arteta was asked about the Ukrainian in his press conference, and the decision to bring on Lewis-Skelly ahead of him in the last two games. He said:
Those decisions are always difficult to make. You make them with the only intention to get the result with the performance that you want, but Alex has already proven for many years something that he has to do and that he has the ability to do it.
A classic of the talk a lot, but say little kind of answer. If he’s not involved tonight, then you can’t help but think he’s very much on the outs, but let’s see. He was much more positive on MLS though, and why he felt confident throwing him into games against Liverpool and Man City a few weeks ago:
First of all, a huge personality. He doesn’t care, he plays with full belief, with a lot of commitment, he’s got the qualities that we want in his position, to play outside, to play inside. Defensively, he’s a really strong player and where we want him. When a player is like this, I don’t care if he’s from the academy or whatever, we need to give him the opportunities and he’s earned the right to play those games.
Compare and contrast with the previous answer. Certainly a different tone, so let’s hope it’s another good opportunity for him later on. Preston lie 16th in the Championship with just 2 wins from their last 10 games, so this is one we’re fully expected to win. Cup football has a way of surprising you though, which is why I don’t think Arteta will be playing ‘all the kids’ in this one, certainly not away from home. Hopefully there’s room for plenty of subs though, but that’s on us to get the game to a point where that’s easy.
As ever, you can follow along later with the live blog, and we’ll have all the post-game stuff on Arseblog News afterwards.
Just finally today, there was a question in the second half of the press conference about winning all four trophies, and I have a feeling it’s one of those that might be taken out of context in the gotcha world of football media that we live in. So, here it is reproduced in full.
Question: Is it possible to win all four trophies? Is realistic to even try for all four?
Answer: Well, we certainly have to try. That means if you win a couple of them, or you win three or four, give yourself the best possible chance, that’s for sure.
So, if you start seeing stuff about Arteta saying Arsenal can/will win all four trophies, there’s what he actually said above. Right, I’m gonna leave it there for now. Have a great today, and we’ll catch you a bit later for the game.
