The Carling Cup returns once again this season and Arsenal’s young Gunners will be up against it early in the competition when they take on Championship high-flyers West Bromwich Albion this evening. Arsenal overcame the Baggies with seeming ease on two occasions last season, although with Arsene Wenger set to send out his highly-prized youth side tonight the outcome may be very, very different.

Arsene dropped plenty of hints about tonight’s starting lineup on Arsenal TV Online yesterday:

“You will see Wojciech Szczesny, Ramsey, Gibbs, Wilshere and certainly Vela. Traore will play. Some experienced players will guide the team like Senderos and Silvestre. But overall it will be a very, very young team as usual.”

Assuming we stick with the 4-3-3 formation that has been ever-present this season, I think we’ll line up something like this:

Traore – Vela – Barazite
Wilshere – Coquelin – Ramsey
Gibbs – Silvestre – Senderos – Hoyte
Szczesny

Traore is likely to play a wide left role rather than a striker role, in pretty much the same role that Emmanuel Eboue has been used in recently, except on the opposite flank. Other possibilities include the selection of strikers Sanchez Watt and Roarie Deacon, both of whom have been impressing for Arsenal’s reserve side this season.

On paper the defence looks strong, and there is enough craft in the midfield and frontline in the likes of Ramsey, Vela and Wilshere to break down the stubborn Baggies defence. However, with West Brom in great form at the moment (2 draws and 6 wins from their opening 8 matches), Roberto Di Matteo’s side will provide stiff opposition for Wenger’s starlets.

West Brom’s style has changed massively since the departure of Tony Mowbray, with successor Di Matteo preferring a more result-oriented approach over Mowbray’s attractive football. The Baggies have been grafting out hard wins at the expense of aesthetically pleasing football, and sit atop the Coca-Cola Championship.

Both sides have little to prove and will no doubt be doing all they can to get the win. Arsenal’s youngsters seem to perform the best without the weight of expectation, and I’m excited to see how they will perform tonight. I think they might surprise a lot of people in the League Cup this year, but it won’t be the end of the world if they get beaten.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 at 11:28 AM and is filed under Arsenal, Carling Cup, Match Previews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.