Tottenham will line up against Arsenal on Wednesday night without Ryan Mason, Nabil Bentaleb, Mousa Dembele and Alex Pritchard.

When I first read the headlines on other sites I was all geared up for doing a nice little post about how Arsenal got a boost from the Spurs players who would be missing but then I saw their names and, to be honest, I’d rather they played as, for the most part, they’re a liability for the shadow dwellers.

Arsenal did actually get their own injury boost with the news that Per Mertesacker is ready to return after being bed ridden for an eternity with a chest infection and the FA’s overturning of Gabriel’s farcical red card against Chelsea means that the boss has some actual options in the heart of his defence.

The league cup is a competition that only Tottenham really care about but there’s no denying that losing to that lot will be more than a little irksome given how much they’ll crow about it.

That being said, as Arsenal have no kids to field because they loaned most of them out, we should see a strong team turn up where the sun doesn’t shine.