Arsenal play their second North London derby of the month on Wednesday, as Tottenham Hotspur visit the Emirates Stadium for the League Cup quarter-final.
Unai Emery got off to a good start against Arsenal’s local rivals with a 4-2 win at the Emirates earlier in December. Now he needs to try and follow it up in the cup, with 90 minutes between his team and the semi-finals.
After playing a Premier League match on Sunday, with another coming up on Saturday, Emery might be tempted to rotate some of the team for this clash. However, a North London derby in the League Cup is still a North London derby, so we expect him to go pretty strong all the same.
Let’s have a look at our predicted XI and team news for the match.
1Goalkeeper and Centre-Backs
Petr Cech should come in for Bernd Leno. Tottenham are the best team in the league at scoring headers, an area Leno struggled with on Sunday, conceding three. Cech is one of the best goalkeepers around at dealing with crosses, so this is his area of expertise.
Also, he’s Arsenal’s cup goalkeeper, and he didn’t get a game last week in the Europa League, so he’ll be itching to get back out there.
Unai Emery showed on Sunday that he wants to stick with a back three, even with the team’s injuries at the moment. Sokratis Papastathopoulos should come back in after his suspension, whilst Emery confirmed Shkodran Mustafi will be assessed ahead of the game. If he’s fit, he’ll be back in the team.
However, for the time being, it looks like Stephan Lichtsteiner is more likely to start the match. Arsenal have already declared him fit to start.
That leaves the left centre-back, and Nacho Monreal will probably fill in there. Laurent Koscielny is an option, but three starts in under a week might be too much for him.
If Monreal isn’t up to two games in four days after returning from injury, Granit Xhaka is an alternative option.
Click ‘Next’ for Midfield, Wing-Backs, Forwards and the Full Starting XI
Arsenal vs Tottenham Betting Tips
Tottenham have failed to keep a clean sheet against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on every single occasion since it opened. Bet on Arsenal to score first with BetUK.com at 20/23.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the Premier League’s top scorer, and he’s scored six goals in six appearances against Tottenham. Bet on Aubameyang to score first with BetUK.com at 33/10.
The last time Arsenal faced Tottenham in the League Cup it ended 2-1 to the Gunners, and the last time Spurs beat an Arsenal side in a cup competition was 2008. Bet on Arsenal to qualify with BetUK.com at 4/5.
Prediction: Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham (37/4 with BetUK.com).