Following our disappointing (yet probably deserved) draw away at Palace this weekend, its the League Cup circus which comes to town this midweek, with the visit of League One Blackpool.
We’d be hoping our youngsters and second string XI would be enough to see off Blackpool and book our place in the quarter final of the competition we finished as runners-up last season.
We made light work of Brentford in the last round, winning 3-1 with a late goal from Alexandre Lacazette and a brace from Danny Welbeck.
Emery will probably rest a lot of first teamers with one eye on the Liverpool game this weekend, with Emile Smith Rowe, Joe Willock, Julio Pleguezuelo and Eddie Nketiah all in the squad and hoping to play. With that said he could also use the fixture to nurse some returning players who are on the comeback trial with injury, such as Cech, Kolasinac and Monreal.
Blackpool are currently 12th in League One and would be hoping to give it everything at The Emirates, which could prove a real test for our youngsters.
Kick-off is scheduled for 7:45pm and is not being shown on TV, and it looks like there won’t be too many Blackpool fans making the trip to London.
The Blackpool manager Terry McPhillips said: “We’ll have a right good go. We’ve got nothing to lose. It’s football…”
ArsenalShorts prediction: We’re definitely not getting this all our own way, late drama with Arsenal sneaking through…