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Morning.
It’s fair to say Mikel Arteta has some decisions to make ahead of tonight’s Carabao Cup game against Bolton. Even without the injury issues, a core group of players got us through most of an incredibly gruelling week with three away games, and he’d have to consider making changes just to give some of them a rest.
Speaking at his press conference yesterday, he referenced a few more problems in the wake of that Herculean effort against Man City, so tonight’s team will certainly be an interesting one. Let’s start with goalkeeper, and David Raya is a doubt after being seen limping after Sunday’s game. New signing Neto is cup-tied, having played in the last round for Bournemouth before making the switch to replace Aaron Ramsdale, and with some injury issues even at youth level, the next man up could be 16 year old Jack Porter.
He was with the squad for our trip to Atalanta last week, but could be called upon today if Raya isn’t fit enough or, perhaps, not risked. I’d be quite surprised to see a keeper that young start the game, but I guess it all depends on how our number 1 is.
At the back, we Jakub Kiwior should come in, and I wonder too if we might see Ayden Heaven at centre-half. Myles Lewis-Skelly played at left-back during pre-season so there’s room for him there, but quite what we do at right-back is up for question. Ben White wasn’t fit enough to start against City, and Jurrien Timber went off late on, so there have to be some doubts there. Could they timeshare the game, or will we see a young player like Josh Nichols get a chance? It would be a very raw back four if that were the case, so the potential inclusion of one of Gabriel/Saliba will be a consideration for Arteta, I’m sure – if he has to do without White/Timber who could both play centre-half if available.
I think we’re all ready to see Ethan Nwaneri start in midfield, most likely with Jorginho and Declan Rice behind him, while up front I wouldn’t be at all…
Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/09/selection-decisions-dilemmas-ahead-of-bolton-in-the-league-cup/
Author : arseblog
Publish date : 2024-09-25 06:17:37
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