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Preview: Arsenal v Norwich, team news, 3 youngsters to start + prediction

By on October 24, 2017

jack wilshere arsenal 2015

Arsene Wenger is set to rotate his squad as Arsenal play host to Norwich City in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup this evening.

The boss has basically been playing two different teams this season. Our first team which plays in the Premier League and a ‘cup team’ that plays in Europe and in the League Cup.

To be fair to the fringe players, they’ve performed very well so far as we’ve won all three of our Europa League group stage matches and beat Doncaster in the last round of the cup.

The first team boys romped to a 5-2 victory over Everton on Sunday so hopefully those who feature tonight were watching closely as it was a hugely impressive attacking display.

Team News

Wenger is expected to rest the likes of Koscielny, Monreal, Bellerin, Kolasinac, Ramsey, Xhaka, Ozil, Sanchez and Lacazette after their exploits at the weekend.

Debuchy is set to be handed his second start of the season after putting in a solid performance against Red Star Belgrade last week while Rob Holding should also come in to the defence.

Wilshere should be given another chance to impress along with youngsters Nelson and Maitland-Niles while Coquelin could come in to the midfield.

Walcott and Iwobi are expected to start in attack after not featuring against Everton while Giroud should lead the line up front once again.

With Ospina injured, the boss has to decide whether to risk Cech or hand 23-year-old Macey his debut while Welbeck, Chambers, Mustafi and Cazorla remain out injured.

Preferred line-up

I’d personally not risk Cech for this game but I would instead start Mertesacker in front of Macey to offer an experienced head to the defence. Otherwise, the team is fairly easy to predict:

Prediction

Arsenal’s record against Norwich at home is very good [W17 D8 L2] and Wenger doesn’t lose to lower league teams very often so I’m confident tonight. The second-string are improving every game and we still have a lot of quality despite making wholesale changes to the team. I’m going for a 2-0 win to book our place in the quarter finals. Arsenal 2-0 Norwich

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