(4-2-3-1) Six first team rested for upcoming Premier League matches; Arteta is expected to reorganize the starting lineup for Arsenal vs. Bolton.
The EFL Cup, one of Arsenal’s least favorite tournaments lately, is back at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night as the Gunners take on Bolton Wanderers in the third round.
Even though the Gunners advanced beyond the first two rounds, their guests had to overcome Mansfield Town and Shrewsbury Town in order to meet Mikel Arteta’s team in a glamorous tie.
In Sunday’s Premier League title match against Manchester City, Arsenal, a team that was frequently criticized for being easily intimidated in the latter part of Arsene Wenger’s tenure, abandoned their soft underbelly in favor of the “dark arts,” a strategy that came dangerously close to paying off at a venue where they had not triumphed since January 2015.
For the duration of the second half, Arteta’s ten men bravely and gallantly guarded the goal, but they ultimately conceded two points in the most agonizing way imaginable when John Stones headed in the Citizens’ most recent Premier League equalizer in a thrilling 2-2 draw.
The public’s opinion on Arsenal’s bus-parking tactics at the Etihad was divided, but since the Gunners were playing Man City away from home with 10 men, no one could really criticize them for switching to a 5-4-0 formation after Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel Magalhaes had negated Erling Haaland’s 100th Citizens goal in the first half.
Arsenal, who are still only two points behind Pep Guardiola’s team despite their unbeaten start, will now turn their attention to a competition that they have only won twice in their history—not since 1993—in an attempt to avoid losing to West Ham United in the fourth round of the playoffs again this year.
But Arsenal hasn’t actually won a home game in the competition since 2021, when former Hale End star Charlie Patino was one of the scorers in a 5-1 Sunderland thumping. The Gunners’ last two EFL Cup matches at the Emirates Stadium have resulted in losses to Liverpool and Bolton Wanderers.
Bolton, who are visiting this season and have never won the EFL Cup and have a 66-year major trophy drought to strive to snap this term, is still behind Arsenal’s two EFL Cup victories from 1987 and 1993. The club’s previous silverware came in the 1958 Community Shield.
But after defeating Mansfield Town on penalties in the first round and defeating Shrewsbury Town 2-0 in the second round, where former Arsenal player Jordi Osei-Tutu scored, the League One players have already had their best EFL Cup performance since the 2017–18 campaign.
But the Trotters haven’t advanced past the third round of the EFL Cup since the 2011–12 season, and this season, Ian Evatt’s team has been characterized by inconsistent play. Ironically, Arsenal ended the Trotters’ run in the last 16 of the competition.
In fact, Bolton has had a loss-win pattern in their last six games in all competitions. On September 14, they suffered a humiliating 4-0 home loss to Huddersfield Town; the following weekend, they thrashed Reading 5-2, with Dion Charles scoring a hat-trick in the first half.
Bolton, currently in a miserable eighteenth position in the League One standings with just two wins out of six, will play Arsenal again twelve years after their last encounter, a goalless Premier League draw in 2011–12; earlier that year, Andrey Arshavin and Park Chu-Young had eliminated Fabrice Muamba in the opening round of the EFL Cup.
Even though Arsenal earned their point against Man City, it wasn’t without a cost. David Raya, Calafiori, and Jurrien Timber all experienced cramps or knocks in the final moments of the game, and Leandro Trossard was sent off for kicking the ball away while already on a booking, following Declan Rice’s unfortunate lead.
The Belgian will join Mikel Merino (shoulder), Martin Odegaard (ankle), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee), Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf), and Kieran Tierney (hamstring) on the Arsenal sidelines on Wednesday as he serves his one-game suspension (red cards are awarded for red cards in all competitions rather than cumulative yellow ones). In addition, Arteta will have a difficult time saving the day if Raya is sidelined because Bournemouth’s loan goalkeeper Neto is cup-tied.
Since there are currently very few senior choices for changes inside Arsenal’s ranks, Arteta may choose to start Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri, the latter of whom remarkably received a yellow card prior to making his Premier League debut in the Man City game.
While Osei-Tutu will not be able to reunite with his previous employers due to a knee injury, Bolton’s happy afternoon against Reading did not result in any new injuries for the Trotters.
But the 25-year-old isn’t the only player in the treatment room; Will Forrester, who broke one toe and dislocated another after falling down a flight of stairs, Carlos Mendes Gomes (Achilles), Klaidi Lolos (ankle), and Gethin Jones (knee) are also not in.
Remarkably, the visiting team only features one player over thirty in Scott Arfield, a former midfielder for Rangers and Burnley who may very well be elevated to the starting lineup because of his crucial experience.
Raya, White, Heaven, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly, S Oulad M’Hand, Jorginho, Saka, Nwaneri, Sterling, Jesus might be Arsenal’s starting eleven.
Potential starting lineup for Bolton Wanderers: Dacres-Cogley, Thomason, Arfield, Dempsey, Schon; Adeboyejo, Charles; Southwood, Johnston, Santos
