Morning all.
Dean Smith, Brentford’s manager has made it clear. His team might be up against Premier League opposition but he isn’t running scared:
“I would rather have had Macclesfield at home but unfortunately we’ve got to travel to the Emirates which I’m sure all our supporters will be looking forward to.
“We want to progress as far as we can in the tournament – if you can draw the lowest team at home in the draw then it gives you the best chance of doing that, so no disrespect to Macclesfield.
”It’s not often the players get the chance to test themselves against one of the top teams in the country. We will certainly give them a lot of respect but we won’t fear them.”
Factoid from the BBC:
- Arsenal have only been eliminated at this stage of the League Cup once in the previous 15 seasons, losing 2-1 to Southampton at the Emirates in the third round in 2014-15.
- Arsenal haven’t lost a home League Cup match against a side from outside the top flight since a 2-1 defeat at Highbury against Walsall in November 1983 and are unbeaten in 30 matches since then (W27 D3).
- Brentford are one of only five English teams Arsenal have faced at least 10 times and lost more games against than they’ve won (P12 W3 D4 L5), along with Liverpool, Manchester United, Notts County and Walsall.
Our record against tonight’s opponents might not make good reading but a lot has changed since the last time we played them in a competitive match back in 1947! Yes I know, they beat us in a pre-season friendly but so what, it meant nothing other than a fitness workout.
One thing we don’t have to worry about now is complacency. Unai Emery has said he’ll prioritise Cups over a top four finish and as we know, he’ll have prepared the team for Brentford just as he would any other opposition.
“Against Brentford I am going to prepare the best performance for us, but I’ll be giving chances and opportunities to the players who are playing less in the competition. Also maybe the young players can have opportunities to play in this game if I think it’s the best for us to give them this opportunity of starting in the first XI, but the first thing about the best performance is thinking about winning.”
Ok, the football were playing isn’t always the best, nor is it overly entertaining but we’re winning, winning whilst working hard to improve. Better than playing pretty football and losing eh? Petr Cech spilled that little gem.
We’ve a few injuries. Mavropanos is out for four weeks with a groin strain, Mkhitaryan is a doubt and then there’s those who’ve been out for a while. Good news though is that Kolasinac is back in training as is Carl Jenkinson. Sokratis suffered a dead leg against Everton so is likely to sit tonight’s match out. That’s better news than I’d expected that’s for sure.
As already confirmed by Emery, he’ll rotate his players tonight just as he did for the Europa Cup fixture with Emile Smith-Rowe widely expected to make his first full debut. I’d imagine those joining him will be Elneny/Guendouzi together with either Torreira or Xhaka, Lichtsteiner, Leno with one of Lacazette or Aubameyang up front. Or Eddie, maybe he’ll be given his first start under the Spaniard. He’s little choice but to play Monreal I’d have thought unless Kolasinac is 100% ready to return. Mustafi and Holding will probably continue in central defence which just leaves two places left and my guess is Welbeck and Iwobi will fill those. Both Joe Willock and Julio Pleguezuelo were involved in training yesterday but it remains to be seen see whether they make it further than the bench or not. Perhaps too many younger players at one time isn’t an Emery way.
Man Utd losing at home against Derby County last night was and still is hilarious. But it’s also a warning. Anything can happen in a Cup match and we don’t want to be stealing the headlines from Mourinho tomorrow morning.
VAR should be in use too as it’s permitted at all Premier League grounds in this competition and there’s no additional time should honours be even after ninety minutes. Instead, as Lc reliably informed us yesterday, it’s straight to penalties which is what did for Utd last night.
We don’t want to get ourselves into the same position that’s for sure as we’ve been known to take a few duffers. Our keepers aren’t experts at saving them either.
As the Brentford manager said, his side will have no fear going into this match and rightly so. Frank Lampard showed yet again that anything is possible and Smith will feel the same.
Every club loves a domestic cup competition and despite the League Cup not being top of everyones agenda, I’d love for us to win it.
See you in the comments guys, that’s if there are any today….
Morning Rico. It’s hard to get excited at the moment, where Arsenal are concerned.
Morning Adam. It is but I’m hoping it’s just the beginning of better things. It’ll be interesting to see what the club does in January.
Good morning Rico, “a sting in the tail” nice one, to keep the pun theme going, it could be a honey of a match. 😉
Morning Cicero, I couldn’t resist..lol
Nice return..
Posted on this last night but it disappeared into the ether. We must not be too weak because the kids need games and this is one way to get them.
Heard Bolo Zenden this morning talking about what the Dutch are doing by running a parallel league system for junior teams so that players do not get loaned out all over the place. Should we be looking at this ? I think so as it helps developing players at their own clubs.
We in Norfolk must not hive off all the jokes though
Can’t see Emery selecting a ‘weak’ side, not if he really is taking the Cups seriously. Utd losing might do us a favour to.
Yennaris will be playing tonight so it’ll be good to see how his career is going.
Ha ha, you could find yourself in a sticky situation if you do, just like Arsenal later if they’re not at the races..
Potter, the Piccadilly Line workers will not be a hive of industry this evening, they’ll be on strike and the line closed down.
Then all the passengers will swarm down Avenell road just like the old days.
Morning all.
No reason we shouldn’t be winning comfortably, even with the young guys playing so there are no excuses.
But you know what Cup matches are like Scott, Brentford will be up for this.
True, but I’d say Emery will have our boys ready to go, Rico.
Well, with all that’s been said about him Scott, one would expect them to be well prepared for a contest.
Yep.
I hope he has his players prepared to work for him a little better than Joe Say’s lads are hahahahahahahahaha
An early goal will have the fans buzzing. 😀
For some time I’ve been blaming the Highbury House website because the icons on the comments were too large and obscured the first few words of the comment. But I’ve just discovered that it was a problem with the settings on my new computer. I’ve fixed it! Apologies Rico, you were innocent all along.
Ha ha Cicero re the buzzing.
I always knew I was innocent.. lol
Afternoon all and thanks Rico.
Love the Cups, because if we`re out of the Title race as per usual then it`s a good interest distraction from the league.
Tonight I expect a record Carabao Cup score from us against a static Brentford Nylons team when we rub them up the wrong way.
Bloody Sunny here again…………………..Wavy, visit and bring some rain !
The garden has been calling , picking the apples that the wasps left behind , must get the missus to get a leg of pork to go with the apple sauce and no doubt we will live on crumbles for weeks to come.. Now into grass cutting , will sort the arsenal out later .
1-0 will do me Lc.
Kroenke is our sole owner now then….
Nothing is more certain. If I set foot in Cornwall the tempest will signify the beginning of Armageddon!
I’m on my way!
Brushed nylon made in Brentford….electrifying. By god I used to make those sheets spark….back in the day😎
Should win tonight although The Bees have been playing well, so I’ve noticed. Not a foregone result but …….I’m expecting Dick to set us up right and the team will produce a positive result 2 – 1 . Clean sheet? I doubt it!
It’s been a lovely sunny autumn day here today. Why would I want to go to rainy Kernow??
Didn’t they get thrashed at the weekend Wavy?
Make a note people of todays date that The Real (Royal 🙂 ) Arsenal ceased to exist 🙁
https://twitter.com/charles_watts/status/1044960667143409664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1044960667143409664&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.101greatgoals.com%2Fnews%2Farsenal-go-private-stan-kroenke-completes-100-takeover%2F
God knows what the future holds under an owner whose knowledge of football you could write on an Ants dick and his investment in the team you could shove up an Ants rectum and still have room to shove an enema to release armegheddon of the arse………………………………….hope I spelt armegheddon right, but if I didn`t……….. is it the end of the world !
Arsenal: Leno, Lichtsteiner, Holding, Mustafi, Monreal (c), Elneny, Guendouzi, Smith Rowe, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan, Welbeck.
Subs: Martinez, Bellerin, Ramsey, Torreira, Kolasinac, Nketiah, Lacazette.
One nil to the Arsenal. Welbeck 11 minutes.
Lc you did I didn’t! I’m fascinated by the prospect of the end of the world emerging from the arse of a Kiev!. He must be made in the image ot the Tardis, much bigger inside than out!
I hope I spelt (flour) it right?
Bloody sun’s played havoc with my brain.
Welbeck with his head. He’s making himself hard to drop, I think.
Dark here now. Hurrah!😎
Two nil to the Arsenal Welbeck with another.
Lucas Perez gets his first goal the Hammers. Their third.
Kiev = KSE !!!
Did we really look quite good or was it my dodgy stream? Lol
I’ve seen the second goal and it looked a thing of beauty. A truly “Arsenal” team goal.
Well that was a bit too close for comfort in the second half..
Nah! Rico, that’s entertainment! Give the crowd some excitement, The Hammers won 8 – 0 but that didn’t stop the home fans leaving before the game was over. Give the punters something to enjoy, a bit of tension to keep their attention. 😉
Had we won 5 – 0, and we could have done, what would we be saying tomorrow? It was only Brentford! Well now we have some talking points.
I look forward to your post in the morning. 😉
Good night one and all.😴
Night Cicero, all.
Guess that means I’d better write one…
Yep , sorry , off you go.
Morning Rico and all.
With a defence as porous as ours I am surprised that we are winning games.
Off I went Potter… lol
Morning Adam, all.
Didn’t Emery say early in the summer that he’d rather win 5-4 than 1-0? Guess he wasn’t far off…
Looks like Ramsey is history if today’s headlines are factual.
It does seem as if Ramsey is off doesn’t it? If the stories are to be believed the club have withdrawn their contract offer. This is perhaps due to the fact that they considered his demands to be excessive. I can believe it and as we know, there is little loyalty in the game now and the club really do need to draw a line after the debacles under Wenger. I doubt he will be missed much especially if we could buy a better replacement. I wonder if this also signals a new attitude to the whole contract situation at Arsenal. It should. If we could have sold him last season for £50 million and now face losing him on a free, that is rank bad business and management.
Trouble is, we don’t know what’s happened. It could be that Ramsey was keen to sign and a deal was close but then his performances have made the club think again. It’s another Alexis situation which I suspect will end in a similar way and by that I mean a January exit. I wish we’d sold him last summer but with all the changes, I can understand why we didn’t. But I suspect this will be the last time this situation arises. Well, apart from Welbeck who I think will stay.
Not sure Ramsey will be replaced though, not with Smith-Rowe coming through.
New post is up now.