Don’t go there Arsenal! Will Brentford have a sting in their tail?

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….