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Arsenal Team News & Predicted Team To Take On West Brom

By on September 24, 2013

If we still have enough fit players to put a team out, we’ll be taking on West Brom in the third round of the Capital One Cup on Wednesday night.

The news of Walcott’s untimely injury has come as a huge blow and he was one of only two players (along with Giroud) I felt we really couldn’t cope without over the next few weeks. I feel we have back-up in every other position bar right wing and up front. Unfortunately, Theo’s out for around four weeks so we’ll have to make do without him for our next four fixtures.

It opens the door for young Serge Gnabry to stake a claim to a first team spot. He’s expected to play on the right in Walcott’s absence starting tomorrow against the Baggies. He did reasonably well against Stoke on Sunday and hopefully there’s more to come when he gets a bit more confident.

The game will also see the return of Nicklas Bendtner after two years in the wilderness and Ryo Miyaichi should make up the front trio as Lukas Podolski, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tomas Rosicky, Santi Cazorla, Yaya Sanogo and Abou Diaby remain out.

Mikel Arteta came off the bench on Sunday and should get his first start of the season while Emmanuel Frimpong could also get his first taste of first team football with the boss confirming that Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere will be rested.

Thomas Vermaelen, Nacho Monreal and Carl Jenkinson are almost certain to come in at the back while Italian goalkeeper Viviano could make his debut, although Fabianski may get the nod.

Here’s the team I expect to start:

It’s a solid enough back four but going forward we look as though we may struggle to create chances. Bendtner will be very rusty so we’ll be relying on youngsters Gnabry and Miyaichi to cause the home side problems. Arteta may play a little further forward and fill the creative void, which he’s more than capable of doing as he played there for Everton on a regular basis.

I’m still hopeful we can get a positive result but the last thing we want is a replay, so let’s try and get it done inside the ninety minutes.

What would be your starting eleven for the game?