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Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest: Confirmed team news, line-ups & prediction

By on September 24, 2019

Rob-Holding-arsenal

Arsenal will be looking to avoid an upset when we take on Nottingham Forest in the third round of the Carabao Cup at the Emirates Stadium this evening.

The match comes just 48 hours after we staged a stunning turnaround to come from behind twice to beat Aston Villa 3-2 on Sunday afternoon, despite being down to 10-men for over half the game.

Obviously the result was great given the circumstances and the first half performance, but it was another disappointing day for Unai Emery as fans continue to lose belief that he’s the man to take us back to the top.

The Carabao Cup is clearly the least important competition Arsenal will take part in this season but defeat tonight at home to Championship outfit Nottingham Forest would be another nail in Emery’s coffin.

Team news

Emery is set to make wholesale changes with none of the players who started on Sunday expected to line-up tonight. The only possible exception could be Bukayo Saka but he may be given a place on the bench.

As confirmed on Arsenal.com, Alexandre Lacazette remains out with an ankle injury but Rob Holding is set to return to make his first appearance for the first team since recovering from a knee injury.

Emery also told the clubs website that Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney will feature but didn’t confirm if they’d start after the full-backs recently returning to full fitness.

The likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Nicolas Pepe, Granit Xhaka, Matteo Guendouzi, David Luiz and Bernd Leno are expected to be rested.

Preferred line-up

I’d start Tierney and give him 60 minutes with Bellerin introduced in the second half. I hope Joe Willock and Lucas Torreira are given the chance in the middle of the park while Reiss Nelson and Gabriel Martinelli should start along with Emile Smith Rowe. With so few senior options up front, I’d give U23s striker Folarin Balogun a chance with Tyreece John-Jules on the bench.

football formations

Forest XI: Muric, Cash, Worrall, Figueiredo, Robinson, Semedo, Bostock, Johnson, Silva, Ameobi, Adomah

Prediction

Obviously we’ll field a weakened side but Forest are also expected to make a number of changes ahead of their Championship clash with Stoke on Friday night. I’m confident that Arsenal’s second string is stronger than Forest’s so we should still have enough quality to win tonight. I’m excited to see how the youngsters perform and it will be great to see the likes of Holding, Bellerin and Tierney back on the pitch. I’m going 2-0 Arsenal.

Arsenal 2-0 Forest