We could have done the double last year had we not lost to Man City in the finals. The loss to Man City was a disappointing one for us. Nico O’Reilly scored twice and ruined some of the fun that was about to come later. We also lost to PSG in the Champions League finals, and missed the treble. The getaway was that you shouldn’t lose finals but to learn from those losses, we must reach there again.
And the journey begins today. We are visiting Ipswich Town today in the third round of Carabao Cup / EFL cup. There are some good teams competing this time – Chelsea, Bournemouth, Sunderland, Palace, Newcastle have already made it to the next round. The fate of Arsenal, Man Utd, City, Liverpool and Spurs will be decided today.
We are unbeaten so far this season. 4 Premier League wins and a CL win so far, and we can add another one today. And it’s the second last game before we go into the international break, so the manager is under no duress to rest players. Though, I would like to see the likes of Max Dowman getting some game time today, Mikel likely prefers to go with the best fit XI.
Wenger used these cups to develop academy players and he would find some gems often. He invested his time and also cost the club a few points in doing so. But we are way past the development phase and we can spend 60m on players that would be second fiddle to Saliba and Rice, so don’t expect anything interesting. The best we can do is, WIN, and move on to the next round.
Every trophy matters. We have the best squad in the Premier League and we have already won the Premier League. The next target is to win more, and not just settle with the title this season.
In the team news, we would probably see Kepa back in the goals. There’s so much to do for Raya, so he will get some rest. We can also see a midfield of MLS and Guimaraes, with Merino in the Odegaard role. Madueke is a candidate to get a start and we might see Eze over Tzolis. Gyokeres could also get his start. I don’t care frankly who starts and if he is fatigued, we have got at least 2 players for each position and that removes the injury anxiety for me.
That’s all for today, see you during the game.
Sorry Ambarish but the double is the League and FA Cup.
The League Cup is pretty mickey mouse and should only be used for giving back up players some game time for sharpness, helping players who have been out with injury match time and giving young players a taste of the first team.
After that its a nuisance.