Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger probably has to field a strong team tomorrow night at Stamford Bridge in the League Cup semi-final against arch-rival Chelsea. Otherwise, the Frenchman runs the risk of being eliminated from a second competition during a span of just a few days.
Wenger had some injuries to deal with, and thus he played a weaker side in the FA Cup third round this past weekend, and it resulted in an elimination defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest. This of course ended the Gunners Cup title defense and also marked the earliest exit in the competition of the Wenger era.
With all that in mind, we decided to put out a stronger side in our Arsenal starting XI prediction. We even included the out of contract at the end of the season twins. This also might be the final time you get to see Alexis in an Arsenal shirt, as some reports indicate he could be a Manchester City player by the weekend.
Striker: Alexandre Lacazette
Attacking Midfield: Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil
Midfield: Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Jack Wilshere, Granit Xhaka, Hector Bellerin
Defense: Per Mertesacker, Shokdran Mustafi, Calum Chambers
Goalkeeper: Petr Cech
Odds: Chelsea 3/4, Draw 14/5, Arsenal 7/2
We have the starting XI prediction for Chelsea posted at this link. Go here for the match preview/injury report.
Prediction: Chelsea 3, Arsenal 2
As always, feel free to post your own Chelsea or Arsenal starting XI prediction, and/or the match final score prediction in the comments section.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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