Young guns set to be unleashed once again
Arsene Wenger’s youngsters will be given more chances to shine in the coming weeks as Arsenal continue to fight on all four fronts.
With a Carling Cup clash at Manchester City swiftly followed by Premier and Champions League matches, Wenger will turn to a number of different players to see the Gunners through the busy festive period.
The Arsenal boss is well known for his youthful selections in the Carling Cup and despite coming up against high quality opposition this week, his policy is unlikely to change.
Speaking on the official club website, Wenger said:
“The Carling Cup is a competition that is not one of our priorities, but we go to Manchester City to win a game,”
“We’ll play our young players in the Carling Cup, and some of them will play in the Champions League [at Olympiacos next week] as well because we are already qualified.”
Sunday’s defeat to Chelsea has put even more pressure on Arsenal’s Premier League title odds and if they are to keep up with their London rivals, Wenger knows that they must get back to winning ways at the earliest possible opportunity.
He added:
“For us it is important to win in the Premier League [against Stoke] because we lost two games, and that of course is a massive disappointment. And two games for the first time we didn’t score. We are used to scoring goal after goal, but at the moment we aren’t scoring.”
The lack of goals may have a lot to do with the absence of Robin Van Persie, who could now miss the rest of the season after injuring an ankle while on international duty. Eduardo and Carlos Vela were both given the chance to impress against Chelsea but neither managed to breach the opposition defence.
Rather than spend money on a new striker in January, the perfect answer for Wenger, would be for a youngster, like Vela, to make a real impact on the first team in the coming weeks.
As the Arsenal manager said, prior to the Chelsea match:
“If you have to respect your budget, every mistake you make costs money and you have to be able to afford that.”
While Wenger could maybe afford one or two mistakes, the pot is certainly not limitless and promoting from within may just prove to be the more lucrative option both on and off the pitch.
In other sports news, the odds for the Cheltenham Gold Cup are tightening up, so it could be worth your while to keep your eye on them for future betting opportunities.
By Josh Allen
Tags: Arsene Wenger, Carling Cup, manchester city, Rotation
