Arsenal have several injury issues ahead of their Carabao Cup clash with north London rivals Tottenham.
Unai Emery’s men host Spurs in the quarter-finals, having met less than three weeks ago in a ferocious Premier League encounter that ended 4-2 to the Gunners.The winner of tonight’s match will join Manchester City and Burton Albion in the semi-finals, but Arsenal are struggling to field a full strength side with up to eight players potentially sidelined.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Emery said: “Our first idea is that we play with the best players that we can use tomorrow in this derby.
“The opposition is very big and it’s demanding a big performance from us tomorrow.
“We can use some young players because we think with a big performance, they can help us win tomorrow.”
Rob Holding and Danny Welbeck are both long-term absentees while Konstantinos Mavropanos and Emile Smith Rowe are also ruled out.
Meanwhile, Hector Bellerin is doubtful having sustained a calf injury against Southampton while Sead Kolasinac and Ainsley Maitland-Niles face late fitness assessments.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Shkodran Mustafi are both available again after missing the clash with Saints due to suspension, but the German is also struggling for fitness following a hamstring issue.
While Emery has suggested youngsters could feature against Spurs, veterans such as Petr Cech and Stephan Lichtsteiner are most likely to come into the starting XI if changes are made.
Cech should deputise for Leno in goal and Lichtsteiner is a direct replacement for Bellerin while Laurent Koscielny is expected to continue at centre-back.
Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka face competition from Matteo Guendouzi and Mohamed Elneny in midfield while Aaron Ramsey is set to support Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in attack.
