Arsenal v Bolton Carling Cup Preview

Arsenal v Bolton, Tuesday 25th October, 7.45pm, Carling Cup 4th Round, Emirates Stadium


Arsenal and Bolton in contrasting form ahead of cup tie

Arsenal go into the 4th round of the carling cup in excellent form with 6 wins in the last 7 games. The 3-1 victory against Stoke on Sunday pushed the gunners up to 7th in the table just 6 points behind 4th-placed Newcastle. Sunday's victory completed a fine week for Arsene Wenger as Arsenal won 3 games in 8 days - including an impressive 1-0 win at Marseille on Wednesday. The contrast with Bolton however is frightening. Owen Coyle's side have lost 7 of their 9 league fixtures and sit 18th in the Premier League. One of those 7 defeats for Bolton came at the Emirates when Arsenal won 3-0 (Van Persie (2) & Song).

Third round victories

Arsenal reached the 4th round of the carling cup by beating Shrewsbury Town 3-1 at the Emirates. After falling behind in the first half, Arsenal fought back with goals from Gibbs, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Benayoun. Bolton won 2-0 at Aston Villa with goals from Eagles and Kakuta.

Player to watch

Francis Coquelin



The 20-year old French midfielder excelled in the last round against Shrewsbury and repeated that performance in the North London derby earlier this month. Coquelin looks to have benefited greatly from
a loan spell in Ligue 1 last season with Lorient - where he made 25 appearances. Coquelin is a defensive midfielder - quick, deceptively strong, has a great tackle, high work-rate and commitment - but he is also very composed in possession and a good passer of the ball. Another quality performance and the first team will be closer than ever for him.

Team News

Arsenal

Thomas Vermaelen is in the squad after 2 months out with an ankle injury, but Abou Diaby, Jack Wilshere, Carl Jenkinson, Bacary Sagna and Kieran Gibbs remain injured.

Bolton

Owen Coyle has confirmed he will make severe changes to the side that lost to Sunderland on Saturday. Tyrone Mears, Lee Chung-Yong, Stuart Holden, Sean Davis and Sam Ricketts are all injured.

sam ftw

RealGunner wrote:sam ftw

Pleasure.

I hope to see Ryo instead of Arshavin

Who are the three guys behind Arshavin?

hate this ლ(ಠ益ಠლ...... can't watch the game

Great work as always Sam. I like the line up, but still not sure about djourou. I hope Jenkinson makes it back for Chelsea game.

Great as ever Sam


But why did you go with a Vermaelen on LB and Squid and Miquel in CB?? To rest everyone else for Chelsea?

In that case, I'd expect Ryo to start ahead of Arshavin and Chamakh on the bench..

Also, I'm not sure both Coq and Frimmers will start.. I think we'll start with Coq and bring on deench to protect a lead (once we have a good enough one).. Both of them starting in a home game against a struggling side is a bit too defensive.. Wouldn't mind starting Ozhyakup and then bringing on Frimmers later, that seems ideal..

I hope O2 starts against Bolton and proves that Holland does have a Fabregas of its own and that Holland need not worry about Sneijder's retirement thanks to O2

updated line-up following news from young guns blog.

http://younggunsblog.co.uk/2011/10/wenger-hands-yennaris-bolton-bow/

Thank you for your great previews Sam.

Umm.. Why isn't Ryo starting??

Great preview Sam.

I hope Ryo starts over arshavin.

Great preview yet again Sam. Hoping to see more of AOC, Park and Coquelin.

ernie_schwarz wrote:I hope O2 starts against Bolton and proves that Holland does have a Fabregas of its own and that Holland need not worry about Sneijder's retirement thanks to O2

i dont think he will, but Double O is indeed a beast. plus he's being mentored by the legend in the making RvP. hopefully Chambo rapes Bolton though


great preview too sam

exciting line up!

Miquel is kinda slow, and he will face Kakuta most probably. It will be a difficult challenge for him and if Arshavin starts, then it will be even more difficult.

Good to see Vermaelen coming back. I know we all dislike squillaci but lets give him another start. He had a full season under his belt, lets see if he has improved this season. Yennaris at RB will be interesting, It might be a bit like coquelin at RB against stoke. Good luck to him anyways

A double pivot of Frimpong and Coquelin looks so solid. A petit-Vieira Midfield like

Upfront we have pace and tickery. All eyes on park though.

Lets go and win this shit!

bad news, there wont be any streams

RealGunner wrote:bad news, there wont be any streams

Noooooooo I wanted to watch Ryo.

RealGunner wrote:bad news, there wont be any streams

This sucks no again.

woww... we have 2imagine em scoring then !....yeahh @Ryo - what an excellent score! Arsenal5:2 Bolton..lool

boss wrote:woww... we have 2imagine em scoring then !....yeahh @Ryo - what an excellent score! Arsenal5:2 Bolton..lool

:lol!:

yeahh..c'mon guys...u can be moreee creative..lool....2bhonest asking me ...Arsenal should and MUST win every game one by one