MX23RW : Friday, December 21 19:32:44

How Arsenal could line up against Tottenham Hotspur

Sports Mole looks at how Arsenal could line up for their EFL Cup quarter-final with North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates Stadium.

Seventeen days on from their rousing 4-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League, Arsenal will look to do it all over again at the Emirates Stadium when they welcome their North London rivals in the EFL Cup.

The Gunners came roaring back to beat their neighbours in thrilling fashion on that occasion and a repeat on Wednesday will see them through to the semi-finals of the competition.

However, they are coming into the match off the back of a shock 3-2 defeat at Southampton at the weekend - a result which ended their 22-game unbeaten streak across all competitions.

Here, Sports Mole looks at how Unai Emery could set his side up for the derby.



Possible ARS XI vs. TOT

Out: Konstantinos Mavropanos (groin), Rob Holding (knee), Emile Smith Rowe (hip), Hector bellerin (calf), Danny Welbeck (ankle)
Doubtful: Shkodran Mustafi (hamstring), Sead Kolasinac (quadriceps)

Emery must strike the balance between the usual rotation policy for this competition and the fact that this is both a quarter-final and a North London derby, all while competing against a growing injury list.

A makeshift three-man defence including Granit Xhaka and Stephan Lichtsteiner at centre-back did not work against Southampton, but Arsenal are boosted by the return of Sokratis Papastathopoulos from suspension for this one.

A lack of other options may mean that Laurent Koscielny is forced to start a second match in the space of just four days despite only recently returning from an injury lay-off, although Nacho Monreal is an option in the middle should Ainsley Maitland-Niles start on the left.

Emery does have more luxuries further up the field, where players with the quality of Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette and Aaron Ramsey can come into the team having not started at the weekend.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored twice at St Mary's and will hope that is enough to retain his place in the team, although Eddie Nketiah provides another option should Emery go for youth.

> Click here to see how Tottenham could line up for this fixture

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Who will progress from Wednesday's EFL Cup quarter-final between Arsenal and Spurs?

Arsenal
Spurs
Arsenal
53.4%
Spurs
46.6%
Mesut Ozil wipes his nose on his shirt during the Premier League game between Arsenal and Manchester City on August 12, 2018
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How Arsenal could line up against Southampton
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Tables
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool1714303773045
2Manchester CityMan City17142148103844
3Tottenham HotspurSpurs17130431161539
4Chelsea17114235142137
5Arsenal17104337231434
6Manchester UnitedMan Utd177552929026
7Wolverhampton WanderersWolves177461919025
8Everton176652422224
9West Ham UnitedWest Ham177372525024
10Watford177372325-224
11Bournemouth177282528-323
12Leicester CityLeicester176472121022
13Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton176382024-421
14Newcastle UnitedNewcastle174491422-816
15Crystal Palace1743101423-915
16Cardiff CityCardiff1742111733-1614
17Southampton172691632-1612
18Burnley1733111533-1812
19Huddersfield TownHuddersfield1724111028-1810
20Fulham1723121642-269

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