Arsenal: 2 players who have to start vs AFC Wimbledon

Arsenal host AFC Wimbledon in the third round of the EFL Cup on Wednesday and the fact there is midweek football on seems like the most important part of all.

It’s a competition that the Gunners haven’t won since 1993 and offers possibly the best chance silverware this season, but it’s also an actual football match. While winning is the aim, as ever, it’s also just pleasant to be able to watch the team in midweek.

A fixture against opposition that sit 38 places and two divisions below Arsenal in the football pyramid is also prime opportunity to give some fringe names a run out in a match the hosts are clear favourites to emerge victorious from.

The likes of Charlie Patino, Kido Taylor-Hart, Omar Rekik and Omari Hutchinson are in with a chance of featuring on the bench, all of whom have been hugely impressing across the youth divisions.

2 players who have to start for Arsenal against AFC Wimbledon as Mikel Arteta’s side prepare for Wednesday’s EFL Cup third round tie

Sitting seventh in League One, the Dons will be the lowest ranked side in England that Mikel Arteta has faced in his managerial career. Winning does feel like a foregone conclusion, even if you can never discount anything.

Which sets this up for what should be a fun evening.

All eyes are fixated on what will happen in the same stadium four days after Wednesday as Tottenham visit for the north London derby, but with this third round clash to come first, there are a couple of important decisions for Arteta.

Well, important in that they’re selection calls he should be making. One of whom is Folarin Balogun.

Starting on the opening day against Brentford and coming on as a substitute against Chelsea, Balogun will be the first to admit he struggled in those matches. The first one had systematic mitigation while the second was a game no Arsenal player could have influenced off the bench.

Left out of the EFL Cup second round squad entirely, he’s since been back with the Under-23 side hitting the kind of goalscoring form that saw him promoted to the senior set up in the first place.

The issue is with the numbers: Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah are both desperate for first team minutes. All the focus should be on Balogun, but it would, wrongly, come as no surprise to see Arteta plump for his more experienced options in front.

Balogun is 20 years old now and should be playing senior football every week. A loan move away didn’t materialise so at the very minimum he should be starting against League One opposition in front of his own fans in the cup.

Nketiah and Lacazette have no value to maintain by playing. They’re going to leave for free, or close to it, anyway. Play the talent the club has produced; that whom is both committed and a part of the future.

There is another, though. Flo isn’t the only one who needs to be starting.

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