Arsenal vs Sunderland: 4 players fighting to start in EFL Cup

Arsenal have one more match to play before Christmas Day and it’s the small matter of booking a place in the EFL Cup semi-finals. Sunderland are the hurdle standing in the way.

Fielding the same starting lineup for the fourth Premier League match running in the thumping 4-1 win over Leeds United, it’s largely expected for a number of reasons that we won’t see it on the pitch for a fifth.

Alexandre Lacazette has put new batteries in and is buzzing around the pitch like he’s 25 again. The No. 9 couldn’t get through 65 minutes without needing a lie down and here he is now making more pressures, and more successful pressures, than any other Arsenal player has managed this season.

Granit Xhaka started his fourth game running despite having been out of action for months, while it’s also gone under the radar that Thomas Partey is somehow evading injury. We know what he put on his Christmas wishlist, then.

Arsenal vs Sunderland: 4 players fighting to start in the EFL Cup quarter-final clash at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday

The back five is now just that: the back five. Kieran Tierney has come back in and the other three are mainstays, with Takehiro Tomiyasu finally feeling the strain of so many minutes at Elland Road and Benjamin White clocking up more minutes than any other player in the squad.

In other words, changes are expected on Tuesday. Not to mention, of course, that Arsenal had been dealt the kindest possible fixture available to them as they welcome League One opposition.

With a cemented first team in the Premier League, the midweek clash will act as a timely reminder of some of the more forgotten names at the club. There are already two confirmed COVID cases, and fingers are firmly crossed that those two stay healthy and are the only affected ones.

Who is vying for involvement against the Black Cats? Four in particular will be gunning for some minutes they can’t get close to in the league.

1. Calum Chambers

Making a return to the Premier League matchday squad after no less than a 13-game absence, Calum Chambers’ only realistic chance of minutes will come in cup competitions. His inclusion against Leeds was solely down to Sambi Lokonga getting COVID.

Does he even have a chance here, though?

In the previous round of the EFL Cup – also against Leeds – he wasn’t even in the starting lineup with Rob Holding and White taking up he central defensive slots and the former lining up on the left. It was only when White was forced off with illness that Chambers came on. But what an impression it was.

Scoring with his first touch to hand the Gunners the lead, that game was also the last time he’s been out on the grass. Sunderland are less of a daunting prospect than Leeds, but this is also the quarter-finals of a competition and with Pablo Mari unavailable it could be that Arteta wants to keep one of his first choice centre-backs in the side.

However, realistically, Arsenal should get one more than fine with a Holding and Chambers partnership, even if neither are left footed.

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