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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2. Nicolas Pepe

When you’re being left on the bench in favour of a player four years your junior who has rejected multiple contracts and is being fielded out of position, then your time might up.

With a whole 12 minutes of Premier League action across the previous ten matches, whether one feels Nicolas Pepe not playing is justified or not (it is), it’s still a dreadful indictment of the club’s previous dealings where the £72m record signing can’t get a sniff.

"“It’s with all the players that they are not having a lot of minutes,” Arteta said of Pepe’s situation. “He needs more opportunities to show what he can do and in the last games he hasn’t had them. I understand but again I have to try to make the decision based on what I see every day. “Nico is really willing to help the team. The reality is that in the position that he’s playing, Bukayo is there and has been fantastic.”"

All fans will be hoping that Tuesday doesn’t call for Saka, in which case Pepe has every chance to be involved. Then again, does he? Nketiah is selected ahead of him in the team and Arteta may want one or two of his regulars involved, perhaps just from the start, so he can get the win wrapped up early.

Pepe is talented enough to rip teams like Sunderland apart. It’s no disrespect to them, but he has excellent ability in him that should sing in matches like these. He’ll be gunning for a start because the younger players are leaving him with nothing else.

This is as much as fans will see of him, perhaps until his contract expires.

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3. Ainsley Maitland-Niles

A victim of Granit Xhaka.

Starting in the 1-0 win over Watford and putting in a man of the match display to boot, Ainsley Maitland-Niles has only played 37 minutes in the seven matches since and they all came in the game directly after away at Anfield.

In the six matches following that he’s been in the Premier League squad four times, with his most recent omission one of the more puzzling ones. Sambi was confirmed absent with COVID, something that should have boosted Maitland-Niles’ chances of inclusion, yet it was Chambers who came in instead. Where was he?

Arteta spoke after the match that Mari was the only other absentee through the virus, so you do have to wonder what has gone on behind the scenes to see such a sudden exile for the 24-year-old.

With Xhaka and Partey having played together across the previous four games, they will surely be due a rest and with Sambi’s absence it leaves the door wide open for Maitland-Niles to come into midfield, possibly next to Mohamed Elneny.

If he does play, it’ll either be with the aim of fighting his way back into the squads or to earn a contract elsewhere. The latter of those seems more likely as he has not had the minutes he was seemingly promised after his deadline day drama.

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4. Folarin Balogun

Unlike the first team, the Under-23’s are granted a winter break from fixtures which has seen the likes of Omar Rekik, Charlie Patino and Folarin Balogun training with the seniors in the build-up to Sunderland.

While Salah Oulad M’Hand was the academy man named on the bench against Leeds in the last round, it will be Balogun who’s closest to earning a start on Tuesday.

Now known that he will be moving on in January on a six-month loan, most likely to the Championship, keeping his fitness up with minutes against strong League One opposition is something he’ll be eyeing as his final involvement with Arsenal this season.

Capable of playing out on the left or through the middle, that versatility will do him favours as it could allow Arteta to leave two, or maybe all three, of Martinelli, Smith Rowe and Saka out of the team.

Clearly ready for senior football, Balogun will be coming up against tougher defences in the second tier and as a mini-taster before he secures a loan club, his place in the team is one Arsenal fans will be desperate to see.