Arteta’s ideal Arsenal selection plan for fixture schedule

Arsenal face an interesting spell of fixtures this month where they play three cup matches before their next Premier League game away at Tottenham.

The disappointment of losing to Manchester City with nearly the last kick of the game has yet to dissipate. Such a strong performance against possibly the best side in Europe should have warranted at least a point. It didn’t.

So with the now milk spilled, focus shifts to another huge clash at home to Liverpool in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final clash on Thursday. The big question, of course, is whether the match will even go ahead.

Mikel Arteta will be back on the touchline for the midweek game and has some big selection calls to make having bid farewell to four of his squad. Thomas Partey, Nicolas Pepe, Mohamed Elneny and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have all jetted off to AFCON.

Mikel Arteta’s ideal Arsenal selection plan for fixture schedule will be based on rotation for Carabao Cup and FA Cup ties prior to North London Derby

It’s in midfield where the biggest issues lie with only three senior central midfielders to choose from, one of whom may well be departing for Roma as Ainsley Maitland-Niles edges ever closer to moving on a loan to buy deal this window.

However, with the fall of the fixtures, it should be slightly easier for Arteta to pick his sides.

Liverpool, barring a successful request for postponement, head to the Emirates heavily depleted as Jurgen Klopp wrestles with more than senior absentees for the first leg. Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita have left for AFCON, Nat Phillips, Thiago and Harvey Elliott are injured, and Alisson, Roberto Firmino and Joel Matip are all out with Covid. So too is the German manager.

Arsenal should be going as strong as they can anyway as they bid for silverware – even without Gabriel – and the absence-stricken Reds on home soil presents as good of an opportunity as they could hope for to secure a positive first leg result.

It does feel like an inevitable rearrangement, though.

There can then be heavy rotation for the following game, an away tie at Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup third round. That venue was not a happy hunting ground the last time these two sides met, mind youo.

Should all things go to plan – which can and should never be banked on – then the return leg at Anfield four days after the trip to the City Ground can include a combination of first team and some slightly more fringe options.

It is absolutely not a fixture to be resting multiple big names for, especially since Arsenal could be trailing in the tie by that point, but it comes just three days before the new ‘biggest match of the season’ away at Tottenham in the Premier League.

Spurs trail the Gunners in the table by two points but boast two games in hand on their rivals, and even if Arsenal win that match – Arsenal haven’t won away at Tottenham in the league since 2014, or away in any competition since 2015 – they will have a five-point cushion with Antonio Conte’s side still boasting six points available to catch up on.

In the hunt for the top four this is a game that could have significant consequences on the final outcome. If Spurs win and then secure victories in their matches in hand, they could find themselves seven points ahead of Arsenal.

Therefore it’s helpful that that isn’t going to happen, right?

Having a crunch second leg tie at somewhere like Anfield just three days prior does not help, nor does the gaping holes in midfield with it looking fairly certain Arsenal will have just two senior options to choose from with Maitland-Niles nearing the exit door.

However, in formulating a plan for rotation over the coming matches, the fall of the fixtures and circumstances around then will help provide a clearer route to go down.