3 Arsenal players that need to impress in Carabao Cup vs Preston

The Carabao Cup represents a great opportunity for Arsenal to claim their second piece of proper silverware in the fifth year of Mikel Arteta's project.

The Gunners are trophy-less since 2020 and have performed poorly in the domestic cups in recent years with alternate priorities taking hold.

However, a win over Championship side Preston will see Arteta's side into the quarter-finals of the competition, and while a lack of giant-killings mean the last eight will be comprised entirely of Premier league clubs, Arsenal have as good a chance as any to go all the way and triumph at Wembley in February.

A trip to Deepdale allows the boss to rotate in between stressful league bouts with Liverpool and Arsenal, but Arteta still has the luxury of putting out a high-quality XI which combines the burgeoning youth of Hale End and squad players with plenty to prove.

Here are three likely starters on Wednesday that need to impress their manager ahead of a tough run of fixtures.

1. Oleksandr Zinchenko

A strong end to pre-season saw Zinchenko included in the opening weekend XI against Wolves, but we've seen just ten minutes of the Ukrainian since.

Zinchenko has once again been absent through injury, but Myles Lewis-Skelly's recent cameo appearances off the bench suggest the teenager has usurped the former Manchester City defender in the left-back pecking order.

Zinchenko has been an unused substitute in Arsenal's three previous outings, but injuries and Lewis-Skelly's likely utilisation in midfield should hand the 27-year-old a start on Wednesday.

There are few who can perform the inverted role better than the masterful technician, but defensive vulnerabilities and a lack of physicality has seen ZInchenko drift out of Arteta's thinking while his project's evolved.

With Arsenal poised to enjoy plenty of the ball at Deepdale, Zinchenko's bound to rack up endless touches and will undoubtedly have a major influence. With his stock sliding, this is a big opportunity for Zinchenko to prove that he still has a role to play for the Gunners this season.

2. Raheem Sterling

Pictures surfaced last week of Sterling looking a little, well, how do I say it... not exactly match-ready. But hey, such images can be deceiving and I won't look too much into it.

The Chelsea loanee was an astute coup at the end of the summer window, but Sterling's Arsenal career is yet to get off the ground.

He's not yet racked up 250 minutes of game time across three competitions, with his sole goal contributions arriving in the third-round victory over Bolton - his best performance of the season so far.

There's scope for patience because we knew that Sterling was never going to play a huge role with Bukayo Saka present, but it's also time we started seeing a little more from the hugely experienced winger. He was signed to offer Saka respite on nights like these, even if the pair were used in tandem against Bolton.

3. Gabriel Jesus

There was a great feeling around Gabriel Jesus heading into 2024/25. A strong end to pre-season had some supporters convinced the Brazilian was about to embark on an August 2022-type run of form.

His bright summer, however, has proven to be a false dawn. A groin injury scuppered his momentum two matchdays in, but Jesus has been fit since the start of September and he's yet to record a single-goal contribution in 326 minutes of action.

Arteta has tried to inspire the forward by giving him the armband and deploying him out wide, but Jesus, for all his industry and abilities in tight spaces, has underperformed at the start of the new season.

He's not been an unmitigated disaster, but he looks like a player that needs a goal. The problem is, you never know when that's going to arrive with Jesus.

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