Arsenal vs. Liverpool: Carabao Cup – Planned lineup and bench

Monday was a tough game for Arsenal, but not unexpected. Mikel Arteta has come a long way in recent months. Several players have improved, the team is better defensively in general and has found a formation that works in most situations. Liverpool at Anfield was always going to be a tough question. Trying to get three results in a row on them would have been huge.

Instead, we created limited opportunities, scored just one, and a few individual errors decided the match. But now is the time to rotate the XI and travel back to Liverpool when the two teams meet again on Thursday, this time in the Carabao Cup for a place in the quarterfinals. With another game on Sunday as well, we should see a lot of changes to the starting lineup. Who starts in midfield? And could we see two different debuts?

Planned initial eleventh

Bank

1. Alexandre Lacazette
2. Willian
3. Ainsley Maitland-Niles
4. Granit xhaka
5. David Luiz
6. Kieran tierney
7. Bernd leno

Notes on the XI:

• Excluded: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mesut Özil, Dani Ceballos, Lucas Torreira, Mattéo Guendouzi, Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding
• Injured: Sokratis, Emile Smith Rowe, Shkodran Mustafi, Pablo Mari, Gabriel Martinelli and Calum Chambers.
• With Pepe, Nketiah, Nelson and Saka not starting on Monday, they are expected to start Thursday. To put the four in the starting eleven, Saka plays as a left back and Nelson is pushed to the left of the three forwards. Maybe this is not the game, but I would like to see Arteta try Pepe on the left to allow him to cross the ball more freely, even if it is only an experiment for half or 20 minutes.
• Willock definitely has another Cup opening on Thursday, but who should pair up with him? Elneny & Xhaka started on Monday, but Ceballos replaced Xhaka. While Elneny is the only player to complete 90 of the four, I still think he is the best option here. Get him to sit in front of the baseline and allow Willock to run into attack at times. That keeps Xhaka and Ceballos ready to start Sunday against Sheffield United.
• Hoping Cedric is in shape, he can start on the right back to rest Bellerin and AMN. Then for the bottom line, one imagines Kolasinac and Gabriel returning. I would rather have Gabriel for Monday and Sunday, but now it’s hard to see him starting both, or forcing Holding or Luiz to start all three.
• Which leaves two roles and potentially debuts for William Saliba and Alex Runarsson. Runarsson seems the safest choice. It would be nice to see Saliba before the international break, especially to keep the players rested on Sunday. Considering that it should be Liverpool’s second eleven, I think it’s time to put it to the test.

How to watch

Thursday (1/10) at 2:45 pm ET / 11:45 am PT on ESPN +.