7:07PM
Charles Sagoe Jnr makes his Arsenal debut tonight
Adept on either wing for the U21s, the 19-year-old signed pro last year having joined the club from Fulham at the age of 11:
Thank you God, I’m delighted to have signed my first professional contract for @arsenal, it’s been a journey full of ups and downs but I’ve throughly enjoyed my time thus far. It’s a very proud moment for me and my family. Thanks to all in my journey so far and Arsenal.🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/G2HeJxYPkn
— Charles Sagoe Jr (@SagoeJr) July 6, 2022
6:58PM
Two changes for the Bees
Jorgensen and Onyeka come in for Jensen and Lewis-Potter.
6:56PM
I make that eight changes for Arsenal
Raya, Saliba, Zinchenko, Odegaard, Rice, Vieira, Saka and Jesus are sitting this one out. Presume Tomiyasu at right-back and White at centre-half given the listing but perhaps it’s Kiwior at centre-back, Tomiyasu at left-back and White in his usual if not normal position.
6:52PM
Brentford pick strongest side
Switching, it appears, to three at the back:
6:50PM
Starts for Ramsdale and Smith Rowe
6:47PM
Mikel Arteta on his absentees
It is a long list … It is the situation that we have at the moment and we need players back, that’s for sure.
To change 11 or 12 players, it is not a possibility.
There are a lot of players that need minutes. Some players have not had many minutes and they are going to have that exposure tomorrow.
6:23PM
Thomas Frank on his treatment room
Every team has injuries, and with Ivan Toney’s ban included, we have seven players out.
I still think I can put a very strong team out there every game, but maybe we can’t change it as much during the game because the depth is not as good.
I have big belief in our young players, but they need time to settle in.
I will put as strong as possible team out there. It’s very important that we do our best to see how far we can get. We would like to go on a cup run.
5:30PM
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5:29PM
Preview: Turn and face the strange ch-ch-changes
Good evening and welcome to live coverage of the Carabao Cup third-round tie between Brentford (whose furthest foray in this tournament was the semi-final in 2021) and Arsenal (winners in 1987 – ‘it’s Charlie!’ – and 1993). The Bees, who have won one and lost one of their Premier League home fixtures against the Gunners since promotion in 2021, made 10 changes for their second-round victory over League Two Newport County. Although they bossed the game, it took them 87 minutes to break the deadlock and then had to win a shootout after County equalised in stoppage time. Having lost their last two games and drawn three previous to those defeats by Newcastle and Everton, Thomas Frank may pick a stronger, more established starting XI even with Sunday’s trip to Forest looming.
Two years ago Mikel Arteta made eight changes for their seasonal Carabao Cup bow and beat West Brom 6-0 and 10 last year when Brighton went to the Emirates and won 3-1. It is hard to predict how seriously he takes this competition, despite his graduation from the Man City coaching finishing school which prizes this tournament, but I think it is safe to say there will be run-outs tonight for several of his serially bench-indentured squad: Emile Smith Rowe, Reiss Nelson, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Mohamed Elneny and possibly even Cedric Soares.
If Smith Rowe Elneny and Eddie Nketiah get on tonight, it is odd to think that they will be the only survivors from the sole time these two met in the League Cup before, five years ago during Unai Emery’s first season at the Emirates, such has been the overhaul. But it has been even more extreme in Middlesex where Neal Maupay, back in his happy place after a rotten year at Everton, is the last Bee standing five years on. No better time to start his revival with Kevin Schade absent until the new year and Ivan Toney out, if he is coming back at all, until January 16.
