Coventry Preview: What a night for Nico Yennaris
866 comments September 26th, 2012
Tonight’s League Cup with Coventry City is a sell-out. Â Considering it’s not included in season tickets, that means 60,000 seats, all sold and accounted for. Â That’s the same as Chelsea and City’s combined attendance from their games last night. Â Even taking in to account reduced prices, it’s a pretty extraordinary feat, and a demonstration of the appetite to watch Arsenal football club.
Tonight will be a vision of the future: a young team, and a young crowd too. Â Here’s hoping it’s an enthralling game that wins the hearts of the next generation of Gooners filling the stands.
Arsene has indicated it’ll be a strong side sprinkled with a smattering of youngsters (update: the 18-man squad has now been named). Â One of the more inexperienced players likely to start is Nico Yennaris, completing a remarkable double: the last time we played Coventry City, at Highbury, he was the mascot.
Suffice to say he looks a bit different now. Â If you were wondering, the other mascot went on to become Michel Salgado.
When it comes to picking tonight’s team, there are a few certainties: Argentinian youngster Damian Martinez will make his debut in goal, Ignasi Miquel will play at centre-back, Emmanuel Frimpong will be on the bench as he continues his recuperation, and Andrey Arshavin will get a rare opportunity to start.
Filling in the gaps, I expect Johan Djourou to partner Miquel, and probably captain the side to boot. Â That’ll mean leaving out Sebastien Squillaci, but I can hardly see the point in giving game-time to a player who is highly unlikely to feature this season and beyond. Â At left-back Andre Santos is badly in need of game time, so I expect him to step in. Â On the right, Arsene has a few options, but I suspect he might be tempted to deploy the young Spaniard signed from Barcelona, Hector Bellerin.
That’d mean shifting Yennaris in holding midfield – a role he has played regularly while skippering the Reserves. Â With Frimpong unlikely to play more than twenty minutes, Francis Coquelin will presumably he handed another chance to impress.
Ahead of that is trickier to predict. Â Arsene is keen to unleash the talent of 17 year old Serge Gnabry, but there are a queue of first-team players ahead of him looking for game time. Â Arshavin has pretty much been guaranteed an opportunity, and I think he may find himself switching positions between the left flank and a central play-making berth, also occupied by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Â The youngster did not get on at the weekend and will be wanting to impress ahead of the Chelsea game.
On the right flank, Theo Walcott is due a game, and will probably start. Â Of course, Arsene does have the option of switching Chamberlain and Arshavin to the flanks, and playing Walcott through the middle alongside another striker. Â It’d be an interesting formation to look at, but I can’t see Arsene conceding to Theo’s demands so swiftly.
That other striking role will come down to one of Marouane Chamakh and Olivier Giroud. Â I’d pick Giroud. Â For me, Chamakh is in the same boat as Squillaci – treading water until he leaves. Â Furthermore, the Frenchman is desperate for a goal, and you have to think that tonight will be as good an opportunity as any to get one.
With City and Everton both out of the competition last night, I hope we make a real fist of the League Cup this year. Â We’re all aware it’s not a priority, but it’d be great to have a good run at it. Â Starting tonight.