Arsenal Looks to Maintain Winning Ways Against Sheffield Wednesday
Flying high in the Premier League, Arsenal got their Champions League campaign back on track with a win against Bayern Munich at the Emirates on Tuesday. Next up for Arsene Wenger’s men is a Capital One Cup clash with Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Tuesday.
The Gunners’ stars have come up big in a recent spate of victories against Manchester United, Bayern, and most recently Everton. But in order to avoid burning out the likes of Olivier Giroud, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, Wenger will likely choose to rotate his squad against Wednesday.
After netting a brace in Arsenal’s previous Capital One Cup outing against Tottenham, Mathieu Flamini is almost sure to get a run out in midfield. Costa Rican striker Joel Campbell is also likely to see some action against the Championship outfit. Campbell was a standout for the Ticos at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, scoring against Uruguay and setting up a teammate for another goal in what turned out to be a 3-1 win.
But the 23-year-old has found first team minutes hard to come by at Arsenal, and spent part of last season on loan to Villarreal. Tuesday’s Cup fixture could be a chance for Campbell to stake a claim to a place behind Giroud and Theo Walcott.
Other squad players who’ve found it hard to break into the first team this season who might see action against Sheffield include Kieran Gibbs, Mathieu Debuchy and Calum Chambers.
Whatever the team selection, the onus will be on Wenger to extend the Gunners’ run of wins against Sheffield. Having seen their team take some big scalps in the past couple weeks against the likes of Bayern and United, Arsenal fans are starting to believe.
While the Capital One Cup may not be a competition Wenger places too much importance in, the main thing right now is to keep winning in order to maintain that belief for the club’s fans and, more importantly, its players. The Capital One Cup also remains the one piece of domestic silverware to have evaded Wenger over his nearly two decades in charge at Arsenal.
Watch Arsenal vs. Sheffield Wednesday at 6pm ET Tuesday on BeINSports.