Arsenal vs Norwich City. Carabao Cup Fourth Round.
Emirates StadiumAttendance58,444.
Tuesday 24 October 2017 06:25, UK
Arsene Wenger will rotate his Arsenal side once again for their Carabao Cup fourth-round clash with Norwich at the Emirates on Tuesday night.
The Gunners bounced back from a 2-1 defeat at Watford with victories over Red Star Belgrade in the Europa League on Thursday and Everton in the Premier League on Sunday.
Their opponents Norwich also had a morale-boosting win at the weekend, beating Ipswich 1-0 in the East Anglian derby.
Arsenal will be favourites to advance past the Championship promotion hopefuls but Norwich boss Daniel Farke believes his team will have nothing to lose as they are cheered on by a 9,000-strong travelling support.
"There is no pressure on us because 19 times out of 20, Arsenal would go through to the next round," the Norwich head coach said at a press conference.
"There is always that one time though - and that time is special. I like situations where people don't expect you to create special moments.
"We've won our last five away games and that gives us confidence. It is a big task, but I'm concentrated on bringing the best result back to Norwich City."
Wenger has spoken recently about utilising his squad and on the back of Sunday's 5-2 win at Everton it is expected he will make a raft of changes against the Canaries.
Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette could be rested, while Shkodran Mustafi (hamstring), Calum Chambers (hip), Santi Cazorla (ankle), Danny Welbeck and David Ospina (both groin) all miss out.
Nelson Oliveira (groin) and Christoph Zimmermann (knee) face fitness tests for Norwich but Russell Martin will travel with the squad after playing 90 minutes for the club's U23s.
Arsenal have lost just two of their last 27 home games in all competitions against Norwich (W17 D8), with the Gunners unbeaten in their last eight (W5 D3), including three wins in four at the Emirates.
These two sides have met three times in the League Cup - Norwich won a quarter-final in 1973, eventually losing to Tottenham in the final. Arsenal have won the other two ties in 1981-82 and 1993-94.
Arsenal have won 26 of their last 29 League Cup home games against sides from a lower division (D3), winning each of their last eight games, conceding just twice.
The Canaries have progressed from just one of their last eight League Cup visits to Premier League sides, winning 2-0 at Goodison Park against Everton last season.
The north London side have reached quarter-final stage of the League Cup just once in their last four seasons (2016-17), this is after 10 successive campaigns between 2003-04 and 2012-13.
Norwich have made it past the fourth round just once in the last 21 seasons, winning against Tottenham 2-1 in 2012-13.
Josh Murphy has had a hand in 10 goals in 11 League Cup appearances (eight goals, two assists).
It will be another strong Arsenal side with a couple of youngsters in there. Arsene Wenger has the depth at his disposal to take care of these sort of games.
There's a little bit of momentum building and I'd expect to see Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott pressing their claims for more time in other competitions.
Norwich's confidence should be high after another away win over their rivals Ipswich, but this Arsenal squad is strong enough to go and win this competition.
Charlie predicts: 4-1 and Theo Walcott to score first (30/1 with Sky Bet)
