One huge similarity between Arsenal and Southampton has their impressive youth academy, which has brought up many Premier League stars throughout the years. And when they face each other in the midweek EFL Cup fixture, a competition neither of the managers deem to be of extreme importance, we expect an interesting battle of the youth academies.
Southampton have so far shared Arsenal’s philosophy of using their B-team in the league cup campaign and this time should be no different. Both the teams have tricky away fixtures in the weekend and will look to rest their first team players.
Unlike Arsenal, who have faced second tier teams in their EFL campaign so far, Southampton had to beat the likes of Crystal Palace and Sunderland before advancing to the quarterfinals.
Defence
Southampton have preferred to hand over the gloves to Alex McCarthy in their EFL Cup run so far, but with the England keeper out with a hamstring, Claude Puel won’t be taking more risks and start with their first-choice Fraser Forster.
Saints have one of the best defences in the Premier League with the likes of Van Dijk, Bertrand, Fonte and Soares in the starting lineup. Van Dijk and Soares are hot prospects in Europe and are chased by many giants. And Puel is not expected to risk them in a League Cup fixture at a prime time of the season.
The only starter could be Jose Fonte considering he has a knack for performing well against the Gunners. Apart from him, Southampton is expected to start with Sam McQueen, Jack Stephens, Maya Yoshida at the back.
