By Tony Attwood
So here we are in the third round of the Diddy Cup where we can have the chance of a laugh at Tottenham Hotspur versus Doncaster Rovers kick off 19:45, and a celebration of the goals in Port Vale versus Arsenal kick off 20:00 – the latter being on Sky TV.
And indeed if you haven’t already caught up with the details you can read them at
- Port Vale’s home and away results, the officials (and what to watch out for)
- Port Vale v Arsenal and a memorable bit of giant killing
The excited chiit chat of the moment is that Max Dowman could start in the game which would be his reward for his progress so far.
But more than that, any significant appearance by the young man would be yet another advertisement for the Arsenal youth system, saying to young players and their parents, at Arsenal, you really can get a chance. While other top clubs might make you sit in the under 18s and under 21s for years, and only then grudgingly allow you onto the bench, at Arsenal, you can get into the team.#
And such a message is vital for Arsenal because there is still no sign that the vast sums of money pouring into Liverpool and Manchester City are going to dry up, so getting brilliant players for nothing (in terms of transfers) is vital for the club’s future.
Arsenal have had such a reputation for years – just think back to Cesc Fabregas – but for the youngsters of today, Cesc is now an old man, a part of the club’s ancient history. Their minds go to Ethan Nwaneri and the way Saka was nurtured and given the chance to flourish in the first team. And indeed, the way Martinelli has been allowed to grow in stature, rather than being jettisoned when he didn’t shine in the occasional game. These are the reasons why players come to Arsenal – and all this is before we start talking about Myles Lewis-Skelly.#
Pulling this together, the Standard gives us a starting team of
Kepa;
White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly;
Nwaneri, Norgaard, Merino;
Dowman, Trossard, Martinell.
Goal.com go with
Kepa,
White, Mosquera, Hincapie, Lewis-Skelly,
Norgaard, Eze, Nwaneri,
Dowman, Martinelli, Trossard
Finally, if we take a look at Just Arsenal, we come up with another variation on the line up….
.
Kepa Arrizabalaga
Myles Lewis-Skelly, Cristhian Mosquera, Riccardo Calafiori, Ben White (c)
Christian Nørgaard, Mikel Merino, Ethan Nwaneri
Max Dowman, Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard
So for a change, we really do have a range of options, and yes that collection of players is probably going to be the essence of the team somehow. If the unthinkable happens and the game ends in a draw (surely not!) then there is no extra time, but instead the game goes straight to penalties in the standard fashion. Which given that at least one of the Arsenal team is going to have to go to school in the morning, is not a bad idea.
I’d say, 0-3 to the Arsenal, but as you may have noted, I’m often wrong.
I’d rather 4.