Coventry v Arsenal Wednesday 12 September – Who is eligible and the possible line up.

By Andrew Crawshaw and Bulldog Drummond

Continuing our preview of tonight’s game in the Checkatrade, with a look at the competition and the teams, we find that some League One and League Two club supporters have boycotted matches in the past because of the inclusion of Premier League academy sides – the logic of which escapes us at present, but perhaps someone can write in and tell us.

Anyway, we’re not sure if the boycott continues but recently the competition has had matches with crowds such as 964 for Mansfield Town v Everton and 1780 for Portsmouth v Northampton.

This year’s PL clubs involved in the competition apart from Arsenal are Brighton & Hove Albion, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Leicester City, Manchester City, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United, Southampton, Stoke City, Swansea City, Tottenham Hotspur, West Bromwich Albion, West Ham United, Wolverhampton Wanderers

So we have got Coventry City in the first match in our group – the club that won the trophy in 2016/17, which might indicate a fair crowd could turn up. They hold the record for the highest attendance outside the final in losing to Crewe 3-0 at the Ricoh with 31,054 in the ground.  The lowest crowd ever was at WBA when they lost at home to Gillingham in front of 274 in 2016.

In tonight’s match, Arsenal have to play a team of U21 players with up to two overage, so who are our U21 players?

The official list of players submitted to the PL by Arsenal has no less than 47 Under 21 players including those at the Academy and some schoolboys:-

• Alebiousu, Ryan
• Amaechi, Xavier Casmier
• Ballard, Daniel George
• Balogun, Folarin Jerry
• Barden, Daniel
• Bielik, Krystian
• Bola, Tolaji
• Burton, Robert
• Clarke, Harrison Thomas
• Cottrell, Ben
• Coyle, Trae
• Daley-Campbell, Vontae
• Dennis, Matthew
• Flaherty, Stanley James
• Gilmour, Charlie Ian
• Greenwood, Sam
• Guendouzi, Matteo
• Hein, Karl Jakob
• John-Jules, Tyreece Romayo
• Lopez Salguero, Joel
• Maitland-Niles, Ainsley
• Martin, Joshua
• Matthews, Alfie
• Mavropanos, Konstantinos
• McEneff, Jordan John
• McGuinness, Mark James
• Medley, Zechariah Joshua Henry
• Nelson, Reiss
• Nketiah, Edward
• Nwakali, Kelechi
• Okonkwo, Arthur
• Olayinka, Olujimi James Ayodele
• Olowu, Joseph Olugbenga
• Omole, Tobi
• Osei-Tutu, Jordi
• Pleguezuelo, Julio Jose
• Saka, Bukayo
• Sheaf, Ben
• Smith Rowe, Emile
• Smith, Matthew Gerrard
• Smith, Tom
• Spencer-Adams, Bayli Alexander
• Swanson, Zak
• Thompson, Dominic
• Tormey, Nathan Alexander
• Willock, Joseph George
• Zelalem, Gedion

We have emboldened the names of 14 who should be reasonably familiar to all of us and will almost certainly feature in the squad for this competition. 

In our last under 23 match we played this team

Some of the missing players from the list of possibles are easy to explain… Ainsley Maitland-Niles is still not back in full training following his injury and Matteo Guendouzi will almost certainly be held back for the first team squad against Newcastle at the weekend.  Krystian Bielik is on loan and so unlikely to be recalled for this tournament.

Konstantinos Mavropranos has been away with the Greek U21 team who played on Monday so it is safe to say he will also be unavailable.   And Reiss Nelson is now reported to be on loan with Hoffenheim.

That leaves us with 

Defence – Tolaji Bola (LB), Jordi Osei-Tutu (RB), Julio Pleguezuelo (CB), Ben Sheaf (CB), 

Midfield – Emile Smith Rowe, Joe Willock, Gedion Zelalem

Attack – Trae Coyle, Edward Nketiah, Bukayo Saka (Left Wing)

So we need two goalkeepers and backup across the park.

For goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo will get a call, but probably only as backup.  I think it likely that one of the over age players will be between the posts, either 26 year old Emiliano Martinez or 23 year old Deyan Iliev.  Emi needs some game time and I think he will probably get the nod.

Possiblities for the bench – Robbie Burton (Central Midfield),  Tyreece Jon-Jules (attacker), Vontae Daley-Campbell (RB), Charlie Gilmour (central midfield), Nathan Tormey (attacking midfield/winger), Zech Medley (CB), Joseph Olowu (CB), Tobi Omole (CB/LB/DM)

It is possible that one of the over 21 players will be called on as team captain, if not Julio Pleguezuelo may well be given the responsibility as he normally is at U23 level.

Team

Emiliano Martinez

Jordi Osei-Tutu, Julio Pleguezuelo, Ben Sheaf, Tolaji Bola

Emile Smith Rowe, Joe Willock, Gedion Zelalem

Trae Coyle,, Edward Nketiah, Bukayo Saka

We’ll look at this match a little further later today.

 

• Coventry City v Arsenal – preparing for the cup match on Wednesday