Arsenal begin their 2024/25 Carabao Cup campaign this week against Bolton Wanderers.
The Gunners haven’t won a trophy since 2020 when they claimed the FA Cup, but the Carabao Cup represents a good chance for the London giants to end that mini drought.
It’s over four years since the Gunners last won a major trophyGetty
Of course, Mikel Arteta‘s side are focused on the Premier League and Champions League, but the cup competitions can’t be ignored.
However, with a gruelling schedule coming up, it’s likely that Mikel Arteta will rotate.
Meanwhile, Bolton have endured an awful start to the campaign.
The play-off finalists from last season have just two league wins to their name and are sitting in 18th place.
Arsenal vs Bolton: Masters of the ‘dark arts’?
One of things to come from Arsenal’s draw with title rivals Man City on Sunday is that a few Premier League clubs have reportedly lodged complaints regarding the Gunners’ time wasting and use of the ‘dark arts’.
But is that really fair?
Well, statistics show that Arsenal do waste more time than any other team, on average.
However, the gap between the top ten is around four seconds, which proves that every team does it.
Arsenal lead the way when it comes to wasting time in the Premier League, but it’s very close
Arsenal will host Bolton Wanderers in any competition for the first time since October 2011, winning 2-1 in a League Cup fourth round tie.
Bolton Wanderers have won just one of their last 23 away games against Arsenal (D4 L18), winning 3-1 at Highbury in a FA Cup fourth round replay in February 1994 under future Gunners’ manager Bruce Rioch.
Arsenal vs Bolton: Date and how to follow
This Carabao Cup third-round tie will take place on Wednesday, September 25.
Kick-off at the Emirates is scheduled for 7:45pm.
The game will be shown on Sky Sports+.
Alternatively, Sky Go customers can watch the match through their laptops and mobile devices.
talkSPORT will have updates from north London throughout and talkSPORT.com will have all the reaction.
To tune in to talkSPORT through the website, click HERE for the live stream.
You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
Arteta will look for Arsenal to go deep in this competitionGetty
Arsenal have progressed through each of their last 10 League Cup ties against lower league opposition, since a 3-0 loss to Championship side Sheffield Wednesday in the 2015-16 fourth round.
Bolton Wanderers have reached the third round of the League Cup for the first time since 2017-18, losing 0-3 to West Ham United – they last reached the fourth round in 2011-12.
Arsenal vs Bolton: Team news
The Gunners already have plenty of injury concerns and absentees, so Arteta is likely to rotate.
Mikel Merino, Martin Odegaard, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Kieran Tierney all out with injury.
Leandro Trossard is banned after two yellow cards at the weekend.
Arteta also indicated that several players have picked up injuries, and he’s waiting to see how they are before making any decisions on his team.
Meanwhile, Bolton are without Jordi Osei-Tutu.
The former Arsenal youngster has a knee injury and misses out on a return to his old club.
Trossard will serve his one-match ban hereGetty
Arsenal vs Bolton: What has been said?
Arteta has assured Arsenal fans he wants to win the Carabao Cup.
But he also indicated that there will be some opportunities for different players.
He said: Yes for sure, we want to win this game.
“We have to start with the first game. We have to understand what is the best team, the strongest team that we can put out to perform in the way that we need to to be better than Bolton and beat them.
“It’s a great opportunity for any player to show what they are bringing in the games who haven’t had the ability to play much yet, to transform what they’re doing in training to give us the right reason and perform on the pitch.”
