Arsenal team news ahead of Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Liverpool.

There is a major boost for Arsenal as they are preparing to host Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg on Thursday and their lack of options in midfield is genuine cause for concern.

Since the Tottenham match was postponed there have been welcome returns to training for a large contingent, however.


Among those back with the senior side are Emile Smith Rowe and Martin Odegaard, two players who missed the first leg of this tie with injury and Covid respectively. Arsenal have let players depart the club since the 0-0 draw, but these returns, along with others, mean there are no concerns over the fixture going ahead.

We are still unsure, but there is the hope that Martin Odegaard, Emile Smith Rowe and Takehiro Tomiyasu will all be fit and ready to go this evening.

Mikel Arteta’s lineup for Liverpool will only contain one central midfielder, though. Despite players becoming available for selection, the point remains that Albert Sambi Lokonga is the only senior option for the role.

Granit Xhaka’s red card helped see to that, and his suspension will also carry over onto Sunday when the Gunners are playing host to Burnley in the Premier League.

While desperately unfortunate for him, Thomas Partey has helped Arsenal considerably on that front. His Ghana side were stunned in their final group stage match of the Africa Cup of Nations as minnows Comoros recorded their first ever victory in the competition with a 3-2 win over the Black Stars, a result that knocked Partey’s men out at the first hurdle.

The 28-year-old has landed in London and it’s now expected, not quite confirmed, that he will be available for the final league match of the month. If he’s back on familiar soil already, however, it will be a surprise if he isn’t. Incredibly, if he plays as is hoped, he will have not missed a single top-flight match and, even more remarkably, just three matches in total.

The manager has kept is cards extremely close to his heart this week, refusing to give any updates on those available, so we have to work with what we have.

The Line up Prediction:

Ramsdale
Tomiyasu* White* Gabriel* Tierney
Odegaard* Lokonga* Smith Rowe
Martinelli* Lacazette* Saka

We hope there should be a good result with this team.