{"id":12648,"date":"2026-01-13T15:15:03","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T15:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12648"},"modified":"2026-01-15T10:46:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T10:46:47","slug":"banishing-carabaos-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12648","title":{"rendered":"Banishing Carabao\u2019s Past"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Kepa\u2019s save to take us through in the quarter-finals courtesy of Arsenal.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal will make the short journey south to a bus stop in Fulham this Wednesday to take on Chelsea in the 1st<\/sup> leg of the Carabao Cup semi-finals. Fortunately, as The Arsenal have the necessary wherewithal, we will not stop at the bus stop but continue right on into the ground in our very own spiffy coach, unless of course we rent or lease, but I digress. In recent weeks we have avenged previous defeats of varying kinds by rolling over Aston Villa, Brighton, Bournemouth (let\u2019s not discuss Liverpool) but this time it is the very Carabao itself that I wish to serve the coldest dish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We arrived at the same stage of this competition last year and suffered the unpleasant experience of being dumped unceremoniously out by a once proud club sadly now in dire straits ethically. That won\u2019t happen this year of course as, though Chelsea are without doubt ethically shaky (on account of they ain\u2019t got none), there is no pride worth a mention. However, fixture pile-up be damned, I would be very annoyed to lose again at this stage and especially to this shower.  We have, of course, already played them once this season \u2013 a 1-1 draw at their place in the league. Odd things happened after that game \u2013 Chelsea were widely mentioned as title contenders, a top team, etc etc. It all seemed a touch precipitate to me at the time and, without wishing to gloat, events since then have only proved the wisdom of the old saying \u201cone swally does not a premier league title make\u201d. Myriad dropped points later and minus the deluded Enzo \u201cwe were much the better team\u201d Maresca, it appears that reality has reared its tired old head and they have returned to the \u201cit\u2019s the early stages of our project\u201d line. Stay humble lads, eh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal on the other hand are deep in the happy phase of our project currently \u2013 top of the league, CL table toppers too, progressed to the 4th<\/sup> round in the FA Cup (home to Wigan in case you hadn\u2019t noticed) and now this particular opportunity \u2013 three short games away from winning a Carabao. Contenders, then, in four different competitions and with a decent shot in all of them. You\u2019d have to be a leading contender for curmudgeon of the year not to be enjoying the ride currently. This particular shiny bauble of those four has not been a happy hunting ground in recent decades and it would be great for morale, as well as satisfyingly ghost-busting, to get an early trophy in the cabinet this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal XI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choosing the XI for this game was a touch tricky as I am not sure who will stay in the team from the Portsmouth win and who will be rested for other important challenges ahead, Personally, I would just take the team that started the Portsmouth game, season lightly with a couple of bushy-tailed lads and, Bob\u2019s your uncle, you have your first XI. However, to give myself a clue as to what Arteta might do, I went back to a game that I preferred to forget \u2013 last year\u2019s 1st<\/sup> leg against Newcastle – and had a look at the side MA chose that night. It was just about the strongest XI we could field at the time and given that evidence I suspect the boss will do the same again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timber Saliba Gabriel Hincapi\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zubimendi \u00d8degaard Rice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka Gy\u00f6keres Trossard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As last year didn\u2019t exactly go to plan, I suppose it is possible that MA will take a different approach but I think we will certainly see some of those rested entirely for the Portsmouth back for this one. I admit  that the left-side is guesswork as it must be tempting to start our newest hat-trick hero again and there are some doubts about Hincapi\u00e9\u2019s fitness as of writing, but this is the XI I expect to see. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New <\/strong>Interim<\/strong><\/s> Manager at the Bus Stop<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I must admit I knew little about Liam Rosenoir before his appointment and was quite surprised to learn, during my in-depth investigation, that he had, in fact, once appeared against The Arsenal (including Mikel Arteta) in an FA Cup Final. Many points for you if you knew he was in the Hull side that was joyfully \u2018rambo-ed\u2019 nearly 11 years ago, and doesn\u2019t time fly, by the way? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, I\u2019m digressing again. After a modest playing career, Rosenoir has made his way steadily up the management ladder and enjoyed some recent success with a young Strasbourg side. I suppose the young part of the equation attracted the attention of what we will laughingly call the recruitment team at Chelsea. That and the fact that Clearlake own Strasbourg too. There have been mutterings about propriety of the situation but personally I have no objection to a company transferring employees from one subsidiary to another \u2013 if you allow the multi-club approach (I certainly wouldn\u2019t as it simply isn\u2019t, well, sporting seems to be the word, but then no one is asking me) then this type of thing is inevitable   I can\u2019t see it ending well in all honesty but then it rarely does at the bus stop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It certainly didn\u2019t start well for Rosenoir as he watched while they lost the Fulham derby but things picked up in the FA Cup as Charlton were beaten 5-1 at the weekend. Much like ourselves it was a scratch team and offers little clue as to who the manager will select and how they will play in this game. I honestly have no idea, but no major changes at this stage seems likely, so to summarise\u2026.a meh defence, solid enough midfield and Palmer and Neto representing the main dangers in attack, probably with Pedro at CF. Not a bad side, but not to worry, we are better. And we have proved that over the last 10 matches, a solitary victory 4 years back being their only win. So, on that encouraging note\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Outcome<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, it should be said that over the past few years we have a good record against Chelsea \u2013 one defeat in the last ten matches home and away. I would expect us to take a fairly circumspect approach from the off, as is our wont these days, whilst we look to understand how the new man has set up his side. Their players will probably be keen to impress their new boss but then most teams are up for it these days when they play The Arsenal, and so I also expect we will slowly get on top as the game wears on. It will probably be fairly tight as these first legs often are and I suppose some would be happy with a draw. However, I have never predicted anything other than an Arsenal win and so will plump for One-Nil to The Arsenal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, I wish all our Holics an enjoyable watch wherever they may be and a damn sight more cheer than at this stage last year! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Arsenal will make the short journey south to a bus stop in Fulham this Wednesday to take on Chelsea in the 1st leg of the Carabao Cup semi-finals. Fortunately, as The Arsenal have the necessary wherewithal, we will not stop at the bus stop but continue right on into the ground in our very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12648"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12648"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12653,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12648\/revisions\/12653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}