Why should Arsenal bother with the EFL Cup?
Well, Jurgen Klopp did- and so did Jose Mourinho.
Claude Puel’s Southampton will play Liverpool in the semi-final after they beat Arsenal 2-1 at the Emirates last night.
Wenger didn’t bother. He was always going to chuck this game. He signalled his intention to make wholesale changes from the eleven that beat Bournemouth 2-1.
And he was true to his word because only one player, Elneny, played in that Premier League game last Saturday.
ARSENAL: Martinez, Jenkinson, Gabriel, Holding, Gibbs, Coquelin, Elneny, Reine-Adelaide, Ramsey, Iwobi, Lucas Perez.
Subs: Oxlade-Chamberlain, Xhaka, Bielik, Bola, Macey, Maitland-Niles, Mavididi.
SOUTHAMPTON: Forster, Martina, Yoshida, van Dijk, Bertrand, Reed, Clasie, Davis, Boufal, Long, McQueen.
Subs: Cedric, Rodriguez, Ward-Prowse, Hojbjerg, Stephens, Sims, Lewis.
Wenger expected to lose and thinks he has bigger fish to fry.
His “team” was outplayed and outclassed and that’s what we expected when I saw those two line-ups.
The EFL Cup may be heading for an all-Northern battle at Wembley: Manchester United v Liverpool.
The semi-finals are United v Hull and Southampton v Liverpool.
The Saints have not reached the League Cup Final for 30 years, so they have a huge incentive to beat Liverpool, who bought Mane, Lallana and Lovren from them.
In beating West Ham 4-1 last night,Manchester United played some sparkling football.
United gave value for money to a crowd of 65,000.