Wenger To Make 9 Changes: Predicted Arsenal XI To Face Reading

Arsenal entertain Reading at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night in the fourth round of the EFL Cup. Here is the side Gooner Mac thinks Arsene Wenger will select for the game:

Goalkeeper: Emi Martinez played in the previous round against Nottingham Forest and is expected to start tomorrow night with David Ospina on the bench and Petr Cech rested completely.

Defence: The boss named the majority of his side during an interview with Arsenal.com earlier today so we know that Kieran Gibbs will captain the side at left-back with Gabriel and Rob Holding also starting at the back.

Nacho Monreal, Shkodran Mustafi, Laurent Koscielny and Hector Bellerin will all be rested with Carl Jenkinson set to make his first start for the first team since recovering from a serious knee injury.

Midfield: Granit Xhaka continues to serve his three-match domestic ban while Santi Cazorla has been ruled out once again with an achilles injury. Aaron Ramsey is back in training but this game still comes too soon so we don’t have too many options in midfield.

Therefore, Francis Coquelin is likely to be rested but Mohamed Elneny could keep his place in midfield and the boss may decide to give one of our young-guns a chance to impress in the middle of the park.

Gedion Zelalem could be in his thoughts but Ainsley Maitland-Niles has been closer to the first team this season and was named on the bench on Saturday so I think he could get the nod.

Attack: Olivier Giroud is back in the reckoning with Wenger saying he ‘should’ be involved in the squad but I’d be surprised if the boss threw him straight back in to the starting eleven after over six weeks out with a toe injury.

Wenger has confirmed Lucas Perez will start so I think he’ll play through the middle with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Alex Iwobi in support while the boss also revealed earlier that youngster Jeff Reine-Adelaide will get a chance to impress in attack.

Here is how I think we’ll see Arsenal line-up: