Arsenal vs Southampton Preview, Team News, Line-Ups, Betting Tips & Predicted Score

Arsenal will be looking to book their place in the semi finals of the EFL Cup when we entertain Southampton at the Emirates this evening.

Having been held to three consecutive draws by Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United we got back to winning ways with a 3-1 win over Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon that saw us remain three points adrift of leaders Chelsea.

We reached this stage of the competition after beating Nottingham Forest and Reading so Arsene Wenger has a great chance of making it to the last four and going one step closer to winning the only domestic trophy that’s eluded him in England.

The League Cup is never usually taken that seriously but the closer we get to the final the more the players will want to taste Wembley and with Man City, Chelsea and Spurs all out, the competition is wide open.

However, Southampton are a tough side to beat and will be in confident mood of pulling off an upset having beaten Everton 1-0 at the weekend, so we’re going to have to be on top form to book our place in the hat for the semi final draw.

Team news

Olivier Giroud has been ruled out after picking up a minor groin injury against Bournemouth on Sunday but Lucas Perez is back in contention after recovering from an ankle problem that’s kept him out for five weeks.

Santi Cazorla remains unavailable with an Achilles injury, Hector Bellerin is still nursing an ankle problem while Mathieu Debuchy is set for another spell on the sidelines after suffering a hamstring injury at the weekend.

Wenger is expected to make a number of changes to his starting eleven with the likes of Petr Cech, Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi, Nacho Monreal, Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez all rested.

Emiliano Martinez is likely to start in goal while youngsters Rob Holding, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Jeff Reine-Adelaide should also get run outs.

Southampton have been boosted by the news that Sofiane Boufal and Steven Davis are both available after missing the win over Everton on Sunday.

However, Dustin Tadic remains out with a broken nose while Matt Target is also unavailable as he continues to nurse a hamstring problem.

Likely Line-Ups

Predicted Score

Arsenal 2-1 Southampton: The ‘reserves’ side has looked pretty impressive in previous rounds so I’m looking forward to seeing them in action again this evening. Southampton are expected to make plenty of changes themselves so our back-up players should be stronger and I think we’ll secure a 2-1 win tonight to book our place in the last four.

Betting Tips

Arsenal are the 19/20 favourites to win the game but we can get you enhanced odds of 5/1 on a home win – just click here to take advantage of these crazy odds. Here are some other bets I like the look of:

• Both teams to score at 8/11 – a £10 bet would return £17.20
• Exact score of 2-1 Arsenal at 7/1 – a £10 bet would return £85
• Oxlade-Chamberlain to score first in a 2-1 Arsenal win at 33/1 – a £10 bet would return £340