**Arsenal**are looking forward to a fixture against **Brighton**in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening. The Gunners have been in brilliant form over the last month, but domestic cup competitions come with particular challenges for a team that aspires for several pieces of silverware.
How strong do the Gunners go?
Expectations are high for Arsenal. The team have not won any major honours since lifting the **FA Cup**in 2020, and they have finished as the runners-up in each of the last three Premier League campaigns. The board backed Mikel Arteta with eight signings in the summer window to the tune of over £250 million, and demands have never been greater for the group to end their trophy drought.
Things have been going very well, especially in the last five weeks. Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard have stood out as super subs with less burden to be the difference makers, William Saliba and Bukayo Saka have more suitable backups, and Martin Odegaard is no longer the only creative force in the midfield that the manager trusts. A policy of two players per position is finally feasible.
Yet, the depth will always depend on the fitness of players in a particular moment. There have been ny injuries that have affected the club this campaign, and one department is looking lighter than others.
Saka has been suffering from illness, and he came off for Martinelli in the second half on the weekend against Crystal Palace. Though Arteta confirmed his fitness, rest would be ideal. His replacement, Martinelli, will miss out on midweek action after limping down the tunnel at full time. That adds to the longer term absences of Noni Madueke, Kai Havertz, and Gabriel Jesus as attacking options.
Saliba is set to sit out of the action while **Riccardo Calafiori**and Declan Rice have recovered from niggles that forced early withdrawals against the Eagles. But with the squad already being stretched on so many occasions, how keen will Arteta be to call on the services of his first team regulars?
The match sharpness of some of the reserves might force the hand of the manager in a few cases.
Piero Hincapie can cover as left centre back and at left back, but he only made his Premier League debut on the weekend, and the task of shackling Yankuba Minteh is not to be underestimated.
Similarly, Christian Norgaard has only featured once for the Gunners in the league as a substitute at Fulham. It helps here that Martin Zubimendi will be suspended for the trip to Slavia Prague next Tuesday, so he can help take the burden off Rice, and Mikel Merino can also replace him as a left 8.
More than anything, success in the Carabao Cup could bring the team’s first major trophy in its current iteration by spring. Its significance will not be lost on a man who assisted the **Man City**charge to four consecutive League cup crowns, and it is time to truly compete on multiple fronts.
Beating another bogey team?
**Arsenal**have been ending hoodoos in the last month of action. They went away to Newcastle United and got a last gasp winner, controlled affairs in a 2-0 win over West Ham, wrestled control away from **Fulham**in a 1-0 victory, and managed the match against Crystal Palace on the weekend.
As confidence continues to build in the camp, this fixture presents another mid-table bogey team.
The last time that these two teams met in cup competition was in the third round of the Carabao Cup in November 2022. Under their newly appointed head coach, Roberto de Zerbi, the Seagulls turned around an early deficit to win 3-1. They then repeated the feat at the **Emirates Stadium**in May, sweeping three past the Gunners in front of their fans to kill off their Premier League title hopes.
The frustrations continued last campaign with Fabian Hurzeler in the dugout. **Brighton**banked a 1-1 draw in North London in August, and the last encounter of the two teams saw a repeat of this score.
There were some mitigating circumstances. At the Emirates Stadium, Rice received a controversial second caution that led to a red card before **Brighton**equalised. In the reverse fixture, Arteta fielded a midfield with Jorginho, Rice, and Merino, used Thomas Partey as a right back, and Ethan Nwaneri as a right winger to compensate for several illnesses and absences that had affected a stretched squad.
However, the Seagulls deserve the respect of their hosts in their own right. Joao Pedro, scorer of both goals in the last two meetings of the teams, has gone to Chelsea, but the transition threat from the side is still strong. Georginio Rutter and Danny Welbeck dovetail well as a creative pairing, Minteh is a relentless runner on the weaker end of the defence, and Carlos Baleba brings top progressive ability.
Hurzeler’s men are not the most stable outfit, but they also demonstrated an awareness of the threat of the Gunners from set-pieces in January, doubling up on Gabriel Magalhaes with two markers at corners and leaving attackers up the field to force **Arsenal**to hold back numbers at corner kicks.
They arrive to the **Emirates Stadium**as the underdogs, but **Brighton**will keep the hosts on their toes. If Arteta’s men maintain their mental concentration and defensive discipline, then there will be even more belief that the big honours can come the way of the club by the end of the campaign.