Is Arsene taking the League Cup more seriously than he says?

By Avenell Dave

The Capital One Cup. A trophy. The only domestic silverware Arsene Wenger has not won and a competition where he has twice reached the final.

And yet he thinks it is of least importance and I can't say I disagree.

Which is why it was a surprise to see such a strong squad named for this evening's game at Reading.

You could argue that his squad is actually stronger than the one which took the field at Old Trafford last August, when we were humiliated by a merciless M*nure team.

Olivier Giroud is clearly being given as many games as possible to get used to English football and I'm convinced if he plays as well as he did on Saturday, he'll come away with a goal.

The defence and midfield virtually chooses itself so the trick is to work out who will play in the forward positions either side of Giroud.

Saturday's game changed as soon as Wenger brought on proper wide players rather than a midfielder and forward in wide positions.

Tonight Le Boss has an embarrassment of riches and can choose all manner of combinations.

With Gervinho injured, I suspect Andrey Arshavin will start wide in case he is required for the bag one on Saturday, which just leaves one, possibly right hand position.

Theo Walcott has to be favourite, unless he is being included in the squad simply in case of emergencies, in which case, Serge Gnabry should be given a start to show what he can do and give him more experience of first team football.

With every passing week, the likelihood of Walcott leaving in January or not re-signings grows more likely and while I'm not for one minute suggesting that we should make do with Gnabry, getting him used to the demands of first team football can't do any harm.

I used to work in Reading and have a soft spot for the Royals and Brian McDermott was one of the first Panini stickers I got for Arsenal back in the day.

We've seen a few trainees go to Berkshire including Steve Sidwell and James Harper in recent years but they've not had a good start to the season and are yet to record a Premier league win.

Let's hope this isn't the start of their revival.

Addict XI

Martinez

Jenkinson Koscielny Djourou Miquel

Frimpong Coquelin Eisfeld

Walcott Giroud Arshavin

What do you think? Who should start for Arsenal this evening against reading?