Jack Wilshere is the obvious attraction tonight, I wonder if Arsene will play him wide in an attacking role or if he will be given the central creative role that Cesc occupies in the first team

I love the Carling Cup, In the last few years I have had that twinge of excitement when it comes to the youngsters testing themselves out against seasoned professionals. Arsene Wenger wearing his mad scientist hat has been doing his final touches in training behind closed doors and this gives him the chance to see if his ideas and hard work has been well spent. We already know that answer, several players from previous Carling adventures have made it out into the real world.

Clichy, Cesc, Van Persie, Denilson and Song to name a few were let off the leash in previous league cup exploits, they were raw talents back then but you can see that many have made the natural progression into Arsene’s first team.

The product line of 2009 is arguably the best the club has ever had, so much so that we have many talented individuals who will be feeling rather miffed that they are not part of the home clash against West Brom.

Arsene has already told us that he is expecting a young team to play tomorrow. Teams in the past used to be a mixture of kids and fringe players. The fringe players usually experienced players. This year it could well be Senderos alongside Silvestre plus a collection of talented kids.

Arsene will be slightly restricted when it comes to team selection as Johan Djourou would have almost certainly started. Fran Merida and Gavin Hoyte are currently flying the flag for their countries at the FIFA under 20s tournament in Egypt which is a crying shame because I would have loved for Merida to have been involved. He has really impressed me since pre season and could have used the Carling Cup to get noticed.

It appears that the French under 19s have taken Gilles Sunu and Francis Coquelin, so they may not be available to play which is unfortunate. Coquelin is a player I expect to be knocking loudly on the first team door in a couple of seasons. He seems to have everything that the modern midfielder needs. We could well see youngster Emmanuel Frimpong in a midfield trio alongside Ramsey and Randall.

I expect both Kieran Gibbs and Armand Traore to be included in the line up tonight but I am struggling to see how Arsene will accommodate the pair of them. Gibbs has played in central midfield before but I do not expect the manager to change his position as I am sure he will want the player to get accustomed to playing at left back, especially given the fact that should Clichy miss any games he will want a ready Kieran Gibbs to come in without any adjustment problems.

If we were to play 4-4-2 then slotting the players in shouldn’t be a problem but you would expect Arsene to keep the same system as the first team, just as it will be all the way down the levels at the club. Players playing different systems will have to adjust once promoted, this would not be the case if the system is the same at first team down to youth levels.

I have Craig Eastmond down at right back but that slot could easily go to Kierra Gilbert who has already made first team appearances all those years ago when he had the likes of Thierry Henry and Robert Pires around him.

A few players and areas of the pitch intrigue me this evening. How fit are Philippe Senderos and Mikel Silvestre? Both players will have nervous eyes watching over them from the Gooner faithful, so I hope they can impress and remove any concerns that may be. We know that the football fan is as fickle as they come, a few good games from either player and they will be lauded as the answer to our problems. I hope that they can strike up a good partnership and show the manager that they are ready to step in if and when that is needed.

Jack Wilshere is the obvious attraction tonight, I wonder if Arsene will play him wide in an attacking role or if he will be given the central creative role that Cesc occupies in the first team. He played that role in last years Youth cup final first leg and ran the game, this would give Arsene more attacking options but he will lose out on some defensive stability in the midfield. I am not sure if Wenger would be willing to take that risk against an inform West Brom outfit.

Carlos Vela makes his return at long last and it will be interesting to see if any improvement has been made physically or technically since we last saw him playing for Arsenal.

Former Gunner Jerome Thomas should take to the field against his former club tonight. I have always been surprised that he hasn’t made a bigger name for himself. Quick feet, direct and can win matches. I used to think he was the young Thierry Henry but it never happened for him. He scored a fine goal on the weekend and will want to continue his performance against his former coach.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up

Mean Lean’s Match Prediction

I can see a high scoring game tonight, West Brom are full of confidence and have just come back from a 5-0 thumping of promotion challengers Middlesbrough at the Riverside.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the kids not have enough to get past them tonight but with the quality of the Arsenal squad I could also see an end to end victory. Needless to say, I am plumping for the latter.

Fingers crossed we see a good game tonight. COME ON YOU YOUNG GUNNERS!