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Arsenal will be without eight first-team players for tonight's Carabao Cup clash against Leicester City. The club's official website has confirmed that Calum Chambers, Pablo Mari, Gabriel Martinelli, Shkodran Mustafi, Kieran Tierney, Emile Smith Rowe, Sokratis and Cedric Soares are out of tonight's match.
Sokratis, Kieran Tierney and Cedric Soares are expected to make it to the squad this weekend as their injuries aren't severe. Meanwhile, Emile Smith Rowe injured his shoulder in training but is assumed to be back in the next 10 days,
The other players - Chambers, Mari, and Mustafi - are scheduled to return to training in the next 3-4 weeks. Gabriel Martinelli remains the only one out for a long time, and he is not anticipated back until the end of the year.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta on the Carabao Cup
Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Arsenal will be taking the cup tournament seriously this season. The Arsenal boss was talking to the media ahead of the Leicester City match when he said:
"We are going to take the Carabao Cup seriously, that is for sure. Obviously with the fixtures we have, the number of games, it is very difficult. Maybe not in the first games but when the competition moves a little more forward, how teams – not just ourselves – are going to treat the competition. But we have to go day by day, lets see what position we are in for Wednesday to try and put out the strongest possible team to try and win it."
He was then asked if the other top Premier League teams have also started taking the competition seriously now. Arteta said:
"I think it is [taken seriously enough]. The last few seasons I think this competition for the clubs has raised [importance], there is only one winner in the Premier League. That leaves a lot of frustrated clubs and now everybody wants a title and you can see in the last few years that teams have used strong line-ups and the types of finals we have seen in recent years."
Manchester United and West Ham United won their respective matches and made it to the next round last night. Apart from Arsenal and Leicester City, Fulham, Chelsea, Burnley, Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion will play their matches tonight.
