Our Carabao Cup campaign continues at Deepdale Stadium on Wednesday (7.45pm UK) when we face Preston North End in the round of 16.
We reached the fourth round courtesy of a 5-1 win at home to Bolton Wanderers in September, Ethan Nwaneri netting a brace among goals from Declan Rice, Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz.
Preston entered the tournament in the first round and put two past Sunderland without reply before beating Harrogate Town 5-0 and knocking out Fulham on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
making themselves hard to beat
With just three wins from 12 league games, it hasn't been an ideal start to life in the Championship for Preston this season, but they haven't lost since a 3-1 defeat to Millwall at the end of September.
Since then, Paul Heckingbottom's side kept three clean sheets in a row and took seven points from games against Watford, Burnley and Coventry City, before they drew 2-2 at home to Norwich City.
However, Preston's most recent game was a disappointing one from their point of view, as they took a 3-0 lead away to Plymouth Argyle only to draw 3-3 after Morgan Whittaker's 92nd minute equaliser.
WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY
Arteta: “We will try to find the right balance. We have very demanding matches now, in different competitions. We want to win them all and we have to start against Preston to get the momentum again and we’ll put a strong team out.
"It’s important because it keeps everybody alive. It maintains the winning habit which is really, really important, and it shows you care about every competition, regardless of what you play. You have to compete for every match you are in, or you are out. The margins are so small and tomorrow we are going to face a really tough opponent."
Heckingbottom: “It’s a good occasion because it’s one of the best teams in the country and it’ll be a full house. It’ll be a great atmosphere, testing yourself against the best of opposition. It’s one that I think everyone’s looking forward to as a club. It’s sort of a reward for past performances.
“If you deliver, and we know we’d have to give a great performance and be really strong, be clinical at one end and be really strong at the other end – similar to Fulham – then who knows what could happen.”
TEAM NEWS
Gabriel is still being assessed after having to come off during Sunday's 2-2 draw with Liverpool, but Mikel Arteta said that "it doesn't look bad at all" in his pre-match press conference.
He also reported that Jurrien Timber is fine and has not picked up a new injury, while Riccardo Calafiori could be out for a few weeks with a knee concern. As for Martin Odegaard and his ankle injury, "there are still a few boxes to tick."
Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Kieran Tierney (hamstring) are our other absentees. William Saliba is again available for selection having served his one-game suspension.
Preston are set to be without Robbie Brady, who was forced off in the first half of the weekend's game against Plymouth with ligament damage. Ched Evans, Patrick Bauer and Will Keane all remain sidelined.
Facts and stats
Raheem Sterling both scored and assisted in his first League Cup appearance for us in our 5-1 win over Bolton in the third round. Since his first start in the competition in August 2013, only Marcus Rashford (24) has been involved in more goals in the competition than Sterling (12 goals, 10 assists), with that including a goal and assist against Preston at Deepdale in September 2019 for Man City
Since losing 3-0 to Sheffield Wednesday in October 2015, we have won all 11 of our League Cup matches against sides from outside the Premier League by an aggregate score of 38-5. Our two away games in this run have been won 4-0 (vs Nottingham Forest in 2016) and 6-0 (vs West Brom in 2021).
Preston North End are looking to reach the League Cup quarter-finals for the first time, going out in the fourth round on seven previous occasions. They have played the most games in the competition without ever featuring in the quarter-final stage (184).
We have faced Preston in the League Cup just once previously, winning 2-1 at Highbury in October 1999 with goals from Nwankwo Kanu and Stefan Malz.
This is the first time Preston North End and us have faced each other since the third round of the FA Cup in January 2017 at Deepdale – despite scoring first, Preston went on to lose 2-1.
TALKING TACTICS
Adrian Clarke: “Since losing three of their opening four matches, Preston North End have become significantly harder to beat under new head coach Paul Heckingbottom, losing just once since the start of September.
“They are aggressive out of possession and largely well organised by the former Sheffield United gaffer, who was hugely frustrated to see them give up a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 at Plymouth Argyle last Saturday.
“In recent years North End have usually deployed three at the back, but of late they have also tinkered with 4-2-3-1 in a bid to be more front-footed. My hunch is that they will set up with a trio of central defenders for this cup tie and make themselves tough to break down. In the second tier they only average 45.3% of possession, so this is a contest where we will almost certainly dominate the ball.
“Sharp interplay and movement will be the best way to create space against this opponent. Punting lots of crosses or high balls into the box is not a good idea against them, as no Championship side have won a greater share of aerial duels (58.4%) than Preston.
“In terms of what they can offer as an attacking threat, Preston North End do not create stacks of chances, but they can serve up quality ammunition from the flanks. Only two teams in their division produce a higher share of accurate crosses (25.2%) with target man Emil Riis often the man who gets on the end of those deliveries. Closing down PNE crosses will be important for us.
“Look out for former Arsenal youngster Sam Greenwood. The attacking midfielder was with us between 2018 and 2020, and is in terrific form, scoring in each of his last two starts. With a tally of four for the campaign so far, Greenwood, who is on loan from Leeds United, is a technically gifted player that is brimming with confidence.”
MATCH OFFICIALS
Peter Bankes has been appointed to see over Wednesday's match. He has officiated six games so far this season, handing out 31 yellow cards an no reds.
His most recent involvement in an Arsenal game came in December 2023, when he was appointed for our 2-1 win at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Referee: Peter Bankes
Assistants: Edward Smart and Nick Greenhalgh
Fourth official: Tony Harrington
There will be no VAR in use for this fixture.
PREVIOUS MEETINGS
There have been 81 meetings between us and Preston since 1901, resulting in 36 Arsenal wins, 26 Preston wins and 19 draws.
Our only previous meeting in the 21st century came in January 2017, when we won 2-1 at Deepdale Stadium in the FA Cup thanks to second-half goals from Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud.
LIVE COVERAGE
Tune into Arsenal.com and the official app from 7.40pm to get live commentary of the game, with Dan Roebuck talking you through all the on-field action.
You can also find out which broadcaster is showing the action live wherever you are in the world in the article below.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
Our Carabao Cup campaign continues at Deepdale Stadium on Wednesday (7.45pm UK) when we face Preston North End in the round of 16.
We reached the fourth round courtesy of a 5-1 win at home to Bolton Wanderers in September, Ethan Nwaneri netting a brace among goals from Declan Rice, Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz.
Preston entered the tournament in the first round and put two past Sunderland without reply before beating Harrogate Town 5-0 and knocking out Fulham on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
making themselves hard to beat
With just three wins from 12 league games, it hasn't been an ideal start to life in the Championship for Preston this season, but they haven't lost since a 3-1 defeat to Millwall at the end of September.
Since then, Paul Heckingbottom's side kept three clean sheets in a row and took seven points from games against Watford, Burnley and Coventry City, before they drew 2-2 at home to Norwich City.
However, Preston's most recent game was a disappointing one from their point of view, as they took a 3-0 lead away to Plymouth Argyle only to draw 3-3 after Morgan Whittaker's 92nd minute equaliser.
WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY
Arteta: “We will try to find the right balance. We have very demanding matches now, in different competitions. We want to win them all and we have to start against Preston to get the momentum again and we’ll put a strong team out.
"It’s important because it keeps everybody alive. It maintains the winning habit which is really, really important, and it shows you care about every competition, regardless of what you play. You have to compete for every match you are in, or you are out. The margins are so small and tomorrow we are going to face a really tough opponent."
Heckingbottom: “It’s a good occasion because it’s one of the best teams in the country and it’ll be a full house. It’ll be a great atmosphere, testing yourself against the best of opposition. It’s one that I think everyone’s looking forward to as a club. It’s sort of a reward for past performances.
“If you deliver, and we know we’d have to give a great performance and be really strong, be clinical at one end and be really strong at the other end – similar to Fulham – then who knows what could happen.”
TEAM NEWS
Gabriel is still being assessed after having to come off during Sunday's 2-2 draw with Liverpool, but Mikel Arteta said that "it doesn't look bad at all" in his pre-match press conference.
He also reported that Jurrien Timber is fine and has not picked up a new injury, while Riccardo Calafiori could be out for a few weeks with a knee concern. As for Martin Odegaard and his ankle injury, "there are still a few boxes to tick."
Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Kieran Tierney (hamstring) are our other absentees. William Saliba is again available for selection having served his one-game suspension.
Preston are set to be without Robbie Brady, who was forced off in the first half of the weekend's game against Plymouth with ligament damage. Ched Evans, Patrick Bauer and Will Keane all remain sidelined.
Facts and stats
Raheem Sterling both scored and assisted in his first League Cup appearance for us in our 5-1 win over Bolton in the third round. Since his first start in the competition in August 2013, only Marcus Rashford (24) has been involved in more goals in the competition than Sterling (12 goals, 10 assists), with that including a goal and assist against Preston at Deepdale in September 2019 for Man City
Since losing 3-0 to Sheffield Wednesday in October 2015, we have won all 11 of our League Cup matches against sides from outside the Premier League by an aggregate score of 38-5. Our two away games in this run have been won 4-0 (vs Nottingham Forest in 2016) and 6-0 (vs West Brom in 2021).
Preston North End are looking to reach the League Cup quarter-finals for the first time, going out in the fourth round on seven previous occasions. They have played the most games in the competition without ever featuring in the quarter-final stage (184).
We have faced Preston in the League Cup just once previously, winning 2-1 at Highbury in October 1999 with goals from Nwankwo Kanu and Stefan Malz.
This is the first time Preston North End and us have faced each other since the third round of the FA Cup in January 2017 at Deepdale – despite scoring first, Preston went on to lose 2-1.
TALKING TACTICS
Adrian Clarke: “Since losing three of their opening four matches, Preston North End have become significantly harder to beat under new head coach Paul Heckingbottom, losing just once since the start of September.
“They are aggressive out of possession and largely well organised by the former Sheffield United gaffer, who was hugely frustrated to see them give up a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 at Plymouth Argyle last Saturday.
“In recent years North End have usually deployed three at the back, but of late they have also tinkered with 4-2-3-1 in a bid to be more front-footed. My hunch is that they will set up with a trio of central defenders for this cup tie and make themselves tough to break down. In the second tier they only average 45.3% of possession, so this is a contest where we will almost certainly dominate the ball.
“Sharp interplay and movement will be the best way to create space against this opponent. Punting lots of crosses or high balls into the box is not a good idea against them, as no Championship side have won a greater share of aerial duels (58.4%) than Preston.
“In terms of what they can offer as an attacking threat, Preston North End do not create stacks of chances, but they can serve up quality ammunition from the flanks. Only two teams in their division produce a higher share of accurate crosses (25.2%) with target man Emil Riis often the man who gets on the end of those deliveries. Closing down PNE crosses will be important for us.
“Look out for former Arsenal youngster Sam Greenwood. The attacking midfielder was with us between 2018 and 2020, and is in terrific form, scoring in each of his last two starts. With a tally of four for the campaign so far, Greenwood, who is on loan from Leeds United, is a technically gifted player that is brimming with confidence.”
MATCH OFFICIALS
Peter Bankes has been appointed to see over Wednesday's match. He has officiated six games so far this season, handing out 31 yellow cards an no reds.
His most recent involvement in an Arsenal game came in December 2023, when he was appointed for our 2-1 win at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Referee: Peter Bankes
Assistants: Edward Smart and Nick Greenhalgh
Fourth official: Tony Harrington
There will be no VAR in use for this fixture.
PREVIOUS MEETINGS
There have been 81 meetings between us and Preston since 1901, resulting in 36 Arsenal wins, 26 Preston wins and 19 draws.
Our only previous meeting in the 21st century came in January 2017, when we won 2-1 at Deepdale Stadium in the FA Cup thanks to second-half goals from Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud.
LIVE COVERAGE
Tune into Arsenal.com and the official app from 7.40pm to get live commentary of the game, with Dan Roebuck talking you through all the on-field action.
You can also find out which broadcaster is showing the action live wherever you are in the world in the article below.