Prediction: 2-0
Tip: Both Teams To Score - No | Eddie Nketiah to score anytime
Key Points:
1. Arsenal have won their last five home matches in all comps, conceding no goals.
2. The hosts have won all three EFL Cup matches without conceding.
3. Eddie Nketiah has scored in both of his EFL Cup appearances this season.
Arsenal will be gunning for a League Cup win this season, having won the competition only twice in their long history, with the last triumph coming back in 1993. The quarter final draw couldn't have been kinder to the London side, offering them a home tie against the only non-Premier League side to make it this far. The Gunners come into this one in fine form in the league and barring a miracle, they should book themselves a place in the semi final tonight.
League One Sunderland will have a mountain to climb and, despite making it this far, any sign of an upset on the horizon is a dim, flickering light. The visitors won their first three matches in the competition, all of them away from home, against fellow lower league opposition, before squeezing past Championship side QPR on penalties to set up this quarter final clash. It's been a solid cup run for The Black Cats but these results shouldn't give Mikel Arteta too many nightmares.
What really makes this task seem insurmountable for the visitors is their recent form in other cup competitions. After making it to the quarter finals of this one, they went out in the FA Cup first round to Mansfield Town, before losing to Bradford and Oldham to crash out of the EFL Trophy. All defeats came at home and all were against opposition from League Two. These losses against teams they really should have beaten don't inspire much confidence for their chances against an in-form Arsenal.
The hosts come into this game fourth in the Premier League, on the back of three consecutive wins over Southampton, West Ham and Leeds United by an aggregate score of 9-1. They are scoring goals, keeping clean sheets, and winning games comfortably. Such is the progress they've made under Arteta in the first half of this season that the hosts actually have the best home record in the entire league.
Sunderland will put up a fight. They will sit deep and try to drag the match into extra time, and Arsenal will surely rest most of their stars. Nonetheless, we expect the Premier League side to unlock the door at least a couple of times as their reserves and younger players look to make an impression. One such fringe player who should get on the scoresheet is Eddie Nketiah who's made just three appearances in the league this season but has scored in both of his League Cup opportunities. He's likely to leave the club either in January or the summer and will be looking to impress would-be suitors. We think he'll do that with at least one goal.
Arsenal
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