Wigan Preview: An Entirely Different Campaign

Well all of the sudden we are back in the title race and Arsene Wenger is a genius again. That is if you believe the papers who just last week had us down as finishing 7th this season. What a difference a win makes. And now it's time to put our first team's season aside for a day and focus on the youngsters.

The Carling Cup match against Wigan tomorrow night will be a welcome aberration from first team action and it will allow the said players to get a week's rest before facing Aston Villa at home this Saturday.

I always enjoy watching the Carling Cup because we get to see the youth players show off their skill to the rest of the footballing world. Just last round we of course crushed Sheffield Utd 6-0 and I'm hoping for a similar result tomorrow night. Of course it won't happen but isn't it nice to hope?

The thing we have going for us tomorrow night is that we are at home. Despite the blip against Hull our home ground still seems like a fortress, even in the Carling Cup where it might be intimidating for some of the younger players. Instead they seem to revel in the place and as far as I can remember the only bad result we've ever had at the Emirates is a 1-1 draw with the scum last season.

So let's sit back and enjoy tomorrow night. Watching the Carling Cup and our young players is almost like watching a no-pressure friendly. We all know that even though winning the League Cup would be a bit of silverware, not many people actually care about it. It's just a fun diversion while the first team trains for the weekend Premiership clash. And I really enjoy these diversions, as do, as far as I can tell, most other gooners.

Win or lose tomorrow night will be a fun one and we will no doubt continue to see new players burst on to the scene and show us what they're made of. Let's hope for a win and enjoy the show.

Fab 4