Sheffield W. – Arsenal

Sheffield Wednesday will aim to capitalize on Arsenal’s expected lineup rotation when the two teams meet in the Capital One Cup Round 16, but the home team is ravaged by injuries and will have to use some subs as well.

Despite having serious problems with injuries lately, Sheffield Wednesday is in great form in the Championship. Currently 9th in the table, the hosts are undefeated in the last 8 matches in all competitions. Their excellent league form also translated in the Capital One Cup competition, where they were able to knock out Newcastle United on the road in the previous round, 1-0. It`s worth noting that Sheffield Wednesday lost a single home game all season and that was back in August against Middlesbrough.

Arsenal is in the best possible form right now, playing their best football of the season. Wenger’s side seems to have finally clicked – they won 4 games on the spin and 6 of the last 7. In these previous seven matches, Arsenal scored no less than 19 goals. Last week was very busy for the Gunners, as they won a great game against Bayern Munich 2-0 and were able to back that up in a difficult home fixture with Everton, winning 2-1.

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Team news & lineups:

Sheffield Wednesday will miss Lopez, Tuner, Sougou, Matias and Westwood. Arsenal, besides the long term injuries of Wilshere, Ramsey, Arteta, Ospina, Welbeck or Rosicky, will likely be without some other key players here – particularly the ones that played a heavy role this season like Ozil, Sanchez, Cocquelin, Bellerin, Monreal or maybe even Petr Cech.

Sheffield Wednesday: Wildsmith – Hunt, Loovens, Lees, Pudil – Hutchinson, Wallace, Lee, Bannan – Forestieri, Joao

Arsenal: Macey (Cech) – Debuchy, Chambers, Gabriel, Gibbs – Flamini, Bielik – Oxlade-Chamberlain, Iwobi, Campbell – Walcott

After such a busy week Arsenal is expected to use heavy rotation as key players like Sanchez or Ozil finally get a chance to rest. Unfortunately for Sheffield Wed they can not approach this game with the best team either, which is not good news for a side that obviously does not have Arsenal’s depth. However, they will send the best available ‘first 11’ on the pitch, one that proved to be so competitive recently in the Championship. Motivation will obviously also be a factor, with the match being huge for the hosts, not so big for the Gunners.

Sheffield Wednesday’s manager said that his side has a 10% chance of beating Arsenal and I agree, but the chances for a narrow loss or even a draw are so much higher. Look for an inspired performance from a very focused home team, while an experimental Arsenal side would be more than happy to escape with a 1 goal win on the road against a good side. My tip is Sheffield Wed +1,75 asian handicap. Prediction: Sheffield Wednesday – Arsenal 1-2.

Pick: Sheffield Wednesday (+1,75 Asian Handicap)
Odds: 1.68 @ Sbobet
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 5.44
Event date: 27 October