Tonight Arsenal take on West Brom in the Carling Cup third round and we get our first glimpse of Arsene Wenger's new batch of youngsters. Of course there will be some familiar faces in there too.
Arsena Wenger has already revealed six of the players that will start. The squad of 18 has just been announced here and from them 19 year old Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny will start in goal, Philippe Senderos and Mikael Silvestre will make up an experienced centre back pairing. Kieran Gibbs is set to play left back while Aaron Ramsey is set to continue his solid progress this season in midfield. Jack Wilshere is likely to play right with Traore left, either side of the returning Carlos Vela who will get his first action of the season.
It's good to see Vela back in action and hopefully he can recapture some of the form he showed in this competition last season.
The rest of the squad is made up of less familiar names although Kerrea Gilbert will probably play right back and it seems a long time since he created a goal for Thierry Henry in this competition. The opposition on that day escapes me but he has had a tough time since then with some not so successful loan spells.
The thing I find interesting about this squad is that many of these players, as with previous Carling Cup squads, will one day, if they make the grade, meet the rules on the home grown quota system when it is introduced next season. The rules on the quota state that "To qualify as home grown, a player will have had to be registered for at least three seasons at an English or Welsh club between the ages of 16 and 21." So for example Cesc Fabregas qualifies as home grown, as does Gael Clichy.
It seems Arsenal will be better equiped than some to cope with the new quota system.
Let's hope the class of 2009 can carry on the fine tradition of a good showing in this tournament in what will be a tough game against a very decent West Brom side.
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