Arsene Wenger to stick with rotation policy for Carabao Cup tie against Norwich
Arsene Wenger will continue with the ‘luxury’ of rotating his Arsenal side and believes he has the squad depth to succeed while doing so.
The Gunners welcome Norwich to the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.
It remains the one domestic trophy to elude Wenger during his time in England, with the Frenchman known for using the competition to blood young talent.
Wenger – who saw his side win 5-2 at Everton on Sunday in a result which saw Ronald Koeman lose his job as Toffees boss less than 24 hours later – insists he will continue with the same approach, which he has also applied in the Europa League this season.
“I will continue to rotate,” he said.
“I’ve gone into that rotation policy and afterwards you have to continue to do it, especially when both teams work well and both teams support each other at the moment.
“I must say that it’s difficult to make a change because to win away from home in the way we did at Belgrade, you need some special quality. Let’s hope we can reiterate that against Norwich.
“That’s the luxury I have at the moment and the difficulty I have as well. All these players do well, play well and they deserve to play.
“Fortunately, we have important games every week, so I can give competition to everybody. As you said, we have so much offensive force on the bench as well. It’s really a strong point of the club at the moment.”
Wenger came close to winning the League Cup in 2011 but his side were surprisingly beaten by Birmingham in the final.
He believes his current pool of players is strong enough to keep going in the Carabao Cup while offering the chance to give vital minutes to fringe players and youngsters.
“I always used it to give a chance to young boys,” he said when asked about never winning the League Cup.
“We went to the final with a very young team and nearly won it. I always focus on winning trophies in the Premier League and FA Cup domestically, and always used the League Cup as an education for our young players. But with this team I have the squad to go further, so let’s see.”
Wenger, who toasted his 68th birthday as his side saw off Everton, revealed he spent the rest of the day celebrating in the only way he wanted to – by watching more football.
“I didn’t really have a chance to celebrate,” he added.
“But most importantly, I enjoyed the day because we won and had a convincing result and played good football, and the team looked happy.
“After that, last night there was a good French game, Marseille v Paris St Germain, which I could not miss! So in the end, I didn’t even go out for dinner because I planned to watch the game.”
Source: By PA Sport Staff
Published at Mon, 23 Oct 2017 21:26:45 +0000