Arsenal vs. Newcastle: Match Preview

Tomorrow will see Arsene Wenger's young guns take on Big Sam's Newcastle side in the Carling Cup. Wenger confirmed that he will continue to play youngsters and players "who need to get up to full speed" in the Carling Cup, despite the fact that Sam Allardyce always plays his strongest squad even in the 'lesser' of the English cups.

Arsene informed Arsenal.com as to some of the players we will be seeing tomorrow.

“You will see Bendtner, Diarra, and Denilson. Maybe Eboue (ankle) will be coming back as well.

“You’ll see Justin Hoyte and Alex Song maybe Eduardo and Diaby. Then there is Armand Traore and Lukasz Fabianski who we have not seen a lot of so far. We have sold out and we will put out a good team. We want to give the opportunity to our fans to see some unfamiliar faces.”

After Wenger saying that both Hoyte and Bendtner will stay at Arsenal, it is great to see the young pair finally get some time on the pitch.

It would be nice to see Bendtner starting a match, as the youngster has great promise. He complained about not seeing enough action in the start of the season, despite his impressive performances, and the Carling Cup could be the perfect opportunity to let the tall Dane show off his skills.

Hoyte also has considerable talent, and as he can play either left or right back he could be a great squad player for Arsenal in the future.

Diarra, Denilson, Eduardo, and Diaby are all players on the fringe of regular first team action, and good Carling Cup performances might see some of them getting more time in the Premier League as well. Diaby and Diarra in particular impressed in the 5-0 drubbing of Derby on Saturday, the former scoring the first goal, and the latter registering some impressive mazy runs.

It should be great to see our young players play, but it will be quite a test against the Premiership's 5th place team. Allardyce is likely to play such big names as alleged Arsenal target Obafemi Martins, former Manchester United striker Alan Smith, Mark Viduka and the impressive young Charles N'Zobgia.

Newcastle's impressive front line may cause trouble for the young Traore and Hoyte, but with Kolo Toure in the center we may be able to hold off Big Sam's strikers. Scoring goals shouldn't be a problem with Eduardo and Bendtner in the lineup, and the home advantage will help as well. I fancy our side will just manage to pull out a 2-1 victory in a tight match.