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Back-to-back wins have raised the mood at Arsenal and the Gunners face AFC Wimbledon in the Carabao Cup to continue their resurgence ahead of the North London derby against Tottenham.
Successive 1-0 victories over Norwich and Burnley eased some of the scrutiny from Mikel Arteta, who hopes to further build confidence ahead of Sunday’s clash with Spurs at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal fans were hoping to catch a glimpse of 17-year-old Charlie Patino as clamor grew for Arteta to hand him over to his debut after his stunning individual Under-23 goal against Manchester United, but the youngster was not included on the team.
AFC Wimbledon has started the season well and is just outside the League One play-offs under Mark Robinson.
Arteta could bring blood to other young players but he will want Arsenal to approach the Tottenham game on a positive note.
With kick off at 7.45pm BST, follow all the action with Malik Ouzia live at Emirates Stadium.
Live updates
19 minutes: Concern here for Arsenal with Gabriel Martinelli down after making a pretty crucial clearance in his own penalty area, but the referee signals to the physios that they don’t need to come so you assume he is. already.
Meanwhile, a huge standing ovation near the corner flag tells you that Bukayo Saka has been jogging for his first warm-up of the night.
17 minutes: Luke McCormick, Jack Grealish-style socks rolled up (or Emile Smith Rowe in those games, I guess) has been the visitors’ brightest player so far – some nice touches and determined midfield training when it seemed to be dirty.
14 minutes: Nice Arsenal football. Partey and Maitland-Niles exchanged a few one-touch passes in midfield before the latter passed for Lacazette. Altruistically, he tries to step back in Martinelli’s path but it is cut off.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 AFC Wimbledon | Alexandre Lacaette 11 ‘
The Night Captain comes forward and sends the Guardian the wrong way!
Easy, and Arsenal have an early lead that could help make this night a little more comfortable.
Penalty to Arsenal!
10 minutes: Nice shot in the back of Nketiah and Martinelli is way too fast for his man. He’s a stonewaller.
9 minutes: Good positive play from Eddie Nketiah, who checks his man’s inside from the left flank and buckles with his right foot.
The shot is blocked, but you think it will try to do it all night.
7 minutes: Already Thomas Partey imprints his authority on this game by strolling in the middle of the park. Some suggestions he specifically asked to play tonight in order to create a bit more clarity ahead of the Tottenham game.
2 minutes : So it looks like a pretty standard 4-3-3 for Arsenal at the start, with Eddie Nketiah playing right-to-left and Gabriel Martinelli playing right.
Lacazette is the central figure but will also look to fall into that No.10 position, you think.
TO START UP!
We are on our way to the Emirates …
The teams are going out. Decent noise inside the Emirates, although far from capacity.
This end of Wimbledon is rebounding, as you can imagine.
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