Arsenal begin this season’s assault on the Carabao Cup – an in turn another tilt at the quadruple – with a potential banana skin against fellow Premier League side Ipswich Town.
Mikel Arteta’s men will be defending their proud 100 per cent record across all competitions this season, which stands at six wins out of six and with just one solitary goal conceded in that time.
Last season saw the Gunners fall at the final hurdle in this competition with Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly notching two quickfire second half goals to seal a 2-0 win in the 2025-26 showpiece at Wembley.
Sweeping changes are anticipated by Arteta for this third round tie, with the likes of Bruno Guimaraes, Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyokeres all potential starters at Portman Road given none have yet started in the Premier League.
You have to go all the way back to 1993 for Arsenal’s last League Cup triumph – one of only two in their history.
Arteta has spoken before about trying to attack on all fronts and that was certainly the case last season, winning the league and finishing as runners-up in this competition and the Champions League whilst their FA Cup campaign ended rather prematurely at the quarter-finals stage after a surprise defeat by Championship side Southampton.
As for Ipswich, they saw off League One side Leicester City in the previous round and have already fared a lot more stronger in the top flight than compared to their last excursion when they were relegated having won just four league games.
Gary O’Neil’s side have already racked up half that amount inside the first month of the season. The latest was an impressive 3-2 steal at Crystal Palace last weekend. Another game against a London outfit now awaits, and O’Neil is under no illusions as to the size of the task at hand.
“Arsenal are tough to beat, even if you do everything right,” The Tractor Boys’ chief admitted. “I’ll make some changes to my team, I’m sure Mikel will make changes to his team, but it’s a game we want to win. I want to get as far in the cups as we can.
“We’re going to give it our best go at home under the lights. I think we missed the opportunity against Liverpool. We played well, but it was already 2-0. We missed the opportunity to use the energy of Portman Road under the lights against a big side.
“So, on Tuesday, we can correct that. We can start the game well. We can take the fans with us on an attempt to beat one of the best sides around.
“Of course, we’re a different level to Arsenal at this moment, but we’ll be strong on Tuesday and we’ll do our best to win the game.”
