Arsenal to face Bolton in the Carling Cup

Arsenal to face Bolton in the Carling Cup

Bolton will be looking to put the Premier League to one side tonight as they take on Arsenal, as they are currently third from bottom after a loss to Sunderland on the weekend which makes it three losses in four games. One of these three losses was thanks to the Gunners when they defeated Bolton 3-0 last month.

Arsenal will be happy to see the return of Thomas Vermaelen, the Belgian international, who has been plagued with injuries over the last couple of seasons. But they are resting a number of key players ahead of the match against Chelsea on the weekend. Robin van Persie, Alex Song and Per Mertesacker are among the players who won’t be playing tonight.

Manchester United are the other Premiership team who are in action tonight and they will play Aldershot. The League Two team have not progressed past the third round of the competition since 1984 and are the only team outside the top two divisions left in the tournament.

United will be looking to put the embarrassment of their 6-1 defeat to their closest rivals Manchester City behind them, and will be hoping for a dominant display over the lowest ranked team left in the tournament. Several first team players are expected to be rested but it is likely that Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Owen and Antonio Valencia will all be in action. United will be without Ryan Giggs, who is injured, and Jonny Evans, who was red carded against City on the weekend.

Elsewhere, Cardiff will take on their Championship rivals Burnley. This could be an exciting match up as Cardiff have scored ten goals in their last three games and the Bluebirds have only lost once at home this season.

The Bluebirds will be without Kenny Miller who suffered a head wound on the weekend after he clashed with team mate Ben Turner but Burnley are boosted by the return of Jay Rodriguez and Charlie Austin.

The last match tonight sees Crystal Palace play Southampton in what should be a lively encounter as Southampton are having a great season as they sit on top of the Championship. Crystal Palace have only lost two games at home in this competition since 1995.

Submitted By Jonathan Davies [Image courtesy of ScROs]