'Arsenal's Confidence Is Very High'
- Leicester City entertain Arsenal in the Carabao Cup at King Power Stadium on Wednesday (7:45pm kick-off)
- The third round tie will be both sides' first fixture in this season's competition
- Like the Foxes, Arsenal have won both of their opening Premier League matches
- London Evening Standard sports reporter Simon Collings says youth will be given a chance in the cup fixture
Following both sides' perfect starts to the league campaign, attention now turns to the Carabao Cup Third Round at King Power Stadium on Wednesday evening (7:45pm kick-off).
Collings says that Arsenal have been able to build on the foundations put in place towards the end of the 2019/20 season, along with bringing in new recruits over the summer, in order to start this campaign in a positive manner.
"They built on that FA Cup Final success which they had at the start of August and the momentum has really carried through," he told LCFC TV.
"Getting Willian in a week after that final was great and the big morale booster was obviously tying down Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
"He was key to Mikel Arteta's plans all along, all summer he said 'he's the guy I've got to keep, he's our talisman' and now he's stayed, the morale in the squad is high.
"The fans' morale is high and two wins from two in the league is also a good boost."
A top four challenge, improving on an eighth place finish in 2019/20, is the Gunners' main target for this season, according to Collings, rather than success in the cup competitions.
"Arteta has been pretty coy," he continued. "Realistically, you look at what the top four was last season, I think it's going to be hard for anyone to break into that.
"But I think Arsenal's aim will be to be genuine challengers for it. They were never really in that race for the top four last season.
"If they can be in the hunt with four, five games to go, I think that's a fair reflection of where they should try and be this year."
With that in mind, and the number of fixtures Arteta's side have coming up, Collings expects Arsenal's manager to shuffle the pack, giving youth a chance to shine against Premier League opposition.
He added: "It's going to be an interesting one in the Carabao Cup. We know in seasons gone by it's been one for rotation, but even more so now, with already having those Europa League midweek games, we've seen Tottenham having to play Tuesday-Thursday, it makes it a difficult one for teams to prioritise.
"So I wonder if on Wednesday we might see the likes of Eddie Nketiah, who obviously the got the winner at the weekend, Reece Nelson is another young English player that Arsenal fans should be excited about.
"And Joe Wilcock, again in that mould, is someone again who I think will be pushing to start, so it could be a bit of a change of formation, with so many games to try and keep players fresh.
"The club have always made a push about getting players though the academy but they haven't really had a crop like this bunch that they've got now for quite a while. People will remember seven or eight years ago, the British core of Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and Kieran Gibbs that Arsène Wenger had and that group broke apart.
"But Arsenal will be hoping with the likes of Nelson, Nketiah, Buyako Saka and Ainsley Maitland-Niles as well, the most senior of those... they've got a group who can really develop and move the club forward, because everyone knows how great it is when you have someone come through your own academy."
All times BST.