Arsenal have made it into the final of the Carabao Cup, and Mikel Arteta has plenty of decisions to make.
The Premier League leaders got past Port Vale, Brighton and Hove Albion and Crystal Palace in the competition before beating Chelsea home and away in the two-legged semi-final.
In all of those fixtures, Arteta made plenty of changes to his squad, which makes you wonder if he will do the same for the final at Wembley.
We think the Arsenal manager shouldn’t, which means he will have to make a ruthless decision in one position.
Which team would you rather face in the Carabao Cup final and why?
Arsenal have booked their ticket to Wembley!
Mikel Arteta could drop Kepa Arrizabalaga for David Raya in the Carabao Cup final
Kepa Arrizabalaga has mostly been fantastic for Arsenal in the Carabao Cup so far.
The Spaniard has played every single game in the competition and has conceded just four goals in five games. He was also involved in the penalty shootout that the Gunners won against Palace.
In an ideal world, there is no reason for Mikel Arteta to drop Kepa, but winning the trophy in March is more important than people think.
It won’t just be the first silverware in the bag for Arsenal but also a chance to send a statement to Manchester City that they cannot catch up in the Premier League either.
Furthermore, lifting the cup could give the players the confidence they need to go all the way in the three other competitions as well, which is really important.
The fair decision would be to stick with Kepa, but the smarter one would be to go with your first-choice goalkeeper, which is David Raya.
That would be one of the most ruthless selection decisions of Arteta’s career, and we think he could do it in the final at Wembley. That, in our opinion, would be the right decision as well.
READ MORE: How Kepa Arrizabalaga has been behaving in Arsenal training
Who should start in goal for Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final?
Stick with Kepa or be ruthless and start Raya?
Mikel Arteta should start Arsenal’s first-choice starters across the pitch
It definitely would be tempting for Arteta to keep the likes of Piero Hincapie, Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke, Gabriel Martinelli and Kepa in the starting lineup for the final.
Those players have played a big part in helping the Gunners reach this stage, and it would be fair to trust them one last time.
However, we think Arteta should make five changes for the Carabao Cup final and go with his absolute best first eleven to win the game.
Winning the trophy is absolutely integral in March, and the best way to guarantee that would be by deploying the regular starters.
That means the likes of Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Riccardo Calafiori, Leandro Trossard and, of course, Raya, could and should all start.
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