West Brom vs Arsenal preview: How to watch on tv, live stream, kick off time & team news
By Tom McArdle
Arsenal's failure to finish in the top seven last season means they kick off their Carabao Cup campaign with a second round tie against West Brom on Wednesday.
Last time the two sides met at The Hawthorns the Gunners romped to a 4-0 win. Mikel Arteta will be hoping for something similar this time around to distract from his team's back-to-back Premier League defeats to start the season.
West Brom, meanwhile, have made an unbeaten start to the campaign under Valerien Ismael, winning three and drawing one of their first four fixtures.
Where to watch
When Is Kick Off? Wednesday 25 August
What Time Is Kick Off? 20:00 (GMT)
Where Is it Played? The Hawthorns
TV Channel/Live Stream? Sky Sports (UK), ESPN+ (US)
Referee? TBC
West Brom team news
Long-term absentees Robert Snodgrass and youngster Taylor Gardner-Hickman are not available for West Brom.
Brighton loanee Matt Clarke will also miss out after picking up an injury during the Baggies 2-1 win over Blackburn last time out. Semi Ajayi, who replaced Clarke at the weekend, should therefore continue at centre-back.
Grady Diangana was named on the bench on Saturday so should start this one, but Ismael will be confident of a giant killing so will probably not rotate too much.
Arsenal team news
Arsenal are in the midst of a selection crisis following a coronavirus outbreak at the club. Ben White will play no part against West Brom and neither will Willian, Alexandre Lacazette and Alex Runarsson.
Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel, Hector Bellerin and Thomas Partey are also nursing knocks and will not play. New signing Martin Odegaard should be fit but whether he is registered in time for the fixture remains to be seen.
In more positive news, Aaron Ramsdale is set to make his Gunners debut after joining from Sheffield United recently.
West Brom & Arsenal predicted lineups
West Brom: Button; Furlong, Ajayi, O'Shea, Bartley, Townsend; Livermore, Mowatt; Diangana, Phillips, Robinson
Arsenal: Ramsdale; Chambers, Holding, Mari, Tavares; Sambi Lokonga, Xhaka; Nelson, Smith Rowe, Saka; Balogun
Prediction
Arsenal are vulnerable at the moment after slipping to a pair of damaging results in the league. Even still, they should have enough to dispatch a West Brom side that they beat 7-1 on aggregate last season.
With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to call upon the bench, Arteta has plenty of firepower at his disposal if things start to go pear shaped.
Saying that, West Brom are pressing far higher and more intensely than they were last season which should cause the Gunners' defence problems.
Prediction: West Brom 1-2 Arsenal