Shuffle time again as young Gunners bid for Portman Road hat-trick

State of play

We’ve reached game two of Ipswich Town’s Papa John’s Trophy group stage campaign.

The Blues made an emphatic start, beating Northampton Town 6-0 in game one, taking them to the top of the group ahead of tonight’s opponents, Arsenal Under 21s. The young Gunners beat Cambridge 2-0 in their first game.

If either Ipswich or Arsenal are victorious inside 90 minutes tonight, they can qualify for the knockout stages with a game to spare.

That would only happen if Cambridge and Northampton draw this evening, though, regardless of which of the two teams then pick up the bonus point for a penalty shootout victory at Sixfields.

A win inside 90 minutes for either Cambridge or Northampton would mean qualification will be settled during the final round of group games, with Ipswich heading to Cambridge to play that on October 18.

There are plenty of permutations but, in short, victory tonight would put Ipswich in a very good position to qualify for the next round.

The Young Guns

Ipswich face a young Arsenal team for the third-successive year in this competition. Things did not go well in the first two meetings.

Game one, in 2020, saw a very experienced Ipswich side beaten 2-1 at Portman Road despite taking the lead, while the Blues’ run in the Trophy last season was ended when the Gunners won 4-3 on penalties after a two-goal lead was conceded.

Defeat in the first knockout round played a part in Paul Cook losing his job last December.

So, buoyed by a win and a clean sheet at Cambridge in their first game and sitting joint top of Premier League 2, Mehmet Ali’s young Gunners will fancy their chances of completing a Portman Road hat-trick.

But, such is the way with Under 21 football, the Arsenal team has regenerated and new faces have come into the picture due to a number of graduations.

The vast majority of last season’s starting team at Portman Road are now out on loan, including Folarin Balogun (Reims), Mika Biereth (RKC Waalwijk), Omar Rekik (Sparta Rotterdam), Charlie Patino (Blackpool), Brook Norton-Cuffy (Rotherham), Tim Akinola (Chesterfield) and Mazeed Ogungbo (Crawley).

Town signed Mark McGuinness on loan after he impressed against the Blues for Arsenal in 2020. He's with Sheffield Wednesday now (Image: Archant)

Omari Hutchinson has moved to Chelsea and Zak Swanson joined Town’s League One rivals, Portsmouth, full-time in the summer.

A new group has moved up to take their places, with Charles Sagoe one to watch, given he’s leading the team’s scoring chart at the moment. Nathan Butler-Oyedeji scored both goals at Cambridge.

The team which beat the U's had an average age of only a little over 18, but it was a 15-year-old from Arsenal’s academy who made the headlines over the weekend.

Ethan Nwaneri made Premier League history when he came on for Arsenal’s senior side at Brentford at the weekend, playing the final few minutes of a 3-0 victory, becoming the youngest player ever to play in the competition.

He’s featured for Arsenal’s Under 21s this season and, while he wasn’t in the squad at Cambridge, it’s not impossible he could be involved tonight.

Tyreece John-Jules can't face his parent club (Image: Ross Halls)

Town shuffle

Before we get on to how Ipswich might line up, it’s worth quickly noting that Tyrece John-Jules will not be involved.

The Ipswich attacker is on loan from Arsenal and, as such, can’t face his parent club.

There are plenty of players we know will feature, though.

Vaclav Hladky will get a chance in goal, Kane Vincent-Young will likely feature on the right side of a defence also including Richard Keogh, while Dominic Ball and Cameron Humphreys could well form the central midfield duo.

Greg Leigh is heading off on international duty with Jamaica but, given their game is not until September 28, it’s possible he could start at left-back before flying to the United States to face Argentina.

Could Kyle Edwards get a rare league start at Plymouth (Image: Archant)

Kyle Edwards will want to impress on the right, just like he did against Northampton, while Gassan Ahadme cannot play because he is cup-tied having played for Burton in a previous round.

The injuries to Cameron Burgess and Sone Aluko, and John-Jules' absence, robs Kieran McKenna of a few of options, meaning some more ‘senior’ figures will need to fill in the gaps among the players mentioned above. Panutche Camara is still sidelined, too.

All of that could potentially mean a start for either Luke Woolfenden or George Edmundson, who both played 90 minutes at Sheffield Wednesday or Saturday, while Marcus Harness could feature again having scored a brace against Northampton.

Another attacker may be needed, too. Conor Chaplin will be itching to play, but McKenna may consider a young player such as Tommy Hughes or Zanda Siziba.

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna says the next couple of months will be focused on getting better (Image: Archant)

The manager’s thoughts

Here’s what Kieran McKenna said ahead of tonight’s game: “It’s a game we want to win. I said at the start of the competition that it’s not a priority for us but it is a chance for minutes.

“We want to get through the group and see where it takes us, because there could be a good day (at Wembley) at the end of it.

“There will be heavy changes to the side but we’ll prepare as well as we can on Monday and Tuesday morning for a good Arsenal side.”