Some thoughts on the game + squad condition

Morning everyone.
Yesterday we played West Bromvich Albion in Capital One Cup and proved victorious. Whether a win in a penalty shoot-out counts as a win, I don't know, so it's hard to say, whether we just extended our away winning streak to 11 games or not. Either way we are through to the next round, which will see us host Chelsea. Not an easy one, but we can put it out of our minds for the time being.
As a game was, forgive me, so insignificant, no one cared to air it, so no real preview and review from me was possible. As expected, the manager played a youthful side, with only Mertesacker starting his second game inside four days. Flamini was an unused sub, while the likes of Vermaelen, Monreal and Arteta, who have recently lacked practice, all started. The rest of the team was made up of youngsters, though we did see Bendtner pull on an Arsenal shirt for the first time since 2011.
WBA yielded a stronger side, but the whole affair was still a tedious one and it lasted for more than two hours. Glad we won, though, our unbeaten (at least) run continues. Here's what Arsene had to say after the game. In a nutshell, he talked about how important it was to give young players a chance, while also resting some senior players. He also talked about Bendther, and was mostly positive. He did mention some chance the Dane missed, but apart from that, all good.
The most important part was, for me, resting our key players. While promoting young talents is undoubtedly important, giving Whilshere and Co a much needed breather was just pivotal. Even more so, knowing how shallow or squad is due to injures, which hit us. I already said we may count ourselves unlucky, but Walcott`s knock looks like a last straw. We now officially don't have any flank players, so I don't know, what happens next. Seems, Gnabry is in for some starts, which is ridiculous, given the status of our Club.
Walcott`s injury doesn't seem long-term, though, which gives us some hope. He will miss up to two weeks, which really isn't that much. An operation is due, but fingers crossed, he's in for a swift recovery
Some other returns are also on the books, with Rosicky, Cazorla and Podolski all set to join the first-team action in a week or two. They can actually make their comeback in time for the Napoli game, which means they are only two games away. We'll surely have more info on this before the Swansea encounter.
And finally, FA has warned Flamini for his unsporting behavior during the game against Stoke. I never noticed anything back then, but it turned out, Flamini threatened to knock out one of the Orcs (Wilson?), after the latter's yet another foul on Whilshere. I'm mentioning this episode not because I think Flamini was wrong, on the contrary. He stuck up to Whilshere, and that is a truly great thing he's done. All summer we thought we needed someone to protect Whilshere and here's the man for the job. He may not be your typical DM, but it doesn't matter. Well done Mattieu.
Until later