Arsenal vs. Brighton: £57.1m midfielder predicted to start EFL Cup clash as Danny Welbeck World Cup verdict delivered

Arsenal playing Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex is more preferable to facing them at the Emirates, where the Seagulls "always" seem to give the Gunners issues, according to expert Charles Watts.

Mikel Arteta squares up to Fabian Hurzeler in Wednesday night's EFL Cup fourth-round fixture in North London, which Arsenal enter on the back of a stellar seven-game winning run across all tournaments, conceding just one goal in that time.

Meanwhile, the Seagulls' five-match unbeaten sequence was snapped in a 4-2 loss to Manchester United in the Premier League at the weekend, but the visitors have been Arsenal's bogey team at the Emirates in recent years, losing just three of their nine visits there.

Arsenal were also memorably beaten 3-1 by Brighton at home in the third round of the 2022-23 EFL Cup - their third Emirates loss to the Seagulls in a row - and last season's 1-1 draw means they have won just one of their last five matches against Brighton on their own turf.

Asked if Brighton always has the feel of an uncomfortable game, Watts told Sports Mole: “Always. Strangely I seem to prefer playing Brighton when it's in the Amex - at the Emirates I always feel like they give us some problems.

“Draw there last season with the Declan Rice sending-off, that League Cup win, there's been other victories for Brighton. They're always a tough nut to crack at the Emirates, so they'll be in a confident mood.

“They've started this competition brilliantly - 12 goals in two games - so it's just not an easy draw at all. The draw could have been much nicer, especially when Mikel will be looking to make changes for this game.

“It was frustrating for them to lose at Old Trafford, but the way they came back into that game might give them a little bit of a boost. They’ll fancy their chances, especially when they look at the team sheet. I imagine they're not going to be coming up against the usual Arsenal XI.”

Arsenal vs. Brighton: Should Danny Welbeck be in World Cup contention?

While Arsenal have lost three of their last five home matches against Brighton, they are on a five-game unbeaten run at the Amex Stadium since going down 2-1 to the Seagulls during the COVID-19 era in June 2020.

The Gunners' last meeting with Brighton in January ended in a 1-1 stalemate thanks to goals from Ethan Nwaneri and now-Chelsea attacker Joao Pedro, who filled in for Danny Welbeck due to the Englishman's absence through injury.

However, Welbeck is now fit and firing ahead of the reunion with his old club, scoring a wonderful free kick at Old Trafford to make it five goals from his last five Premier League games during a late career revival.

The 34-year-old has not represented England since 2018, but there have been whispers of a possible World Cup wild card, and Watts can see no reason why the "wonderful" striker should not be in contention for a spot on the plane.

“I don't see why not," Watts said. "He's a brilliant, wonderful footballer. He was great at Arsenal - it's just the injuries that really stopped him hitting the heights he could have done.

“So clever, still got it, is scoring goals, had a good season last season as well. It’s unlikely because we've not really seen [Thomas] Tuchel show any interest in bringing him into the team, but when you're playing the way he is, he can't be doing any more.

“Last season, when we got to January and we were asking for Arsenal to sign as a striker, I was honestly thinking Danny Welbeck would have been such a smart short-term signing – maybe an 18-month deal. Brighton wouldn't want to do that obviously, but he was in my mind, and I've seen nothing since then to prove me wrong.

“It’s great to see him having this end to the career that he's having, because he's had so many injuries and it would have been a real shame to see his career fizzle out. But it's not. It's doing the opposite. He's having this Indian summer-type finish to his career.

“He’s loved at Arsenal - he was always really popular with the fans, the players, so he'll get a big warm welcome I'm sure.”

Arsenal vs. Brighton: £57.1m midfielder predicted to start EFL Cup clash

Welbeck could form part of a strong first XI for Brighton, who made history earlier in the competition by becoming the first team to win back-to-back League Cup fixtures by six goals or more, thumping Oxford United and Barnsley 6-0.

Meanwhile, Arsenal claimed a routine 2-0 victory over Port Vale first up, where Arteta started a host of second-string players such as Kepa Arrizabalaga, Christian Norgaard, Ben White and Ethan Nwaneri.

Even though the Gunners are now facing Premier League opposition, Watts still expects Arteta to make close to a full 11 changes for the visit of Brighton, although he has conceded that a first-choice midfielder may have to start given the recent knock to Declan Rice.

“I think it'll be closer to a full team of changes," he added. "I think we'll see a completely different back four - Ben White will certainly start, Myles Lewis-Skelly, [Cristhian] Mosquera will play. I imagine we'll see [Piero] Hincapie for the first time from the start.

“Christian Norgaard, if he's not going to start this game when is he ever going to start? Especially considering there's injury doubts over Declan Rice. Maybe we'll have to see Martin Zubimendi, because if there is a doubt over Declan Rice, he's not going to play.

“Probably [Mikel] Merino up front - he was up front against Port Vale. [Viktor] Gyokeres has just been run into ground - he's playing so many minutes so I think they'll want to give him as a bit of a breather ahead of the weekend.”

Arteta delivered a quintuple fitness update in his pre-game press conference on Tuesday, while an Arsenal Invincible recently predicted whether 15-year-old Max Dowman could make his full debut in the fourth-round match.