Mikel Arteta makes brutal Arsenal declaration over crucial Chelsea line-up decision

Arsenal travel to Chelsea this evening in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-finals and they're bidding to bring a precious lead back to the Emirates Stadium

Mikel Arteta has boldly declared that he has never once promised any player minutes in specific competitions.

The Spaniard made the claim amid uncertainty over who will start between the sticks for Arsenal tonight in the Carabao Cup semi-finals against Chelsea.

So far this season, Kepa Arrizabalaga has played all of the club's Carabao Cup and FA Cup matches.

David Raya remains the Gunners' undisputed No.1 for both Premier League and Champions League games.

However, given this is a semi-final, some have speculated that Arteta might give Raya the nod over Kepa.

Arteta said: “I have never promised a player to come and play a competition. I have never done that.”

The remark would seemingly indicate that Arteta would have no qualms dropping Kepa for Raya at Stamford Bridge.

He elaborated when asked whether he would shuffle his pack: "Well I think in our case, in my case, we cannot do that because obviously players have to be available to be able to pick them there.

"I don’t believe in players for competitions, I believe that we have competition and we want to compete in all competitions with the best moment of the players that we have at our resource, and that’s what we try to do."

Kai Havertz is pushing to start his first match since last season after impressing from the bench against Portsmouth on Sunday.

The German attacker has been slowly rebuilding his fitness after injuring his knee in the opening game of the Premier League season against Manchester United.

Arteta was also asked what it means to him to go far in the League Cup having lost in the semi-finals last season to eventual winners Newcastle.

He replied: "I know that to do that you have to be better than the opposition tomorrow and that’s what we have to do. The rest is not in our control, so we have prepared the game really well.

"The boys are really motivated and at it because we can sense that that’s where we want to be and we have to make another step in order to achieve what we want and that’s the objective tomorrow."