Michael Owen is predicting a comfortable victory for Arsenal against Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup at the Emirates Stadium this evening.

Forest finished ninth in the Championship table last season, but have made a strong start to their new campaign under new head coach Sabri Lamouchi.

The Reds extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to nine matches at the weekend, but they now face a very difficult test against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup third round.

Owen is expecting both managers to make several changes to their usual starting line-ups, but believes Arsenal will still be too strong for Forest.

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"There will be over 8,000 Forest fans at the Emirates, but promotion is the primary objective this season for the east midlands club and they are likely to rest several of their regular starting XI," Owen told BetVictor.

"We know Unai Emery will also rotate his squad, but such is the strength in depth of the Gunners that I expect to see a comfortable home win."

Arsenal are fourth in the Premier League table and are unbeaten in their last four matches in all compensations, after coming from behind to beat Aston Villa 3-2 at the weekend.

The Verdict

It'll be a tough game for Nottingham Forest tonight, there's no doubt about that, but the players will be determined to cause one of the biggest shocks of the third round.

As Owen says, the primary objective for Forest this season is promotion, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Lamouchi rotate his squad ahead of the clash with Stoke on Friday and perhaps give some of his younger players a chance.

Arsenal will likely make changes too, but they're usually pretty solid at home and I think they'll still have too much fire power for Forest.

The Forest players have a big opportunity to test themselves against quality opposition though and they'll be determined to keep their unbeaten run going.