League Cup: Arsenal's Olivier Giroud ruled out of quarter-final tie against Southampton

Arsenal are likely to rotate their squad for Wednesday’s League Cup quarter-final against Southampton with manager Arsene Wenger promising a mixture of youth and experience. [caption id=“attachment_3118280” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud. Reuters[/caption] French striker Olivier Giroud will definitely miss the game because of a slight groin problem and Mathieu Debuchy is also unavailable because of a hamstring injury. Striker Lucas Perez is likely to start, however, after recovering from an ankle injury that has sidelined him for five weeks since he appeared in the last round against Reading. “Mathieu had a scan today but we don’t have the results yet,” Wenger told Arsenal.com. “Lucas is in the squad and we will have a mixture of youth and experience, but still 90 per cent of the first-team squad.” Spanish forward Lucas’s two goals this season came against Nottingham Forest in the League Cup. Earlier, Giroud was set be assessed to see how bad the damage was following the striker’s substitute appearance, but Wenger played down concerns over Theo Walcott, who came off following a strong second-half tackle in their Premier League tie against Bournemouth.