Rookie Shrewsbury Town defender Connor Goldson has been backed to cope with the biggest night of his football life as the 18-year-old attempts to help subdue Arsenal’s attacking armoury at the Emirates.

Injuries to the first choice centre half pairing of Ian Sharps and Shane Cansdell-Sherriff mean Goldson is almost certain to make only his second ever senior start at right back in front of a crowd of around 50,000 for the Carling Cup third round tie.

But manager Graham Turner is confident the youth team graduate – who appeared as a 20th minute substitute in Saturday’s 3-2 triumph at Port Vale and made his only previous start against Bury last season – has the attributes to handle the big occasion.

“Connor is mature enough to be able to deal with it,” said Turner.

“We played (a reserve game) against a very strong Wolves side not long ago –the front players were full of Premier League experience – and he did very well at centre half.

“Now he has to go and play at right back and do something similar. He has the capability of being a good player and I’m sure he will handle it.”

With Sharps and Cansdell-Sherriff both set to be sidelined, Reuben Hazell and Jermaine Grandison are set to pair up at centre half.

Turner, meanwhile, is hoping his side can display composure on the big stage, and believes his side have the attributes to pose problems for an Arsenal side who were beaten finalists in the competition 12 months ago.

“We have warned the players about where they might be able to get at us but you can’t over-do getting the players concerned about Arsenal,” said Turner.

“We know they have got good players, irrespective of what team is put out. We haven’t got to worry too much about them.

“We have to defend solidly and make sure we don’t get caught on the break and when we get the ball, we have to pass it like we can because I think we can cause Arsenal problems ourselves.

“Pace is vital the higher up you go and we have that in abundance in our side.”