Arsenal have long used the League Cup to blood a number of their emerging stars, with players such as Jack Wilshere and Cesc Fábregas making their senior club debuts in the competition. But while some of their youngsters have gone on to success, others have fallen by the wayside. Here, we look at the sides Arsène Wenger has fielded in their first appearance in the competition over the past 10 years.

League Cup 03-04: Arsenal 1-1 Rotherham

(Arsenal win 9-8 on penalties after extra time)

Subs used: Spicer (for Hoyte 117); Owusu-Abeyie (for Fábregas) 85; Smith (for Thomas 73). Photograph: Guardian

Wenger rested the entire team that had played against Charlton the weekend before as he handed out a host of debuts, including to Graham Stack, Gaël Clichy and Fábregas's, who became the youngest player to represent the club at the age of 16 years and 177 days. The 17-year-old Quincy Owusu-Abeyie replaced the future Arsenal captain five minutes before Darren Byfield struck to force the game into extra time and missed his penalty in the shootout. Stack would go on to make four more appearances for the club while Owusu-Abeyie was shipped out to Spartak Moscow three seasons later.

League Cup 04-05: Man City 1-2 Arsenal

Subs used: Owusu-Abeyie (for Smith 61); Karbassiyoon (for Lupoli 82); Djourou (for Pennant 89). Photograph: Guardian

"We had an under-21 team out there apart from two players," said Wenger. "Three 17-year-old boys in the team so I am very proud of them." And proud is what he should have been. Despite a difficult start against an experienced City side, Arsenal were deserved winners. Robin van Persie, making his first start for the club, was 21 when he scored Arsenal's opening goal of the game while the 20-year-old Daniel Karbassiyoon came off the bench to score the second. Karbassiyoon would make only two more appearances in an Arsenal shirt – injuries halted his career and he is now a scout for the club – while Van Persie would make quite a few more. "Embarrassed is the word for it," said the Manchester City manager, Kevin Keegan, of his side's performance.

League Cup 05-06: Sunderland 0-3 Arsenal

Subs used: Stokes (for Owusu-Abeyie 88); Cregg (for Larsson 89); Bendtner (for Lupoli 90). Photograph: Guardian

Mick McCarthy fielded a team with six changes from the previous match but Wenger went five better than that with Sol Campbell the only English-born player in their starting lineup. One of many teenage players to gain some first-team experience that night was Fabrice Muamba. The midfielder would make just one more appearance for Arsenal, in a 3-0 win over Reading in the same competition, before leaving for Birmingham and Bolton and then leaving the game completely after his on-field cardiac arrest. "That is no ordinary bunch of reserves," said McCarthy after seeing his side dismantled. But of the players who played that night only Nicklas Bendtner remains at the club.

League Cup 06-07: West Bromwich Albion 0-2 Arsenal

Subs used: Traoré (for Adebayor 24); Randall (for Denilson 78). Photograph: Guardian

Matthew Connolly, 19, and the then Brazilian Under-19 captain, Denílson, 18, were given their debuts by Wenger in their victory over the Baggies but after that their careers diverged. A month later Connolly was sent on loan and would play only one more time for the club before being sold (he now plays for Cardiff). Denílson, by contrast, became a regular in the Arsenal side over the next few seasons and ended up playing more than 150 games for the Gunners. This match was also notable for the debut of Mark Randall, who was once touted as the future of the club by Wenger and who now plays for Ascoli.

League Cup 07-08: Arsenal 2-0 Newcastle

Subs used: Diaby (for Eboué 64); Mérida (for Eduardo 90). Photograph: Guardian

Arsenal made eight changes from the side that thrashed Derby the weekend before this match but it made little difference to the result. Bendtner, still only 19, may have played in the same competition two seasons earlier but the win over Newcastle was when he first made a significant impact, scoring the opening goal of the game with a superb header before Denílson doubled their lead with a wonderful strike from distance. The 22-year-old goalkeeper, Lukas Fabianski, making his debut having signed from Legia Warsaw in the summer transfer window, acquitted himself well, looking assured throughout the 90 minutes. His career at the club has faltered somewhat since then. Fran Mérida would leave the club for Atlético Madrid but his career never really took off.

League Cup 08-09: Arsenal 6-0 Sheffield United

Subs used: Lansbury (for Song 70); Coquelin (for Mérida 71); Simpson (for Bendtner 71). Photograph: Guardian

Wenger picked a starting lineup with an average age of only 19 but his youthful side showed no fear against their Championship opponents. Bendtner (the third-oldest player on the pitch for Arsenal at 20) scored the first two goals – the second coming after a beautiful backheel from Aaron Ramsey – while Wilshere, aged 16 but playing with the sort of calm intelligence of pros double his age, scored the fifth. However, the 19-year-old striker Carlos Vela got goals three, four and six on his first start and really stole the show. His second was the best. A long ball from Kieran Gibbs saw him chest the ball over a Blades defender before making his way into the box and dinking the ball over Paddy Kenny. Much to the disappointment of every Arsenal fan, the forward never lived up to that early promise and after a series of loans he left the club for Real Sociedad last year. It was like "trying to swat a fly that refused to be caught", said the Sheffield United manager Kevin Blackwell.

League Cup 09-10: Arsenal 2-0 West Bromwich Albion

Subs used: Randall (for Coquelin 58); Vela (for Sunu 58); Barazite (for Traoré 69). Photograph: Guardian

There were three debutants and eight teenagers in Wenger's starting lineup and it was one of those, the 18-year-old Sanchez Watt, who opened the scoring for the home side. Vela was once again the centre of all things good as it was his shot that Watt followed up to hand his side the lead and Vela who scored the second to secure Arsenal's passage into the next round. Since that goal, Watt has been sent out on loan to Southend United, Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday, Crawley Town and Colchester United, finally signing a permanent deal with the U's earlier this year. Gilles Sunu and Nacer Barazite have also moved on and are now playing for Lorient and Austria Vienna respectively.

League Cup 10-11: Tottenham 1-4 Arsenal

Subs used: Clichy (for Gibbs 102); Chamakh (for Rosicky 73); Arshavin (for Vela 73). Photograph: Guardian

Strong competition called for a strong team and that is exactly what Wenger sent out against Arsenal's north London rivals. Abandoning his youth-orientated policy in this third round of the competition for once, a notable number of experienced players made the starting lineup but it was the 19-year old Henri Lansbury who opened the scoring for the Gunners. Robbie Keane levelled the scores just after half-time and the match looked to be heading for a shootout before Samir Nasri converted two penalties in quick succession. Two months later, Lansbury was sent on loan to Norwich and made only two more appearances for the club, both as a substitute, before being sold to Nottingham Forest.

League Cup 11-12: Arsenal 3-1 Shrewsbury

Subs used: Aneke (for Oxlade-Chamberlain 90); Ozyakup (for Frimpong 77); Miyaichi (for Park 72). Photograph: Guardian

Arsenal had made their worst start to the season under Wenger but that did not stop him from sending out a youth-studded squad to face the League Two side. However, 16 minutes into the game when Jim Collins put Shrewsbury into the lead he may have started to regret his decision. "Sacked in the morning, you're getting sacked in the morning," serenaded the home fans even when Gibbs levelled the scores. But it was only after half-time that Wenger could breathe a sigh of relief when he saw Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain record his first goal on his first start for the club, a long-range effort. On a night that could have been much worse for Wenger, the 18-year-old's performance was one of the few positives he took home from the Emirates.

League Cup 12-13: Arsenal 6-1 Coventry

Subs used: Frimpong (for Coquelin 73); Gnabry (for Oxlade-Chamberlain 72); Chamakh (for Giroud 73). Photograph: Guardian

The goalkeeper Damián Martínez and the defender Martin Angha were making their Arsenal debuts against the Sky Blues but the real story was Nico Yennaris. He was seven years old when, as a mascot, he led Arsenal out on 16 September, 2000, to watch goals from Sylvain Wiltord and Paolo Vernazza secure a 2-1 home win; 13 years later he was making his second start for the club against the very same opposition. Yennaris remains at the club but Angha now plays for Nürnberg while Martínez is on loan at Sheffield Wednesday. Arsenal ran out easy winners thanks to goals from Olivier Giroud, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Andrey Arshavin, Ignasi Miquel and two from Theo Walcott.