I'm not scared about trusting my young guns against Spurs, says bullish Gunners boss Wenger

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Despite indicating prior to the match that a first-choice side would launch their FA Cup bid at Burnley yesterday, a youthful Arsenal team only smattered with experienced hands secured a resilient victory.

Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, Mathieu Flamini, Emmanuel Adebayor, Gael Clichy, Alexander Hleb, Tomas Rosicky and Manuel Almunia were all absent from an Arsenal outfield with an average age of under 23.

Wenger's young guns mirrored his first XI's strength of character to negotiate a safe passage through to the fourth round despite a spirited display from their Championship hosts and the Gunners boss is happy to entrust his second string with the task of reaching the a second successive Carling Cup final.

"I have a squad and I am not scared," said Wenger. "I rotated the squad here because I felt I had a team capable of winning with Kolo Toure, Bacary Sagna, Emmanuel Eboue, Gilberto, Jens Lehmann and Philippe Senderos - they are all top Premier League players.

"And for me Eduardo and [Nicklas] Bendtner are top Premier League players - so I had a Premier League side out."

Wenger's youngsters threatened at times to give a masterclass in counter-attacking football despite many of them not being old enough to graduate, let alone teach.

However, Arsenal only found a staccato rhythm and that is to the credit of the home side, who hassled their big-time city-slicker opponents and showed quality of their own.

Indeed, the game may have taken a very different complexion had winger Kyle Lafferty not hit the crossbar with a header from 10 yards in the sixth minute.

"I believe that header could have had a big weight on the game because at 1-0 down with the performance they produced, it could have been very difficult," admitted Wenger.

Arsenal have a justified reputation for creating moments of sublime beauty but the opening goal was one of embarrassing simplicity.

Kolo Toure, playing in his last match for the Gunners before departing for the African Nations' Cup, lobbed a ball over the top of Burnley's defence in the ninth minute.

A lack of communication between centre-backs Stanislav Varga, making his debut after agreeing a one-month loan from Sunderland, and Steven Caldwell left the former flat-footed and the latter out of position to play Eduardo onside, allowing the Croatia striker to virtually walk the ball into the net.

Burnley never lacked heart but they looked like a side who had gone six games without a win. That was most evident in the final third, where a combination of a minimal self-belief and a lack of composure contributed to Robbie Blake and Chris McCann both firing over Lehmann's crossbar when well placed.

Eduardo missed a chance to seal the win early in the second half when he shot wide after another fine move had put him through - Wenger described that miss as "the surprise of the day."

However, Burnley fans would argue that came on the hour mark when Lafferty was dismissed by referee Alan Wiley for an over-the-ball tackle on Gilberto.

It was a reckless but in no way malicious tackle and could have perhaps been dealt with by a yellow card.

Wenger, true to form, said of the incident: "You will laugh, but I didn't see it because Gilberto's back was to me."