The Carling Cup Final is a month away.
It’s at Wembley on Sunday 27th of February.
The final will be Arsenal v Birmingham or West Ham.
Last night Arsenal started the second leg against Ipswich 1-0 down, wanted an early goal and didn\’t get it. But Bendtner, Koscielny and Fabregas scored in the second half without reply.
The road to Wembley has been quite an interesting one. Arsenal beat Spurs 4-1 away in September and beat Newcastle 4-0 away in October and beat Wigan 2-0 at the Emirates in November and lost 1-0 at Ipswich before winning the second leg 3-0 to get to Wembley.So they’ve played very well in the competition, apart from one bad night.
Wenger’s reward for taking the Carling Cup seriously is a final that comes after his home game against Barcelona on February 16 but before the second leg in the Nou Camp.
He says he’ll give everything to win it now. It will be a good test of character for the players, a taste of Wembley, a lovely day out for Gooners, and a major milestone for this team.
They have to win that final because if they don\’t, this team will never win anything. Its been a long, organic process, with many hiccups, but Wembley is a huge opportunity and Jack Wilshere has played a huge role in creating that opportunity. He was very good again last night. For him to win a cup at Wembley in his first season would be fantastic for a 19-year old who has the talent to have a major career.
I don’t think they’ll bottle it. Right now, today, I don\’t think they will bottle it. But, knowing the club’s history of doing it the hard way, it might be a nerve-wracking afternoon.
As expected, Ipswich defended well against Arsenal\’s short passing and managed to hold out for an hour. The best goal was also the most important and it came when Jack Wilshere\’s magnificent crossfield ball found Nicklas Bendtner. The Dane took three neat touches and curled in a low shot from 17 yards.
Arshavin\’s corner was headed in by Koscielny, and then Fabregas and Arshavin executed a typical scissors move, the Russian cutting inside before finding his mate with a reverse pass, which allowed the cool Catalan to nutmeg Fulop for 3-0.
When Arsenal were defending an early free-kick, a flapping excursion by Szczesny ended with the big Pole’s head colliding with Sagna\’s face. Eboue replaced Sagna and that was bad news, as Sagna has started to look as dynamic as he did in his first season. He has the ability to score more goals. Don’t be scared to hit the side-netting, Bacary! Remember that every shot by Carlos Alberto wasn’t a goal. And remember that Arsenal fans are among the most forgiving in football.
My bet last night was a conservative trixie on Arsenal/Man United/ Aston Villa.
Three doubles and a treble, four bets. Blackpool took a 2-0 lead in the postponed game at Bloomfield Road. I couldn’t fault Sir Alex for fielding a dodgy team, since he started Berbatov, Rooney, Vidic, Evra and Nani, and had Darren Fletcher man-marking Charlie Adam ! That’s what I call taking it seriously.
Blackpool were two up at half-time after two Charlie Adams corners brought headed goals from Craig Cathcart and DJ Campbell. Sir Alex was obliged to bring on Ryan Giggs for Darron Gibson at the break, moving Rooney from the left wing. They were still 2-0 down when he took off Rooney in 66, then Berbatov scored and Hernandez scored again two minutes later after racing onto a sublime Giggs pass to finish with deadly skill. As we\’ve seen, Hernandez is razor-sharp in the box. Taking a long pass from Scholes, Berbatov then scored a stylish third to secure the points.
Earlier Blackpool had a good penalty shout for 3-0, when a rash lunge in the box by Rafael was waved away by ref Peter Walton.
Like Arsenal, United lost a right back to injury when Rafael was concussed in a collision with the giant Marlon Harewood.
At Wigan, Agbonlahor scored for Aston Villa in 50, then Ashley Young buried a penalty for 2-0, McCarthy got one back and Villa won 2-1.
Following groin surgery, Agbonlahor has scored at last, his first goal of the season, a header from two feet after Al-Habsi parried a Cuellar header.
By signing Darren Bent, Houllier has added pace to pace and it will be interesting to see how well he works with Gabby and Ashley. This was the first time this season that Villa have won consecutive league games.
It\’s been a topsy-turvy season but so far I\’ve seen nothing to change my view that Barcelona are the finest team in Europe and Man United the best in England. Both sides battle like champions.
That\’s why Arsenal have to win the Carling Cup. If Wenger had any doubts about the appetite of Arsenal fans for silverware, last night\’s atmosphere dispelled them. The message from the crowd was clear : we want a trophy!
This morning we were told that Adebayor is being loaned by Manchester City to Real Madrid !
I watch Madrid a lot and can\’t see how the clumsy Ade can play 20 minutes with Cristiano, Ozil and Di Maria, let alone 20 games.
Maybe I will learn something that I didn\’t know. Or maybe Mourinho will learn something. One of us is due for a big, big surprise and I don\’t think it\’s me.