Pic via Guardian.
Portman Road, Ipswich
Wednesday, January 12
7:45 p.m. GMT, 2:45 p.m. EST
- Referee: Martin Atkinson
- Last League Match: Arsenal 2 - 0 Ipswich (April 21, 2002)
- All-Time in All Competitions: 29 Arsenal wins, 17 Ipswich wins, 11 draws
- All-Time in League Cup: 1 Arsenal win, 1 Ipswich win, 1 draw
- Arsenal's Premier League Form: W-L-W-D-W-D
- Ipswich's Championship Form: L-L-L-W-D-L
- Second Leg: Tuesday, January 25 at Emirates Stadium
Predicted Line-Up
guesses in red
Szczesny
Eboue - Koscielny - Djourou - Gibbs
Denilson - Wilshere
Bendtner - Rosicky - Arshavin
Chamakh
Subs from: Fabianski, Miquel, Song, Ramsey, Nasri, Fabregas, van Persie
Suspended: Sagna (second of three, violent conduct)
Out: Squillaci (hamstring), Diaby (calf), Almunia (ankle), Vermaelen (Achilles)
Arsenal News and Notes
- Reserves captain and center back Ignasi Miquel remained with the first team this week, after Sebastien Squillaci picked up a hamstring injury on Saturday.
- Meanwhile, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Craig Eastmond, and Conor Henderson all started for the reserves on Monday, making their availability for this cup tie unlikely. Then they lost 10-1, largely thanks to an 11th minute red card and a fairly makeshift line-up in places, against an Aston Villa side who started multiple first-team fringe players.
- After posting about the difficult question of whether you start the A Team or the B Team for this match, my predicted line-up is generally the B Team, with some big names available on the bench. I expect this match to be where I am the most wrong this season, in this respect.
- Aside from Squillaci, I have not heard of any other new injuries, but news has been slow between cup ties.
- Arsenal have drawn three of their last four competitive fixtures, after going 21 matches without a draw.
- Arsenal have drawn two straight matches. They have not gone more than two games without a win this season.
Ipswich News and Notes
- After firing Roy Keane at the end of last week, Ipswich went to Stamford Bridge for their 3rd Round FA Cup tie against Chelsea on Sunday, and were hammered 7-0.
- Ipswich Town have dropped points in three straight competitive fixtures.
- Before their 3-0 win over Leicester City in mid-December, Ipswich had lost seven straight league matches.
- Ipswich needed extra time in their first two rounds of this competition, to beat Exeter City and Crewe Alexandra.
- West Bromwich Albion was the only Premier League side Ipswich was forced to beat to advance this far in the competition.
Match Facts
- This is the third time Arsenal will meet Ipswich Town in the League Cup. Over two legs in 1970, Arsenal drew 0-0 at Ipswich before winning 4-0 at Highbury. Ipswich Town returned the favor, knocking Arsenal out in November of 2000, winning 2-1 at Highbury. James Scrowcroft had the 89th minute winner, scored on Stuart Taylor, who himself had just returned from a loan spell at Crystal Palace.
- Ipswich Town's last top flight season was 2001/02. Arsenal won both fixtures 2-0 that year. Freddie Ljungberg had three of the four goals. Thierry Henry had the other, from the penalty spot, at Ipswich.
- The aforementioned Ipswich League Cup win stands as their most recent victory over Arsenal.
- You would have to go back to September of 1984 for Ipswich's last league victory over the Gunners. Then again, this isn't a league match, so that's actually fairly moot.
The Referee
- The referee is West Yorkshire-based Martin Atkinson.
- Atkinson took charge of Arsenal's last Carling Cup tie, the 2-0 win over Wigan, in late November. He also took charge of Arsenal's 1-1 draw at Liverpool (when he sent off Laurent Koscielny) and 2-1 win over Birmingham (when he sent off Jack Wilshere.)
- February 18, 2009 was the last time Atkinson took charge of a match at Portman Road; Ipswich Town beat Nottingham Forest 2-1.
Other Matches
- Tuesday, Carling Cup Semi: West Ham United v. Birmingham City; Boleyn Ground, London
- Wednesday, League Match: Blackpool v. Liverpool; Bloomfield Road, Blackpool
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