Carling Cup: Arsenal 3 - 0 Ipswich Town, 3-1 aggregate: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

We're going to Wemberley. Que sera sera. Pic via Daily Mail.

Arsenal 3: Bendtner 61, Koscielny 64, Fabregas 77
Ipswich Town 0
Arsenal wins 3-1 on aggregate

This time yesterday, Arsenal was 90 (or 120) minutes away from either their first trip to a cup final since 2007 or a more heart-wrenching result. A poor first leg trip to Ipswich meant the Tractor Boys had nicked the lead in the tie, with every intention of "parking the bus" and stifling the Arsenal attack. For 150 minutes in this two-legged tie, Ipswich kept the door shut on Arsenal's potent office. Then, finally, the door broke down, Ipswich crumbled, and we're going to Wembley.

The good news (yes, I consider it good news) was that there was not very much rotation in the squad. Robin van Persie started. Cesc Fabregas started. Jack Wilshere started. The normal back four started. There were, in fact, only three changes to the side that beat Wigan at the weekend. Alex Song dropped to the bench for Denilson, while Samir Nasri and Theo Walcott dropped from the wings for Nicklas Bendtner and Andrei Arshavin.

Arsenal had a number of chances in the first half to bring the tie back to level terms by picking up the first goal, but could not sneak anything past Marton Fulop. Robin van Persie volleyed a deflected Bacary Sagna cross wide of the mark. Cesc Fabregas fired a shot straight at Fulop's chest. RVP, setting up for a header similar to the goal he scored last midweek at Leeds, nodded off the crossbar. A Fabregas shot later in the half rolled harmlessly across the goalmouth and wide on the other side. The goal just wasn't coming. Fabregas tried to draw a penalty in the 10th minute as well, but nothing was doing as it was a pretty clear dive.

Some bad news in the 13th minute, even if you're not triskaidekaphobic, as on a set piece Wojciech Szczesny and Bacary Sagna had a clash of heads, leaving both down for the count on the pitch. While the goalkeeper stayed on, Sagna could not continue and was replaced by Emmanuel Eboue. It's a concussion for the right back, who had to be taken to the hospital. He was not going to play on Sunday against Huddersfield Town anyway, but here's to hoping for a quick recovery.

Through fifteen minutes after the restart, it still looked like Arsenal's goal just wasn't coming and all of those thoughts about having not won a trophy in almost six years started to come back. Then, just at the hour mark, Jack Wilshere, who was solid all day, played a lovely diagonal ball to Nicklas Bendtner who raced forward, then cut back around the defender, and fired a perfectly placed shot to the far corner. Arsenal were on the board, the tie was level, and Bendtner has the habit of really shutting me up about him (but only occasionally, so he should try to do that more.)

So, the momentum had swung back in Arsenal's direction, and three minutes later, they pulled ahead in the tie. Andrei Arshavin's corner floated into the box, and instead of Arsenal losing out on the ball in the air as they tend to sometimes, Laurent Koscielny launched forward and beat Fulop to the ball, thundering a header to the back of the net. It was Koscielny's first goal in forever (I want to say Bolton in September but could be wrong,) but more importantly, it meant Arsenal had one foot in Wembley, up 2-1 on aggregate on 64 minutes. On 77 minutes, Arsenal sealed the deal. Denilson won the ball in midfield (that's not a typo) and Fabregas played a great one-two with Arshavin to the sneak the ball through Fulop's legs, giving Arsenal a 3-1 lead on aggregate. Andrei Arshavin may be out of form and may still make a number of errors we're not used to him making, but he can still be clinical at times, and certainly was here.

This is actually going to be Arsenal's first trip to the new Wembley Stadium. Their last cup final, in 2007, and their last cup win, in 2005, came at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Arsene Wenger said last year that the Carling Cup was a trophy not worthy of a parade (after Manchester City's regular starting line-up beat half of Arsenal's reserves) but the trophy drought needs to end. And, I'm sure you can't hear this enough, winning this cup in 1987 was considered the springboard to winning the league in 1989. Knock the tournament all you like, Arsenal has beaten some talented sides to get this far, and need to prove to themselves that they can win something. They're 90 minutes away.

Preview: Arsenal v. Ipswich Town, Carling Cup Semi-Final, Second Leg

Will the Diminutive Russian start tonight? Will he find his form again? Pic via Guardian.

Emirates Stadium, London

Tuesday, January 25

7:45 p.m. GMT, 2:45 p.m. EST
Ipswich Town leads 1-0

• Referee: Mark Halsey
• All-Time in All Competitions: 29 Arsenal wins, 18 Ipswich wins, 11 draws
• All-Time in League Cup: 1 Arsenal win, 2 Ipswich wins, 1 draw
• Arsenal's Premier League Form: W-D-W-D-W-W
• Ipswich's Championship Form: L-W-D-L-L-W

Predicted Line-Up

mostly guesses

Szczesny

Eboue - Koscielny - Djourou - Gibbs

Song - Wilshere

Nasri - Fabregas - Arshavin

Chamakh

Subs from: Shea, Sagna, Clichy, Denilson, Walcott, Bendtner, van Persie

Out: Fabianski (shoulder), Rosicky (illness), Squillaci (hamstring), Diaby (calf), Almunia (ankle), Vermaelen (Achilles)

Arsenal News and Notes

• So, how much rotation?
• Full backs: I would not be shocked if both Sagna and Clichy were rested.
• Center backs: Looks like Koscielny and Djourou again, out of necessity. Squillaci returns to training this week and should play in the FA Cup Sunday.
• Holding midfield: I've listed both Song and Wilshere to start, but I know that's wishful thinking. You just know Denilson will play. Abou Diaby could also return Sunday.
• Attacking midfield: If Arsenal wants to control the creative flow, I think both Fabregas and Nasri should start. Drop Bendtner from the starting forwards from the Leeds match last week. More wishful thinking?
• Center forward: Tough call; I think Chamakh will start with van Persie the possibly necessary impact substitute.
• Arsenal have kept clean sheets in every league match played in 2011, but have allowed one goal in each cup match against Championship sides (Leeds twice and Ipswich in the first leg.)
• Since losing at Ipswich, Arsenal have won three straight, scoring three in each of those matches. Robin van Persie has six of those goals. Samir Nasri, Theo Walcott, and Bacary Sagna have the other three.

Ipswich News and Notes

• Ipswich Town have no fresh injury concerns, but midfielder Lee Martin is cup-tied.
• Ipswich have not won a domestic trophy since the 1978 FA Cup, when they beat Arsenal.
• The Tractor Boys took a 1-0 lead into the second leg of the League Cup Semi-Final in 2001 against Birmingham City. They went down 1-0 in the second leg, forcing extra time, where they lost 4-1, 4-2 on aggregate.
• Ipswich have not won in six road competitive fixtures. They only need a draw today to reach Wembley.

Match Facts

• Tamas Priskin had the 78th minute goal to give Ipswich the 1-0 lead after the first leg.
• Arsenal have reached this stage of the League Cup 14 times, but have advanced to the Final only six times and have won it only twice (1987 against Liverpool and 1993 against Sheffield Wednesday.)
• Arsenal beat Ipswich twice by 2-0 scores during Town's last year in the top flight, 2001/02.

The Referee

• The referee is Lancashire-based Mark Halsey.
• Halsey's only prior Arsenal match this year was the 2-0 win at Wolves. Arsenal could really use a goal within 40 seconds in this one, as Marouane Chamakh had at Molineux in November.
• Halsey's last Ipswich Town match came in an FA Cup tie, on January 5, 2008. Ipswich were down to ten men in 24 minutes and lost at home to Portsmouth 1-0.

Around the League

• Tuesday, League: Blackpool v. Manchester United; Bloomfield Road, Blackpool
• Tuesday, League: Wigan Athletic v. Aston Villa; DW Stadium, Wigan
• Wednesday, Carling Cup: Birmingham City v. West Ham United; St. Andrew's, Birmingham (West Ham leads 2-1)
• Wednesday, League: Liverpool v. Fulham; Anfield, Liverpool

Carling Cup: Ipswich Town 1 - 0 Arsenal: How Many Wake Up Calls?

Arsene Wenger is very disappointed in all of you. Pic via Daily Mail.

Ipswich Town 1: Priskin 78
Arsenal 0

Arsenal entered yesterday's Carling Cup Semi-Final at Ipswich Town likely thinking it would be a walk in the park. Their effort, in the end, was a mix of some complacency and a lack of sharpness. And as a result, Ipswich Town will go to the Emirates in two weeks with a deserved 1-0 lead in the tie. This is not acceptable, Gunners. To be fair, the majority of the credit in this result has to go to Ipswich Town for playing well and not to how poor Arsenal's performance seemed.

I don't think you can blame this loss on just complacency, though the mere fact that you ever can needs to be unacceptable as well. There are certainly players on this team who are giving 100% without getting results because of those who are not. And it doesn't help when the players who are giving it their all have a bad night simultaneously, as Cesc Fabregas did last night. And, Ipswich, on their night, took advantage.

Arsene Wenger made four changes to the side that needed a late lifeline to force a replay with Leeds United on Saturday, and somehow, I had nine of the starting XI right in my match preview (I think that's one of the only positives I had yesterday...) Laurent Koscielny returned for the injured Sebastien Squillaci in central defense. Jack Wilshere got the start over Alex Song in the midfield. And, Wenger recalled two big names in the attack as Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott started while Tomas Rosicky and Marouane Chamakh dropped to the bench. That move pushed Nicklas Bendtner to the central forward role (where he is slightly less useless but still fairly useless.)

Arsenal had a fantastic first... three minutes or so, and looked like they had about three chances to take a 1-0 lead in the first 90 seconds, but could not capitalize. Then, as the match settled down, Arsenal fell out of any rhythm it looked like the were building at the start. The first half progressed much as the first half went on Saturday. At halftime, I tweeted, "This is just like Saturday, except Arsenal is wearing yellow, have a stronger squad starting, and are playing worse."

The difference between Saturday and yesterday was that the chances were going the other way. There was a point in the first half when a statistic flashed on the screen that both sides had one attempt on target. But, it was Ipswich that had seven chances, compared to Arsenal's three. Even with Fabregas in the line-up, the offensive force just was not there. And, it was worse for most of the second half.

Some players looked like they were just having off nights: Fabregas, Walcott, Wilshere, Johan Djourou, and Kieran Gibbs spring to mind. Laurent Koscielny continues to play himself out of position challenging in one-on-one situations, which also continues to make things harder on his central partner. Emmanuel Eboue has a penchant for being burned at right back. Denilson and Andrei Arshavin just look like they can't be bothered at times; Arshavin is running out of passes on this if he hasn't run out with you already, Denilson surely needs to go. And, Bendtner just continues to be what we all know he is: an impact substitute at best, as long as he can play central forward and the opposition can't win headers.

Tamas Priskin put Ipswich up 1-0 in the 78th.
Pic via Guardian.

In the 76th, Arsenal should have taken the lead. Kieran Gibbs swung a cross from the left flank that just missed the head of Chamakh, the substitute, and caught an unsuspecting Fabregas on the right knee or thigh, on the six yard line, with a wide open net. And over the bar it went. Ipswich got out of jail there and took advantage, almost instantly. Tamas Priskin broke through the defense as Arsenal played a high line, fired low past a diving Szczesny, and put the Tractor Boys up 1-0. Yes, Priskin was offside, and yes, it should not have counted. But you can't say they didn't deserve it.

This match felt a lot like the loss at Braga did in November. Poor performance that looks like it's going to stay 0-0, then the opponent pings a goal, and Arsenal's desperate search for an equalizer goes wanting. Theo Walcott had two chances that were saved excellently by Marton Fulop, the goalkeeper who went to Manchester City on emergency loan last spring and allowed the goal that sent Spurs into the Champions League.

The moral of the story is that, while Ipswich deserved this win, you have to ask questions of Arsenal as to why they showed up with this performance. As my title asks, how many wake up calls does this team need before they stop getting complacent? Arsene Wenger blamed fatigue for the second half performance. That doesn't make any sense, since the players on the pitch largely haven't played much this year. And the players you could argue were fatigued weren't the ones who played lazy.

The tie hangs in the balance going back to the Emirates a week from Tuesday. I believe the lack of an away goal only comes into play after extra time (a 2-1 Arsenal win in 90 minutes would force extra time, not give the tie to Ipswich on away goals just yet.) In any case, let's move forward, bring back the A Team on Saturday, and take three points from Upton Park. Please?

Hipster Gooner Man of the Match: Tamas Priskin

Preview: Ipswich Town v. Arsenal, Carling Cup Semi-Final, First Leg

New Ipswich manager Paul Jewell took Wigan past Arsenal in this round five years ago.
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

Arsenal Draws Roy Keane, Ipswich Town in Carling Cup Semi

You may recall Roy Keane from his days at Manchester United... Pic via Daily Mail.

Arsenal advanced to the Carling Cup Semi-Final yesterday with their 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic. The drawing for the next round was held this evening after Birmingham's win over rival Aston Villa and Ipswich Town's 1-0 win over West Brom.

Ipswich Town was drawn first and Arsenal was drawn second in the drawing, meaning that the Gunners will face off against the Championship side in the two-legged semi-final. With Ipswich being drawn first, they will host the first leg at Portman Road on either January 11 or 12. The second leg, which will be played at the Emirates, will be either January 25 or 26. The away goals rule is in effect in this tie.

Arsenal have not played Ipswich Town since the East Anglian side was relegated in 2001/02, a year in which Arsenal won both league fixtures 2-0. The Gunners were knocked out of the League Cup by Ipswich Town the year before that, 2-1, at Highbury on an 89th minute winner from James Scowcroft.

But, the most intriguing element of the tie is Ipswich's manager Roy Keane, once captain of Manchester United from 1997 to 2005, during the height of their rivalry with Arsenal. Keane had a particular rivalry with Patrick Vieira (pictured), which once escalated to a heated argument in the tunnel before a match at Highbury caught live on television.

Arsenal last reached the Carling Cup Semi-Final in 2007/08, but we're going to pretend the second leg of that tie didn't happen. Arsenal last won the League Cup in 1993 when they beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1.

Carling Cup: Arsenal 2 - 0 Wigan Athletic: Just Enough

Wigan scores Arsenal's first goal. Pic via Daily Mail.

Arsenal 2: Alcaraz 42 (og), Bendtner 67

Wigan Athletic 0

Arsenal's weakest position this season thus far has been in positions of power. They've lost some head scratching home fixtures and capitulated whenever things seemed to be going well. So, now that United, City, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Spurs have all been knocked out of the Carling Cup, it would appear that most major obstacles are out of Arsenal's way. So, let's all knock on as much wood as possible.

For all of the talk of the "strength" of Arsene Wenger's Carling Cup sides this season, he made nine changes to the side that beat Aston Villa on Saturday. Emmanuel Eboue, Johan Djourou, and Kieran Gibbs slipped into the back four, Denilson started in the holding role, Robin van Persie, Nicklas Bendtner, Carlos Vela, and Theo Walcott all started toward the front, and Wojciech Szczesny started in goal.

Strange formation, this. Denilson was in the holding role, Vela was on the left wing, Walcott was on the right, Bendtner was up front, but Wilshere and van Persie seemed to be just roaming around the middle. You couldn't really say it was the 4-2-3-1 that Arsenal usually plays, but it was more like a 4-1-4-1 to me.

Since the game was not televised, I waited until 5:00 to watch the game on ATVO, entering media lockdown mode lest I accidentally find out the score. Now, given the nature of Internet streaming matches, it will be hard for me to be too specific about the events of the match, so instead, here are a few bullet-pointed thoughts:

• Carlos Vela had a rough game, missing a number of chances that should have been sure fire goals...
• ...but with that being said, Arsenal's first goal came off his corner (which was ridiculously headed in by the Wigan defense) and the second was from his cross on the byline.
• Szczesny had less work to do yesterday than he had at Newcastle and that rustiness showed with a few little adventures in the box. It was that situation we've seen too many times this season, where the opposition takes advantage of their first goal scoring opportunity after about 35 minutes because the goalkeeper hasn't really been warmed up for the game. Arsenal escaped a scary goal line situation shortly after taking the lead off a Wigan corner, but that was really about it.
• I have my doubts that Eboue is truly fit after his knee injury; he was dreadful at times yesterday.
• I am becoming more and more impressed by Johan Djourou with each game he plays. His positioning has been excellent and he has done well at the little things. He might be the currently fit defender I trust the second most on this squad, behind the always consistent Bacary Sagna.
• Kieran Gibbs was excellent as well, probably the best player on the pitch.
• Robin van Persie was stellar in a more creative role yesterday; the problem is, all of his absolutely sick back heel passes were to players that completely botched the finish.
• Theo Walcott's pace is still there, but his finishing is not, likely due to the injury layoff. He really needs games.
• And, speaking of the Englishmen, Jack Wilshere was excellent at times, as well.

There you have it. It was by no means a convincing win. Arsenal never seemed to get out of second gear, but they didn't have to. But there have been so many times this season where second gear has not been enough. And second gear will not be enough in the semi-final if they run into a side that wants this trophy more than anything (many of the remaining sides in the cup likely see this as their best/only shot at silverware.)

Preview: Arsenal v. Wigan Athletic, Carling Cup Quarter-Final

It was not a good day at Wigan in April. Pic via Daily Mail.

Emirates Stadium, London

Tuesday, November 30

19:45 GMT, 2:45 p.m. EST

• Referee: Martin Atkinson
• Last League Match: Wigan Athletic 3 - 2 Arsenal
• All-Time in All Competitions: 10 Arsenal wins, 2 Wigan wins, 1 draw
• All-Time in League Cup: 2 Arsenal wins, 1 Wigan win, 0 draws
• Arsenal's League Form: W-L-W-W-L-W
• Wigan's League Form: L-L-D-W-L-L

Predicted Line-Up

guesses in red

Szczesny

Eboue - Djourou - Koscielny - Gibbs

Denilson - Wilshere

Walcott - Rosicky - Vela

Van Persie

Subs from: Fabianski, Sagna, Clichy, Song, Nasri, Arshavin, Bendtner

Out: Squillaci (knee), Fabregas (hamstring), Diaby (ankle), Almunia (elbow), Vermaelen (Achilles)

News and Notes

• Emmanuel Eboue's six-to-eight week knee injury has only kept him out for one and the Ivorian is expected to return to the squad tomorrow.
• Sebastian Squillaci picked up a back injury at Aston Villa on Saturday, which means the center backs essentially pick themselves again for this match.
• I understand that Arsene Wenger is going with fairly strong sides in the Carling Cup this year, but I'd guess Alex Song and Samir Nasri will be rested. That'll bring Denilson into the holding role and Tomas Rosicky into the central role.
• Keep in mind when thinking about the strength of this line-up that Aaron Ramsey and Henri Lansbury are out on loan.
• For Wigan, midfielder Tom Cleverley is unavailable (cup tied? he's on loan from United,) and Antolin Alcaraz returns from a one match ban, but Gary Caldwell has two more matches to serve.
• Gary Caldwell (thigh), Emmerson Boyce (hamstring), and James McCarthy (ankle) are all out for the Latics.

Match Facts

• Arsenal have beaten Wigan 10 times in 13 meetings, a history that only dates back to 2005.
• Wigan knocked Arsenal out of the League Cup in the semi-final in 2005/06 on away goals.
• Arsenal has lost at this stage of the League Cup in the last two seasons, but it's the eighth straight year they've gone this far.
• Wigan have not won away from home in their last six matches in all competitions.
• This is Wigan's 100th League Cup match.

The Referee

• The referee is Martin Atkinson.
• Atkinson took charge of Arsenal's 1-1 draw at Liverpool (where he sent off Laurent Koscielny) and their 3-1 win over Birmingham (where he sent off Jack Wilshere.) He's shown 7 red cards this season, tied for most among all English referees who work top flight games.
• He also worked Wigan's 2-0 loss at Manchester United on November 20. At the hour mark, Wigan was down to nine men.

Other Quarter-Final Ties
(P = Premier League, C = Championship)

• Tuesday: West Ham United (P) v. Manchester United (P); Boleyn Ground, London
• Wednesday: Birmingham City (P) v. Aston Villa (P); St. Andrew's, Birmingham
• Wednesday: Ipswich Town (C) v. West Bromwich Albion (P); Portman Road, Ipswich

Carling Cup: Newcastle United 0 - 4 Arsenal: Up for the Cup!

Arsenal took the lead into halftime, thanks to absolute preposterousness. Pic via Daily Mail.

Newcastle United 0

Arsenal 4: Krul 45+2 (og), Walcott 53, 88, Bendtner 83

It looks like we're going for this one this year. There's been a different feeling around the League Milk Littlewoods Rumbelows Coca-Cola Worthington Carling Cup this season. It's hard to say why Arsenal appears to be taking this competition more seriously. Obviously, the last round being a derby against Tottenham had a lot to do with the squad's strength that night. I feel like the biggest reason behind the strength of tonight's squad was, quite honestly, the quality of Arsenal's second string of players.

But, if you're still wondering if Arsene Wenger is serious about this cup this year, keep in mind that he sent Cesc Fabregas on with twenty minutes to play in a 2-0 game.

With this being a Carling Cup game, it's not really worth discussing the line-up in terms of changes in the side since the last league match (FYI, there were nine changes.) Arsene Wenger decided to start a number of players returning from injuries: Laurent Koscielny, Nicklas Bendtner, and Theo Walcott. Wojciech Szczesny got the nod in goal (as I said in the preview, if he didn't start now, he wasn't going to this season.) Johan Djourou, Emmanuel Eboue, and Kieran Gibbs joined Koscielny on the back line. Denilson, Craig Eastmond, and Tomas Rosicky joined Theo Walcott in the midfield, with the Czech wearing the captain's armband. Carlos Vela joined Bendtner up front.

To fit the non-standard squad into Arsenal's standard 4-2-3-1 formation, Vela appeared to play the left wing with Walcott on the right and Bendtner up front, Rosicky played the central role, and Denilson and Eastmond played the holding roles.

The fact that Arsenal could not score in the first five minutes was a bit surprising, given the number of chances. A Vela shot was stopped by goalkeeper Tim Krul within the first thirty seconds, then Bendtner had about four shots blocked after the ensuing corner. The shots kept coming from Arsenal in the opening minutes, but nothing on target found its way past Krul. After this, the match settled into rusty frustration. Despite the flying start, Arsenal did not continue the match very well, in that touches and passes were off. A ton of first touches were terrible. This was clearly a side that 1) doesn't play together often and 2) doesn't see much playing time anyway and, as such, was rusty. Shaking that rust off was a huge point of this match.

The following ten minutes were all Newcastle. Nile Ranger beat Djourou and Szczesny found himself near the 18-yard-line to challenge and the young keeper missed. He did clip Ranger a bit, but nothing more and Ranger stayed on his feet, clear through with an open goal in front of him. Instead of burying it to give the Magpies a 1-0 lead against the run of play, he checked over to try to shoot from his dominant foot, allowing Laurent Koscielny to get back into position. Then, instead of dribbling around Koscielny, Ranger fired a shot right at him. Crisis averted. Not long after, Alan Smith had a beautiful strike from 25 yards out that clanged off the goalpost for a goal kick, though Szczesny actually got a fingertip to it. Kieran Gibbs left the match in the 18th minute with an injury he picked up earlier after a challenge; when was the last time he played a full match? Bacary Sagna replaced him, with Eboue sliding over from right to left back.

Then, nothing happened for about half an hour, unless you're a fan of crosses to nobody in particular.

Arsenal did manage to take a 1-0 lead into the halftime break thanks to an absolutely ridiculous own goal. Words cannot describe how preposterous this goal was, but I'll give it a shot. Arsenal won a corner in the final minute of the first half's added time. Bendtner flicked the set piece into the six-yard box and all hell broke loose. In the scramble, someone in red got a shot on target that was headed off the line by Ryan Taylor. But, the defender's clearing header landed on the back of the head of the goalkeeper Krul, who was on the ground in the scramble. The ball careened off Krul's head and into the net. No, seriously, that's what happened.

Returning from injury, Bendtner and Walcott have scored four goals combined in two games. Pic via Daily Telegraph. 

Arsenal added a second goal eight minutes after the restart, though this would not come without controversy. From a Newcastle goal kick, Bendtner was slowly jogging back into play, but the Arsenal defense won the ball. The pass sprung Walcott ahead with a brilliant through ball. Walcott was onside, but Bendtner, by miles, was not, so he cannot get involved in the play. Walcott was clear through on goal and chipped a shot over the charging Krul to make it 2-0. The controversy surrounds whether Bendtner impeded a defender, specifically Mike Williamson, from getting involved in the play. Walcott was off the races already and nobody was going to catch him anyway, but Williamson could have made it close. Instead, he was checked out of the play by Bendtner, who was offside.

So, the question is how you interpret the (exceedingly complicated) offside rule. In a split second, the assistant referee would have had to determine both whether Bendtner impeded Williamson and whether Williamson could have become involved in the play in the first place. Since Walcott was onside and running well ahead of everyone anyway, I can see why the goal was given, in spite of the gray area. 

Newcastle started pouring everything forward in a desperate attempt to equalize. They made offensive minded substitutions, bringing on the likes of Andy Carroll, Jonas Gutierrez, and Joey Barton. The Toon threw everything they could at Szczesny, who kept the door shut in magnificent fashion. He's talked the talk before and it's good to see that he can walk the walk as well. As a separate aside, I love that, considering he's got an impossible name for a chant, we at the pub have started chanting his name as "Mr. Smith."

As mentioned in the opening of this post, Arsene Wenger clearly wanted this win, as he brought Cesc Fabregas in off the bench, up 2-0, in the 71st minute. After about ten more minutes of Szczesny slamming the door shut (including a point blank save while on the ground off a corner,) Arsenal nabbed a third, as Fabregas slid a perfect ball for Bendtner, who lashed a shot into the top right corner. Walcott picked up a brace five minutes later, after a similar run straight up the middle of the pitch as his goal earlier in the half.

All in all, a great effort, against a side that certainly came to play, and an enjoyable match on the whole. There's a 6 in 7 chance that Arsenal will play another Premier League side in early December's Carling Cup quarterfinal, and two of those six sides were finalists in this competition last year (that's Manchester United and Aston Villa, by the way.) It's four straight wins across all competitions for the Gunners, a feeling that this team could actually win something this year that is growing with each and every win, and a string of players returning from injuries. Let's just keep this rolling, boys.

Hipster Gooner Man of the Match: Theo Walcott

Preview: Newcastle United v. Arsenal, Carling Cup 4th Round

Nicklas Bendtner beat the Magpies with this 83rd minute goal in 2007. Pic via Arsenal.com.

St. James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne

Wednesday, October 27

19:45 BST, 2:45 p.m. EDT

• Referee: Andre Marriner
• Last League Match: Newcastle 1 - 3 Arsenal; March 21, 2009
• All-Time in All Competitions: 64 Arsenal wins, 65 Newcastle wins, 36 draws
• All-Time in League Cup: 3 Arsenal wins, 0 Newcastle wins, 0 draws
• Arsenal's League Form: W-D-L-L-W-W
• Newcastle's League Form: L-W-L-L-D-W

News and Notes

• Jack Wilshere will serve the second match of his three match ban for the straight red card he picked up against Birmingham City.
• Arsene Wenger has stated that the side's strength will be similar to the side he sent out at White Hart Lane in the third round.
• A lot of first team players need to get games in, so we're fairly likely to see the likes of Kieran Gibbs, Emmanuel Eboue, Carlos Vela, probably Abou Diaby, and maybe Denilson and Tomas Rosicky at some point.
• Nicklas Bendtner and Theo Walcott, both coming back from injury, will likely see a lot of time.
• Wojciech Szczesny will start in goal; if he didn't start this one, he probably wasn't going to start any this year.
• Henri Lansbury, Craig Eastmond, and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas may also make the named squad.

Match Facts

• Arsenal have met Newcastle three times in the League Cup; all three have been in London and all three were Arsenal wins (2-0 in 2007/08, 2-0 in 1995/96, and 4-0 in 1971/72.)
• Arsenal took all six points from the Magpies in 2008/09, winning 3-0 at the Emirates and 3-1 at St. James' Park.
• Arsenal beat Newcastle in both domestic cups in 2007/08.
• The last time Arsenal lost a cup tie against Newcastle was the 1952 FA Cup Final. At a time where substitutions were not allowed in the game, Arsenal had to finish the match with seven players due to injuries, and conceded late to lose 1-0.

The Referee

• The referee is Andre Marriner.
• This is his first time working an Arsenal match this year; last year he handled the 3-0 loss to Chelsea at the Emirates along with two matches won by Nicklas Bendtner in injury time: 2-1 at Hull and 1-0 against Wolves.
• Earlier this year, he took charge of Newcastle's 1-0 win at Goodison Park. He handled only four Championship matches last year, but one was the Geordies' 0-0 draw at Leicester.

Other Fourth Round Ties
(P = Premier League, C = Championship, L1 = League One, L2 = League Two)

• Tuesday: Manchester United (P) v. Wolverhampton Wanderers (P); Old Trafford, Manchester
• Tuesday: Birmingham City (P) v. Brentford (L1); St. Andrew's, Birmingham
• Tuesday: Ipswich Town (C) v. Northampton Town (L2); Portman Road, Ipswich
• Tuesday: Leicester City (C) v. West Bromwich Albion (P); Walkers Stadium, Leicester
• Tuesday: Wigan Athletic (P) v. Swansea City (C); DW Stadium, Wigan
• Wednesday: Aston Villa (P) v. Burnley (C); Villa Park, Birmingham
• Wednesday: West Ham United (P) v. Stoke City (P); Boleyn Ground, London

Carling Cup: Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 4 Arsenal, a.e.t.: Worth Every Extra Minute

Henri Lansbury's first Arsenal goal came at White Hart Lane. Legend. Pic via Guardian.

Tottenham Hotspur 1: Keane 49

Arsenal 4: Lansbury 15, Nasri 92 (pen), 96 (pen), Arshavin 105

I don't think there is anything more satisfying then watching a North London derby that ends with fans streaming towards the exits as fast as they can at White Hart Lane, while the Arsenal section goes mental.

Arsene Wenger, watching from the director's box while serving a one match touchline ban for using the wrong method of getting Martin Atkinson's attention on Saturday, made eight changes to the side that drew at Sunderland, which actually resulted in a surprisingly strong side for a Carling Cup tie. Then again, it was the North London derby. Lukasz Fabianski was given his eight billionth second chance in between the sticks. Johan Djourou was given the chance, as expected, at center half along with first team regular Laurent Koscielny. Emmanuel Eboue and Kieran Gibbs played right and left back, respectively. Jack Wilshere, Samir Nasri, and Denilson started in midfield; Tomas Rosicky, Carlos Vela, and the young Henri Lansbury started up front.

Only three of those were changes from the starting XI on Saturday; Denilson and Rosicky came off the bench on Saturday and started today; Lansbury was the only reserve to crack the line-up, shocking for an Arsene Wenger managed Carling Cup squad, but typical for a North London derby in any competition.

Arsenal controlled possession early, but could not muster much out of it for the first ten minutes. In the 11th, the Gunners had their first shout for a penalty, but nothing was called by Lee Probert as Lansbury was tripped just inside the area by Benoit Assou-Ekotto. Probably should have been a penalty, but the first contact from the Cameroonian defender was just outside the area. Still, it was a missed foul in a dangerous spot.

That didn't matter much four minutes later as the Gunners struck first, in lovely fashion. Major credit on the goal goes to Jack Wilshere, who played an absolutely perfect cross along the six-yard box, where only the sliding Henri Lansbury could knock it into the net. It was the first Arsenal goal for the lifelong Gooner from Enfield in his first start.

Arsenal had two chances later in the first half flagged for offside. The first call was borderline, the second, blatantly wrong. Kieran Gibbs was through after another superb ball from Wilshere and maneuvered around the goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa as well before everyone realized the linesman's flag was (wrongly) up. The match remained 1-0 at halftime, with Arsenal having controlled most of the opening 45 minutes.

Tottenham made two substitutions, bringing on Robbie Keane and Aaron Lennon, and switched to a 4-4-2 and a more convincing attack line-up, and it worked in four minutes. Robbie Keane, ridiculously offside, was allowed to play on after a through ball and fired a low shot which squeezed just through the arms of the diving Fabianski and into the net. It was a hard hit ball, no doubt, and I know we can be rough on Fabianski because of his hundreds of thousands of errors in the past, but I sincerely feel that he should have had that shot and that Almunia would have had that shot.

Spurs' new found attacking style lasted for about seven minutes before it was all Arsenal again, but the Gunners could not find a go-ahead goal in normal time. In the 62nd, Carlos Vela headed a cross wide. In the 70th, Tottenham had their best chance for a winner as Aaron Lennon was through on goal, but Koscielny slid in with a perfect tackle to deny him. Arsenal brought on Marouane Chamakh and Andrei Arshavin in the 73rd minute to go for the win.

Lansbury was booked for a challenge in the 83rd that marked the first time in a long time that I actually clapped for a booking; this was the kind of "yeah, I'll take a booking to deny a scoring opportunity" kind of challenge that you like to see every once in a while. Two minutes later, looking for a brace, Lansbury whipped a shot that, while stopped comfortably, was one of Arsenal's best looks at goal since their opening goal.

The final minutes of normal time really seemed like a winner was coming for Arsenal. Denilson hit a 22-yard rocket in the 89th that was only palmed down by Pletikosa, but Samir Nasri could not get a foot to the rebound. It was a situation fairly reminiscent of Nicklas Bendtner's winner at Hull City in March, with a little more traffic in front. A free kick from Wilshere in the 90th flew past everyone until finding Djourou on the back corner, but his header could not be directed on goal and was cleared. Two minutes later, Eboue had a deflected look at goal, but there would be no regular time winner for anyone and the match headed to extra time, with every nerve in my body shaking.

Spurs kicked off extra time, but within thirty seconds, it was a penalty to Arsenal. Samir Nasri took a through ball from Arshavin and was taken down by Sebastien Bassong to set up the penalty. Nasri's strike was not the best (but on goal, unlike Rosicky's on Saturday), but the keeper guessed wrong, and Arsenal led 2-1. It was high enough that it would have been saved had Pletikosa guessed right.

Then, three minutes later, another through ball from Arshavin and another penalty to Arsenal, as Chamakh was hauled down by the arm by Steven Caulker. Nasri's penalty this time was perfectly along the ground to a corner, Pletikosa guessed wrong again anyway, and six minutes into extra time, it was 3-1 Arsenal.

As Spurs fans raced for the exits, Arsenal grabbed a fourth; this time, the through ball was to Arshavin and into the net, from Wilshere. Spurs nearly pinged one back from a corner in added time of the first half of extra time, but Robbie Keane flick on goal was stopped on the line by Nasri.

Then, this Spurs fan child cried.

Tottenham clearly appeared like they no longer wanted to be there for the final 15 minutes, as Arsenal passed the ball around, savoring a 4-1 win at the Lane and another round to maybe draw a weaker side and play some more youth in late October.

Oh, the down side. Of course, there's a down side. Kieran Gibbs left hurt, and might have re-broken the metatarsal he hurt last November that kept him out for pretty much the rest of last season. How about that. And the third string left back, Armand Traore... he's out on loan. And the first string left back, Gael Clichy, has probably been the weakest link on the back line this year.

But, anyway, happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. 4-1 win at the Lane.

Preview: Tottenham Hotspur v. Arsenal, Carling Cup 3rd Round

David Rocastle scored the winner in the 1987 League Cup semi-final replay at WHL. Pic via Arsenal.com

White Hart Lane, London

Tuesday, September 21

19:45 BST, 2:45 EDT

• Referee: Lee Probert
• Last League Match: Tottenham 2 - 1 Arsenal; April 14, 2010
• All-Time in All Competitions: 68 Arsenal wins, 51 Tottenham wins, 44 draws
• All-Time in League Cup: 5 Arsenal wins, 3 Tottenham wins, 3 draws
• Arsenal's League Form: D-W-W-W-D
• Tottenham's League Form: D-W-L-D-W

News and Notes

• Official word on Cesc Fabregas's scan will come tomorrow, but he has said "2 weeks" on his Twitter account. There's nothing that actually confirms that that Twitter account is authentic, but his sister is following him and they look so alike it's insane. That's enough proof, right?
• Alex Song, who was sent off for two yellow cards on Saturday, gets to serve his one match ban in this cup tie, a match he was never going to appear in anyway. How fortunate!
• Predicting the Arsenal squad for this match is even more difficult that normal and not because of Arsene Wenger's reliance on youth in the Carling Cup. Even considering that, Arsenal's injury woes don't stop at the first team. Injuries will likely keep Conor Henderson and Havard Nortdveit from appearing.
• Reports indicate that Wenger will only name three reserves to the starting XI tomorrow, those being Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Henri Lansbury, and Craig Eastmond. That's fewer than one would expect.
• That means it's Lukasz Fabianski in goal and not Wojciech Szczesny.
• You can bet on seeing a few of the first team's bench players getting starts; including Fabianski. This means Johan Djourou will almost certainly start. Carlos Vela should start up front with JET. Kieran Gibbs will probably start, as might Emmanuel Eboue and Denilson.
• With Thomas Vermaelen returning from injury this coming Saturday, Wenger might even start Sebastien Squillaci at center back with Djourou.
• I'd expect a squad of similarly surprising strength coming from Tottenham.

Match Facts

• We hate Tottenham and we hate Tottenham.
• We hate Tottenham and we hate Tottenham.
• We hate Tottenham and we hate Tottenham.
• We are the Tottenham haters.

The Referee

• The referee is Lee Probert.
• Last year, Probert worked Arsenal's 3-1 win over Birmingham City at the Emirates and their 0-0 draw against Aston Villa at Villa Park.
• For Tottenham last year, he worked only their 1-0 home loss to Stoke City.

Other Carling Cup 3rd Round Ties
(P = Premier League, C = Championship, L1 = League One, L2 = League Two)

• Tuesday: Birmingham City (P) v. Milton Keynes Dons (L1); St. Andrew's, Birmingham
• Tuesday: Brentford (L1) v. Everton (P); Griffin Park, London
• Tuesday: Burnley (C) v. Bolton Wanderers (P); Turf Moor, Burnley
• Tuesday: Millwall (C) v. Ipswich Town (C); The Den, London
• Tuesday: Peterborough United (L1) v. Swansea City (C); London Road Stadium, Peterborough
• Tuesday: Portsmouth (C) v. Leicester City (C); Fratton Park, Portsmouth
• Tuesday: Stoke City (P) v. Fulham (P); Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent
• Tuesday: Sunderland (P) v. West Ham United (P); Stadium of Light, Sunderland
• Tuesday: Wolverhampton Wanderers (P) v. Notts County (L1); Molineux, Wolverhampton
• Wednesday: Aston Villa (P) v. Blackburn Rovers (P); Villa Park, Birmingham
• Wednesday: Chelsea (P) v. Newcastle United (P); Stamford Bridge, London
• Wednesday: Liverpool (P) v. Northampton Town (L2); Anfield, Liverpool
• Wednesday: Scunthorpe United (C) v. Manchester United (P); Glanford Park, Scunthorpe
• Wednesday: West Bromwich Albion (P) v. Manchester City (P); The Hawthorns, West Bromwich
• Wednesday: Wigan Athletic (P) v. Preston North End (C); DW Stadium, Wigan

News Roundup 8/30/10 - The Fracas Edition

Since there are very few official details about this incident, how about we just all jump to ridiculous conclusions? Pic via Guardian.

• Jack Wilshere was arrested in the early morning hours on Sunday for being involved in a "fracas" during which a woman suffered a broken and dislocated elbow. He was released on bail and is "unlikely to face charges." It appears he was attempting to be a peacemaker but remains an important witness. [Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Sky Sports]
• Arsene Wenger invoked the name Ryan Shawcross in a press conference on Thursday, not in reference to last year's Aaron Ramsey incident, but in reference to Stoke City's tactics of bumping the goalkeeper, saying it was turning the game into rugby... [Arsenal.com]
• ...and in a preposterous overreaction, Stoke manager Tony Pulis has decided to lodge a formal complaint to the FA, in a statement which for absolutely no reason contains references to World Wars I and II. [Sky Sports]
• Wait? Let me get this straight... Inter Milan submitted a transfer bid for Cesc Fabregas that was less than the first insulting bid Arsenal turned down from Barcelona? This story doesn't even make sense. Tabloid fodder? [Daily Mail, Daily Mirror]
• Armand Traore might be loaned to Birmingham or Juventus. [Sky Sports, Daily Mail]
• Arsenal has drawn Tottenham away in the third round of the Carling Cup, to be played the week of September 20. Arsenal will likely play reserves, as they do in this competition. I expect Tottenham to play their standard line-up. This means Tottenham will probably win, brag about it until the first league meeting in November, and release a special edition DVD of the match the following morning. Poor predictable Spurs. [Guardian]