Arsenal News 1/9/08

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Carling Cup S/F Leg 1
Emirates Stadium

Wednesday, January 09, 2008, 7.45pm

Arsenal
Arsenal
0


Tottenham H.
Tottenham H.
1

Jenas 37

By Richard Clarke

For Arsène Wenger, the Carling Cup is the domestic cup to win.

The Arsenal manager has lifted the Premier League three times and the FA Cup four times. But the closest he has come in what was formerly the League Cup is the Final last year when Chelsea came from behind to win 2-1 in Cardiff.

They reached that stage with a tension-filled victory over Tottenham in a two-legged Semi-Final. Tonight, Emirates Stadium plays host to the first rubber of a repeat fixture.

To some, the Carling Cup is the fourth in a list of four trophies Arsenal can win this season. However, ahead of the game, the manager re-iterated his desire to win this competition - and do it with a young side.

“The Premiership is the one for me,” said Wenger. “But cup-wise this one I have not won and I want to complete the list domestically.

“In the Carling Cup I have made a decision to go with one team and to give competition to players who have had less until now. I will keep on doing that. I will not change my mind.

“I just hope this side will go to the end and finish the job we started last season.”

As usual for Carling Cup ties, Wenger announced his squad on the morning of the game. Robin van Persie is back. The Dutchman has played just 85 minutes of first-team football for Arsenal since October 23 because of knee and then muscular injuries. Theo Walcott is back in the squad after sickness while Johan Djourou is set for his first appearance of the season following his loan spell at Birmingham.

On paper, you could argue Arsenal’s side will be less experienced than the one Wenger sent out of the first leg at White Hart Lane last season. Remember Cesc Fabregas and Kolo Toure played 90 minutes that night while Alex Hleb and Emmanuel Eboue came off the bench.

And, on the other side, there is certainly a perception that Tottenham are stronger. Arsenal swept aside Martin Jol’s side easily at White Hart Lane in September. However, despite losing 2-1, they were a much more difficult proposition at Emirates Stadium in December under new manager Juande Ramos.

Dimitar Berbatov scored Tottenham’s equaliser that day. Arguably the Bulgarian is the Premier League’s form player and, unarguably, he is the dangerman tonight.

“He is top class,” Wenger agreed. “He always has time on the pitch and when you play against him he is always in the places you don’t want him to be. He is what I call a top class striker because he can provide, he can score, he can be at the start of the move and at the end of it. That is a sign of quality.”

And that quality even saw Wenger interested in signing him.

“When he played for Bayer Leverkusen, I noticed him once against Real Madrid,” the manager went on. “He was a young boy at the time but we were never in need of him. We had Thierry Henry, we had Robin van Persie and then we got Adebayor but I have known him for a long time.

“I look always more at the individual quality of a player first and Berbatov had technical top quality, he is tall, in England it helps. When building a team in England sometimes you think on set-pieces - not only offensively but defensively - you don’t want to be caught.

“We expect goals tonight,” the manager concluded. “Tottenham always try to start strong. These are two offensive sides but obviously we hope not to concede and yet score.

“I feel we want to win both games and that is how we always approach them.”

In the midst of Arsenal’s astounding success in this fixture last year it was perhaps overlooked that both ties were in fact level at 90 minutes. Wenger’s young side only triumphed in extra time in the second leg.

Their task this evening is not so much to retain the status quo but to show that while Tottenham may have improved, Arsenal’s development has grown at a faster rate.