Arsenal 2 West Brom 0

Well sounds like a regulation win. But the truth was that Arsenal had to sweat a bit for this one.
As expected Arsenal played Senderos and Silvestre as the two central defenders.
Carlos Vela was not risked by the manager from the start. He has just recovered from ankle injury and this meant Sanchez Watt (Watt's his name ? Watt - the commentators were having fun with this one!)
The squad lined up as -
* 53 Szczesny - Polish keeper. Broke both arms in a gym accident last year.
* 06 Senderos
* 18 Silvestre
* 28 Gibbs
* 30 Traore - Back from Portsmouth (Barazite 69)
* 42 Gilbert
* 16 Ramsey - welsh midfielder
* 19 Wilshere
* 35 Coquelin - French defensive midfielder who played rather well(Randall 58)
* 51 Sunu (Vela 58)
* 54 Watt

The formation was a 4(defence)-3-3(attack).
West Brom had the best chances early but their spirits were deflated by the 37th minute sending off of ex-Arsenal man Jerome Thomas.

Wilshere was downed by Thomas. Thomas proceeded to offer his hand to Wilshere in an effort to say sorry and pick him up. Wilshere refused the hand and said something to Thomas. At this point Thomas shoved the prone Wilshere prompting the ref to dish out a straight red card.
A moment of madness by Thomas - something like Zidane on Materazzi in the 2006 WC final. In football you don't hit the opponent intentionally on the field. All madness, frustration and anger is to be unleased on the ball only (and in goal celebrations
like Adebayor - oh that got him into trouble too :))
Whatever Wilshere said Thomas has only himself to blame - it was stupid and it is great to know that he has apologized to his team who suffered the most from this moment.
11-10 is never easy. You have to make up for the 11th man. West Brom tired. Wenger brought on Carlos Vela (i talked about him yesterday).
First he smashed a low shot which Kiely (West brom keeper) parried. The ball fell for for Sanchez Watt, who slotted in the rebound long before anyone else knew what was happening.
Pic of the opening goal (on 68 minutes by Watt)



Now Arsenal did need a second goal - a one goal lead is never enough especially with a opposition that was fighting hard.
Vela delivered in 77th minute. Mark Randall hit an exquiste chip that hit the cross bar. The rebound was fumbled by the West Brom defender and Vela slotted the ball home. A poacher's goal but hey they all count. Arsneal need to score all the opportunities they get. Set pieces, ugly scrambles.. coz all of them are the same on the scoresheet.

And guess what we kept a clean sheet! 2nd of the season so far - so well done to the defence. BTW the average age of the side was 21 years. Eight of the starting line up was below 18 years old! Scary thought that ! For Arsenal's future opposition. I'm loving it!

All in all a fun night at the Emirates. 55,000 guys and gals turned up - not bad for the Carling Cup. Wait till Manchester United get there and we'll have people in every lil seating or standing place. Till then enjoy a brief write up of Arsenal's best young players (courtesy Daily Telegraph, England)

Jack Wilshere; Age 17: Arguably the most exciting talent in English football. A powerful attacking midfielder, whose vision and ability to run directly at defences have evoked comparison both with a young Paul Gascoigne or Wayne Rooney.

Wojciech Szczesny; Age 19: Produced two outstanding saves against West Brom and has been on the bench for the senior team in recent matches following injuries to Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski. Made his debut at the age of 15 for Liega Warsaw, although his season was cut short last year by a freak training ground accident in which he broke both arms.

Sanchez Watt; Age 18: An emerging forward who was a key part of the team that won the FA Youth Cup earlier this year. He has already featured in pre-season for the first team against both Barnet and Rangers and scored on his debut last night against West Brom.

Kieran Gibbs; Age 19: Came to prominence at the end of last season when he replaced Gaël Clichy at left-back in the final matches of the season. Gifted Manchester United a goal in the Champions League semi-final with an unfortunate slip, but Arsène Wenger believes that he is a future England left-back.

Armand Traoré; Age 19: Back at Arsenal after nine months on loan at Portsmouth. A France international who joined the club from Monaco in 2006 and was a regular in the team that reached the Carling Cup final of 2007.

Aaron Ramsey; Age 18: Scored his first Arsenal goal in the Champions against Fenerbahce last season and regarded as one of the club's outstanding prospects. Joined from Cardiff, whom he played for at the age of just 16. He was also part of the Cardiff team that reached the FA Cup final of 2008.

Emmanuel Frimpong; Age 17: Has already trained with the first team and was on the bench for the Premier League game against Portsmouth last year. Grew up in Ghana, but was taken on by Arsenal at the age of nine and has featured in the England youth teams. Also played in the pre-season friendly against Barnet.