Arsenal v West Brom

Date : 22nd September 2009
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Competition : Carling Cup third round

Competition background:
Carling Cup is also known as the League Cup. The competition is contested by 92 teams from the English leagues (20 from the Premier League and 72 from Coca Cola Championship, League 1 and League 2) and is played on a knock out basis. Draws are held after each round to determine which team will play which in the next round. Semi finals are played over two legs (Home and Away). It is the least significant competition for Arsenal and traditionally Arsene Wenger has blooded emerging young players in the competition. Fabregas Walcott, van Persie etc. have benefitted from playing in this Cup.
Current holders: Manchester United
Arsenal have won the League Cup twice - the last time in 1992-1993 season. They finished runner's up to Chelsea in 2006-2007 in an ill-tempered and close game. Arsenal had Adebayor and Toure sent off and players between the two teams were involved in a mini brawl in the final minutes of the match. It ended 2-1 to Chelsea.

2006-2007 League Cup final - Fabregas and Lampard tangling - both got yellow cards (only!)



Last year Arsenal beat Sheffield United 6-0 at this stage so expect goals and lots of action.

West Brom are a midlands team currently playing in the Coca Cola Championship (2nd tier of English football below the Premier League). They have a young dynamic coach - Roberto Di Matteo. He is a former Chelsea and Italian midfielder. West Brom are currently top of their league and in excellent form. This makes them a dangerous team and Arsenal's young players should play to their best to win.
Their club captain Scott Carson is an excellent keeper who has even been picked for England before. Olsen the Swedish defender, forward Luke Moore and the New Zealand striker Chris Wood are the other threats to Arsenal.

Arsenal should line up with Gibbs at left back, Silvestre as central defender along with Senderous (both senior players in need of match practice) and Ramsey and Wilshere in central midfield. Look out for Wilshere - a dynamic fast midfielder with strength and terrific shooting ability. Spanish man Fran Merida should also play probably at the left side of midfield. Up front look out for Mexican Carlos Vela who ignited the competition with his excellent goals a couple of seasons ago. He seems to have recovered from injury and can play his first game of the season. As goalkeeper I would suggest that Wenger sticks Mannone between the posts again - Almunia is recovering fast and could be available soon so Mannone needs all the practice he can get. Right now Arsenal is spread rather thin in the goalkeeping department with Fabianski the second choice out for 6 months at least.


And he's a jolly good Vela (it's an Arsenal chant - no laughing :))


CARLOS VELA
winner with Mexico of the Fifa U-17 World cup in 2005. Won the Golden boot for scoring the most goals in that tournament.

KIERAN GIBBS:
Left back player. Pacy 19 year old player who impressed me a lot last season when he took the place of Gael Clichy who was out injured. He contained established strikers like Drogba, Rooney and even stood up tall to the great Cristiano Ronaldo. Unfortunately a slip in the UEFA Champion's League semi final allowed Park-ji-Sung to score and was his only big mistake last season. Come on Gibbsy!