Totts 1 – 4 Arsenal (Or 0 – 2, as it should have been)

The Team Sheet

Fabianksi

Eboue – Djourou – Koscielny – Gibbs

Wilshere – Denilson – Rosicky

Lansbury – Vela – Nasri

Interesting lineup, clearly a departure from our Carling Cup policy of past years with Nasri, Rosicky, Denilson, and Eboue bringing a lot of experience between them.  The only real non-first teamer in the starting eleven was Lansbury, so perhaps we are really looking to win this competition for the first time in a decade.

Wenger, who sat in the stands after accepting the FA misconduct charges against him, said afterwards that we are strong enough now to go for the Carling Cup this season, so watch this space.

Early Doors

Lansbury 16″

After 5 minutes it became clear we were better than them, after 10 minutes it became embarrassing, and after 15 minutes it became 1 – 0.  An inviting Jack Wilshere cross, tucked away by Henri Lansbury confirmed our dominance, and Tottenham’s absolute averageness, while the rest of the first half failed to contradict it.

We should have been two up before the break, but an absurd linesman’s decision ruled out a certain goal for Kieran Gibbs, after he was put clear, again, by Wilshere.  Young Jack was bossing the middle of the park, outshining the Totts midfield of Palacios, Jake Livermore and Sandro.  Despite his tender years, the nearest they could get to him in the first half was to crudely chop him down, time and time again.

Half Time Oranges

For all that though, half time was a nervous affair.  One mistake was likely to throw us back in to a dogfight, and the home side were bound to rally.

As it turned out they brought on Keane and Lennon, and produced an offside goal (allowed by the same linesman who ruled Gibbs off) to even things up.  Fabianski should have done better with the hand that he got to Keane’s shot, which squirmed under him and in.

For a time after that they were in the game, and had chances in normal time to punish us.  Keane hit the outside of the post, and Pavlyuchenko should have done better with a shot into the side netting.  Shortly though we regained some composure, and begn to control midfield again, despite the constant ankle-biting tackles from players in white shirts.

At The Death

Nasri 92″ / Nasri 96″

The 90 minutes ended all square then, thanks entirely to the efforts of one linesman who stopped it from ending 2 – 0 to the good guys.  Thankfully though, it didn’t matter.  A quickfire two penalties at the start of extra time, both a little soft, both converted with no fuss by Samir Nasri killed off the game and had the home support heading for the exits.

Arshavin 105″

By now Arshavin and Chamakh were on, adding even more experience, and the Russian rounded the evening off just nicely to make it 4 – 1.    Put in by a quick Nasri free kick that caught the defence napping, he took his shot early powering it across the keeper.

At the end of the day…

Let’s be clear about this, it may have gone to extra time, but we absolutely humiliated the Tiny Totts last night.  Bless them, they tried their best with, admittedly, a weakened team, but we tried harder, we played superior football, and we beat them, with an equally weakened team.

The only down sides were that we couldn’t make it 5 – 1 to write off our previous defeat in the competition, and more seriously, a possible metatarsal break for Kieran Gibbs, whose performance would have had Clichy worried for his place otherwise. 

Gibbs has a scan scheduled today, but if it’s anything like the injury he suffered last year we should be preparing for bad news.  For now though, I bid you, just enjoy the win.