Carling Cup Preview: Ipswich Town vs Arsenal
Arsenal will take on Ipswich Town in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup. Arsenal were looking to be the early favourites going into the game, however, the poor display that the team put up against Leeds United in the FA Cup has led everyone to think otherwise.
Arsenal were held by Leeds for most part of the game and only managed to draw with the side, courtesy of a ninetieth minute penalty that was converted by Cesc Fabregas. As a result, the Arsenal captain is not willing to take any chances against the Championship
side and has asked his team to approach the game with great caution.
Fabregas is reported to have said, "Although Ipswich are a Championship team, that can make them even more dangerous. Their motivation will be very high - these will be the biggest two games of their year. They will be desperate to beat us, they will want
to show their strengths, and their motivation will be as high as possible"
"If we want to get through we will have to match that motivation, if not raise it further", added the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011 International.
On the other hand, Arsene Wenger is reported to be looking to field a full strength squad in the game because he knows that Arsenal stand a very good chance of actually landing the trophy this season.
At the moment, the current leading goal scorers for both the teams are David Norris and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Samir-Nasri-c32360. Norris has managed to find the back of the net for Ipswich on three occasions so far and Nasri has done so on two occasions for the Gunners.
However, one of the major factors that Arsenal have going in their favour is the fact that Ipswich recently parted ways with Roy Keane and as a result, they went on to get demolished by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 by seven goals to nil, in their outing in the FA Cup.
According to most experts, if Arsenal can keep their head in the game and not get too complacent, then they could already consider themselves to be finalists of the Carling Cup. Nonetheless, if Arsenal try to overdo it again, then Ipswich could yet again
go on to pull off a major upset in the Carling Cup.
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