Carling Cup Preview: Redknapp’s Tottenham Hotspur host Arsene Wenger’s youthful Arsenal
The stand-out fixture of the draws for the third round of the Carling Cup was the North London derby between Tottenham and Arsenal. Meetings between these arch-rivals are always enthusiastically anticipated, never less than intensely
challenged, and often passionate to the point of bitterness. This dispute of native egotism unsurprisingly overlays each encounter, but the two managers concerned are certainly more concentrated on the bigger picture than on parochial superiority complexes.
And in the bigger picture, Tottenham Hotspur under the magician Harry Redknapp – with their top-four Premier League finish last season and UEFA Champions League debut this term – now pose a credible threat to the supremacy of the traditional ‘Big Four.’
Indeed, last April, the North London Derby was momentous for marking the first time in twenty-one consecutive Barclays Premier League meetings that Spurs had succeeded in beating the Gunners. Harry Redknapp will be excited to build on that by inflicting a second
successive defeat on Arsene Wenger’s side, – this time in the Carling Cup - not least because of the psychological boost it would give Spurs in their quest for silverware.
Diverse line-ups; same aggressive rivalry
Legendary Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has made it a policy of his: giving youngsters and fringe players breaks in this competition. Results – three quarter-finals, three semi-finals and one final in the previous seven seasons – seem to suggest that his policy
pays dividends, though Arsenal haven’t managed to capture the trophy since ’93, and have often found themselves beaten by teams who play full-strength teams.
Some would argue that this approach has donated significantly to Arsenal’s failure to win any competition since 2005. There’s nothing like winning trophies to help a team develop and become battle-hardened. Nonetheless, Wenger specified when the draw was made
that he would stick to his selection strategy. So the question is, will that hand Spurs the benefit? To some magnitude that will be determined by how many changes Redknapp is also ready to make.
Both clubs had challenging weekends. Spurs trailed at home to Wolves until 15 minutes from time and then scored three times through Rafael van der Vaart (a penalty), Roman Pavlyuchenko and Alan Hutton to win 3-1. Arsenal took an unexpected lead at Sunderland
through captain Cesc Fabregas, but soon lost him to injury before going down to 10 men with the removal of Alex Song. They then wasted a chance to double their lead by missing a penalty, only to then concede a 95th minute equaliser when ex-Spurs man Darren
Bent netted from close range.
Tottenham will consequently be at an advantage going into the tie and Spurs also have the healthier record in this competition, having won it four times and finished runners-up on three occasions. Arsenal have won it twice and lost four other finals.
But the Gunners claim a good League Cup record against their arch-rivals: of eleven previous clashes between the clubs in this competition, Arsenal have won five, Spurs have won three and three have been drawn.
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