Spurs through to Carling Cup final
23rd January, 2008
Tottenham Hotspur produced an excellent display against Arsenal to book their place in the Carling Cup final. A 5-1 thrashing on the night made it 6-2 on aggregate, gaining thoroughly deserved progression to the next round where they will face Chelsea or Everton, who play on Wednesday evening.
Before the game Spurs had not beaten Arsenal since 1999, but the positive first leg and knowledge of a weakened Arsenal side gave Spurs all the hope they needed. Jermain Jenas got into the game quickly, and after only 3 minutes finished neatly after making a jinking run to see the ball hit the net off the inside of the post.
Tottenham continued to press and started the Gunners of possession, before Denilson had to be replaced by Fabregas due to injury. This did not help matters, as a floated Jenas free kick into the box was headed by Bendtner for an own goal to make it 2-0 to the home side.
Spurs could have made it three before the break, as Berbabtov found himself one-on-one with the keeper, however he only managed to find the post.
After the break, Lennon played a great ball through to Keane who finished smartly to make it an unbelievable 3-0 to Tottenham. Soon after Bendtner looked to have given Arsenal a lifeline as he saw his spectacular effort come crashing back off the crossbar and land the wrong side of the line. However, it only got worse for Arsenal as Lennon slotted home Spurs’ fourth of the evening.
Adebayor netted a powerful strike from 20 yards, but it was too little too late, as Malbranque compounded Arsenal’s misery with an easy tap in to make it 5-1 after 90 minutes.
Juande Ramos praised his “perfect” side on the evening, and will now go to Wembley in his first season in charge. His team are now joint favourites at 11/10 to win the Carling Cup as Chelsea are yet to pass Everton, who are 11/2 according to our free odds comparison site.
