CHELSEA AND SPURS HAVE CARLING EDGE

 

 

The Carling Cup semi finals. If no one's taken the tournament seriously before now then this is when they tend to start. The bigger sides may tend to play their reserves but then again, some teams have could reserves sides. United's weren't able to cut it this year, but the last four is an all-Premiership lineup with two of the "Big Four" involved. For three of the semi finalists, it could well be their best chance for a troph this season, in one case definately so.

Chelsea were at this stage last time round, and beat that season's giant killers Wycombe 5-1 on aggregate. The L2 side kept the tie alive untill the second leg but in the end were outclassed. Everton however, haven't been to this stage of the competition sincethe Littlewoods Cup of 1988, and back then the team of Neville Southall, Trevor Steven, Pat Nevin and Tony Cottee got hammered 4-1 on aggregate by Arsenal! The last time they won a League Cup semi, they beat Villa 2-1 on aggregate with Peter Reid in the team. It was the Milk Cup of 1984.

Given that sort of history, it looked like one of the more straightforward ties of the competition. However for the first leg at Stamford Bridge Chelsea were having to field a weakened team due to both injury and withdrawals. David Moyes claimed that he wasn't fielding his ideal XI either but either way this leg was more important for Chelsea, and the Carling Cup is Arvam Grant's best chance of a trophy in his first season in England.

Well the first few minutes of the match weren't all that good from either side but after that it was Chelsea that had the much smoother play and the Everton defence were the much harder worked. In the 26th minute the home side broke through, Florent Malouda setting up Shaun Wright-Philips who ran through before curling the ball into the net. They kept up the battering of the opposition and I can only give credit to Everton for keeping the deficit to one.

Chelsea picked up from where they left off in the second half but they did start to offer Everton lifeline's through defensive indiscipline but the Toffees never looked like getting back into the match until Chelsea failed to deal with an against-the-run-of-play 64th minute James McFadden free kick amd Ayegbeni Yakubu equalised with his team's first shot on target! That sparked an Everton renaissance but it was Chelsea's turn to hold firm but still, it looked as though Everton would be going home the happier team untill Joleon Lescott headed a Michael Ballack cross into his own net in injury time! The watching Fabio Capello has now surely learned one of Steve McLaren's bigger mistakes.

The other semi final was a rematch of last year's encounter between Arsenal and Spurs. Arsenal won that tie 5-3 on aggregate after extra time, Spurs blowing a 2-0 home lead in the first leg. Spurs though still haven't won a semi final tie in this competition since the Worthington Cup era, when a team led by a Les Ferdinand and Teddy Sheringham strike force beat Chelsea 6-3 on aggregate back in '02, relying on an awesome second leg turnaround.

This time out, well the first leg was at the Emirates Stadium. Arsene Wenger, as always in this competition was going to play his reserves, fair enough, they got themselves to the final last time round. Spurs however, knew that given their record against their local rivals, they had to go in all guns blazing, and they did, more or less, Juande Ramos selecting a reserve goalie and midfielder but definately knowing that his club needed this trophy more than the Gunners.

Well to be honest neither side looked like they needed this match for the bulk of the first half. There were few real chances at either end unless you could the one direct free kick per team in the opening half hour. Surprisingly, though it was Spurs that went up a gear first, pinning back the Gunners, and blowing one chance before drawing first blood in enemy territory in the 37th minute when Robbie Keane sent the ball to Jermaine Jenas who the Arsenal goalie wasn't able to cover. Arsenal didn't look like getting an equaliser before half time and Wenger had to work out how to avoid embarrassment.

The Arsenal manager decided to throw on some quality fresh legs and though Spurs still opened the half well, the home side soon started to get their act together. They still weren't as smooth as they can be though and it looked increasingly likely that Spurs would come away with a win that would go down in club history! Arsenal finally hit high gear late in the match though and in the 79th minute Eduardo set up Theo Walcott who ran on before slotting in an equaliser. The Gunners really needed a winner though but the remainder of the match proved even, leaving Spurs with a welcome edge going into the second leg.

Back to United action on the weekend.

Click here to visit the football archive

Comments get emailed here

Click here to return to sports homepage

Click here to return to Matt G's homepage