Carling Cup Final Live

8/7/2019 Carling Cup Final Live

1/12

CARLING CUP FINAL LIVE: Arsenal 1

Birmingham 1 - follow all the action from

Wembley as it happensFollow Sportsmail's coverage of the Carling Cup final where Arsenal and

Birmingham clash at Wembley Stadium to decide who will take home the firstpiece of silverware this season. The Gunners start as favourites but arewithout a couple of key players as the Blues look to spring a surprise. Emailme your thoughts on the action [email protected]

Arsenal 1-1 Birmingham (4pm)

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Djourou, Koscielny, Clichy, Rosicky, Song, Nasri,

Wilshere, Arshavin, van Persie (Bendtner 69).Subs: Almunia, Denilson, Squillaci, Eboue, Gibbs, Chamakh, Bendtner.

Goals: van Persie 39.

Birmingham: Foster, Carr, Johnson, Jiranek, Ridgewell, Fahey, Gardner

(Beausejour 50), Ferguson, Bowyer, Larsson, Zigic.Subs: Taylor, Murphy, Phillips, Jerome, Martins, Parnaby.

Goals: Zigic 28.

Referee:Mike Dean (Wirral)

73min: Chances have dried up in the past few minutes, it can't just be that'sthinking extra-time and penalties...not that I ever need a second invitation.

70min: But it's Arsenal who blink, bringing on Nicklas Bendtner for VanPersie.

69min: Johnson looks to be struggling after landing awkwardly from aheader a few minutes ago. He is vital to Birmingham's cause and him going

off is the last thing they need.

66min: Still remains on a knife edge this. Birmingham will commit on set-pieces but Arsenal counter when they clear their lines. Very cat and mouse

stuff.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


2/12

63min: Good signs for the Wembley pitch. It's not cutting up like we know it

can and looks as neat as a snooker table.

61min: Looks like I can clear up the Mancini/Hughes incident too.

Seems to be the Italian didn't look Hughes in the eye when shaking his handafter the game which caused the Fulham boss to bat away his hand in

frustration.

Rotten fans: Former Sex Pistol John Lydon (centre) cheers on Arsenal

60min: The Gunners respond with an attacking spell themselves but after

Wilshere has a shot charged down, Arshavin sends in a disappointing crossthat goes out for a goal kick.

57min: Such fine margins in finals! Fahey is fortunate to see his first shot on

the edge of the box come back to him, but his second finds its way throughbefore clipping the inside of the post and out to safety. Desperately unlucky.

54min: We have seen how deadly they are from set-pieces already. ButLarsson's cross is cleared for a corner before that too is dealt with by Arsenal.


3/12

53min: Free-kick for Birmingham on the left side of the area after Gael

Clichy trips Keith Fahey. he is booked.

50min: Interesting, Gardner is subbed and judging by his reaction it's not

through injury. Jean Beausejour is on in his place.

48min: Lovely from Arsenal. Sagna darts onto Nasri's ball down the right

and his cross from the byline is fired just wide on the half-volley by Rosicky18 yards out.

46min: Alex McLeish's view on that second minute incident? ' A disgrace' iswhat he called it.

Second-half: Away we go again, with nearly all those seats at the centre-

circle empty. One of football's most sickening sights.

Taking a tumble: Gardner (floor) brings down Wilshere

17.00: And if Arsenal win this game, Birmingham fans will all point back toSzczesny bringing down Bowyer in the second minute.

They have been VERY harshly done by.

16.58: And this is proving to be a top cup final. Birmingham have done wellin stopping Arsenal from playing ad have created a few chances themselves.


4/12

Any thoughts that Arsenal would just turn up and lift the cup have proved

well wide of the mark.

16.53: Two points dropped for City and managers Roberto Mancini and Mark

Hughes seemingly exchanged a few angry words at the final whistle. Surelythat puts an end to City's title hopes either way.

Full-time: Manchester City 1-1 Fulham

Half-time: Arsenal 1-1 Birmingham

40+5min: Arsenal still applying all the pressure and Foster's hands must stillbe stinging after he palms away Nasri's 25 yard strike.

45+3min: Good time for half-time as far as City are concerned. Arsenal arestarting to take it up a couple of gears and are starting to fin much more holesin the Birmingham back line.

45min: Four minutes will be added on here after Bowyer and Van Persie

spent a couple of minutes getting treatment on the pitch.

43min: Van Persie is back on by the way as Arsenal look to press for asecond before half-time.

41min: Bit of dissent from Seb Larsson and he picks up a booking after

disputing a free-kick.


5/12

Agony and ecstasy: Robin van Persie (central) celebrates scoring Arsenal's equaliser but pulls

up injured

39min: GOAL! ARSENAL 1-1 Birmingham

Out of nothing the Gunners are back in it! Seconds after Arsenal hit the bar,Arshavin twists and turns inside the box before delicately clipping a ball toRobin van Persie.

He picks out the bottom corner with a right-foot volley but looks like he hasinjured himself scoring it and will at the very least go off the pitch to receivetreatment.

37min: Laurent Koscielny is booked after having his studs up in a 50/50

challenge with Bowyer, Arsenal are losing all their discipline.

34min: Arsenal are completely on the rack. Craig Gardner looks to bebrought down by Johan Djourou inside the box but Zigic picks up the piecesand looks certain to score until Szczesny is quick off his line to fumble the

striker.

33min: Signs of frustrations already from Arsenal as Tomas Rosicky is very

late in a challenge on Stephen Carr.


6/12

30min: Nearly an instant reply from Arsenal but Van Persie eight yards out

on his own heads Bacary Sagna's cross wide.

High riser: Nikola Zigic (blue right) heads Birmingham into the lead

28min: GOAL! Arsenal 0-1 BIRMINGHAM

Cupset?! Birmingham's first corner of the game is nodded goalwards byRoger Johnson where Nikola Zigic jumps highest just a couple of yards out

to head City into the lead.

26min: Fantastic defending from Martin Jiranek. Van Persie has just him to

beat inside the box but the defender stands tall and steals the ball off himbefore clearing.

23min: Arshavin scuffs a shot wide from the edge of the box but the Gunnerscannot blame City or any rough tactics so far.

Their final ball has been a bit wayward and City are coping very well withwhat is being thrown at them.

20min: Buzzing first 10 minutes, but the next 10 not so much. Proving to bevery gritty stuff.


7/12

17min: Nice move by Birmingham. Zigic does well to hold up the ball and

after a few short passes, Stephen Carr's deep cross is headed across goal byLiam Ridgewell where his shot is comfortably stooped by Szczesny.

14min: Brilliant from Samir Nasri. He runs through three Birminghamplayers when he had no right to do so, before running out of space in the boxand firing wide.

12min: As you would expect Arsenal playing the eye-candy football and

Birmingham are keen to prevent them from doing so.

Contrasting styles but it's making for a good cup final so far.

Sent tumbling: Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny brings down Birmingham's Lee Bowyer

9min: Let off for Birmingham. Arshavin (who is back on) manages to turneight yards out but his low shot is well blocked by Ben Foster.

8min: GOAL! Manchester City 1-1 FULHAM

Clinical, Andrew Johnson scampers down the flank and his low cross is wellconverted by Damien Duff.


8/12

7min: A lovely chipped ball from Wilshere finds Robin van Persie at a tight

angle in the box, but in a similar position to the goal he scored Barcelona firesover the bar.

5min: Rocky start for the Gunners. Andrey Arshavin is off the pitch at themoment getting treatment for a cut on his nose.

2min: Heart in mouth moment for Arsenal. Lee Bowyer is through one-on-one with Wojciech Szczesny and is clattered by the goalkeeper as he goes

past him.

But play is brought back as Bowyer is flagged offside. But Clichy is playinghim on and Birmingham should have a penalty and Arsenal should be downto 10 men.

It's like Nemnaja Vidic and Gabriel Agbonlahor from last season all overagain.

1min: The Wembley pitch looks lush by the way, hope it doesn't cut up asusual. Will keep you up to date on that.

I remember you! Mark Hughes and Carlos Tevez greet each other at Eastlands


9/12

Kick-off: From left to right Birmingham kick off the 2011 Carling Cup

final.

15.59: I'm of course joking but this weekend makes it 12 years to the day the

last time a top flight side fielded an all English XI.

15.58: As the national anthem is sung, all the Arsenal players look round at

each other confused...Wilshere aside.

15.56: New or old, Wembley is full and it's an amazing sight.

I just wished they made the entrance for the players behind the goal like inthe old stadium.

Speaking of which the teams are out.

15.55: It's amazing to think Arsenal have not been in a major cup final atWembley since 1998.

They of course lost their last cup final at the Millennium Stadium in 2007,

where they were defeated 2-1 by Chelsea in this very competition.

15.52: As you can see from the below pictures, it's a pretty gloomy day in

London let's hope the game doesn't follow suit.

15.49: Half-time: Manchester City 1-0 Fulham

Not a classic by any means but the two sides are separated by a moment ofmagic from Mario Balotelli, whose stunning 25-yard strike is proving all thedifference.

15.46: It's a 4-5-1 that Alex McLeish has selected, even with five men in the

middle of the park teams tend to get over-run by Arsenal. Nikola Zigic couldhave a long afternoon ahead of him feeding off scraps.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1361092/Wait-English-goes-12-years-homegrown-team-Premier-League.htmlhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1361092/Wait-English-goes-12-years-homegrown-team-Premier-League.htmlhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1361092/Wait-English-goes-12-years-homegrown-team-Premier-League.htmlhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1361092/Wait-English-goes-12-years-homegrown-team-Premier-League.html


10/12

Top Gunner: Arsenal fans on the walk up to Wembley Stadium, while below two

Birmingham fans show their support


11/12

15.43: Arsenal striker Robin van Persie recovers from a hamstring injury to

captain the side.

The Dutchman takes over the armband from Cesc Fabregas (hamstring),while Tomas Rosicky is given the task of replacing Theo Walcott (ankle).

Birmingham midfielder Alexander Hleb has failed to recover from a kneeinjury in time to face his former club.

Nikola Zigic is preferred to Obafemi Martins and Cameron Jerome as thelone striker, while Lee Bowyer earns a recall in place of the cup-tied DavidBentley.

15.40: Routine win for Arsenal? Well it would certainly be easier if they hadtheir influential captain Cesc Fabregas and speed demon Theo Walcott. That's

a huge boost for Birmingham whatever way you look at it.

15.37: Quick stat from OptaJoe on Balotelli though, he gets enough stick as it

is so here is one to praise him:

6 - Mario Balotelli has now scored six goals from only nine shots on target in

the PL this season. Golden.

15.35: Team news from Wembley Stadium:

Arsenal v BirminghamArsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Djourou, Koscielny, Clichy, Rosicky, Song, Nasri,
http://twitter.com/#!/OptaJoehttp://twitter.com/#!/OptaJoe


12/12

Wilshere, Arshavin, van Persie. Subs: Almunia, Denilson, Squillaci, Eboue,

Gibbs, Chamakh, Bendtner.Birmingham: Foster, Carr, Johnson, Jiranek, Ridgewell, Fahey, Gardner,

Ferguson, Bowyer, Larsson, Zigic. Subs: Taylor, Murphy, Phillips, Jerome,

Martins, Parnaby, Beausejour.Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)

15.32: GOAL! MANCHESTER CITY 1-0 Fulham

As well as providing updates from Eastlands in the Premier League!

Mario Balotelli has hit an absolute cracker from the edge of the box thatMark Schwarzer had no chance of saving. Just over 30 minutes gone in thatgame.

15.31: The losing teams ribbons!

Enough jokes though, as we focus on the serious issue of the Carling Cup

final between Arsenal and Birmingham. Team news coming up.

15.30: Little riddle for youWhat is taken to every cup final but never used?

Leading the way: Robin van Persie will captain Arsenal in the Carling Cup final

Documents

Carling Cup Final Live