Carling Cup Final: Chelsea v Arsenal

Chelsea v Arsenal

2007 Carling Cup Final


Date: Sunday 25 February
Kick off: 1500 GMT
Venue: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Who do you think will win? Who do you want to win? Batman can't have Chelsea thinking they can win the Quadruple, Come on Arsenal!

The Route to the Final:

Semi-Final
Arsenal 3-1 Spurs (AET)
Spurs 2-2 Arsenal
Chelsea 4-0 Wycombe Wanderers
Wycombe Wanderers 1-1 Chelsea

Quarter-Final
Liverpool 3-6 Arsenal
Newcastle United 0-1Chelsea

Fourth Round
Chelsea 4-0 Aston Villa
Everton 0-1 Arsenal

Third Round
Blackburn Rovers 0-2 Chelsea
West Brom 0-2 Arsenal

Chelsea:

Goals For - 12
Goals Agains - 1

Arsenal:

Goals For - 14
Goals Against - 6

So it could be quite a goal fest (on the other hand it may well be a boring 0-0/1-0).

s4p,

What chelsea line-up are u expecting?

Chelsea will win. Arsenal will play a couple of young players to give themselves an excuse.

Game over in 90 minutes, 3-1 to Chelsea. No questions asked.

-----------------Cech---------------
Diarra--Carvalho--Essien--Bridge
---------------Makelele-------------
--------Mikel-----------Lampard----
----------------Ballack--------------
-------Drogba---Shevchenko------

Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal

I won't be watching.

I really dont get Jose when he puts the strongest team (in his eyes) for every game , an injury to a star player like Drog and the season is done for.

Bilal wrote:I really dont get Jose when he puts the strongest team (in his eyes) for every game , an injury to a star player like Drog and the season is done for.

He simply doesn't have an alternative.

He could easily play Kalou , SWP , Geremi etc.

Bilal wrote:He could easily play Kalou , SWP , Geremi etc.

They're not good enough to get the job done though (individually it may not matter, but if he played all his backups they probably would lose)...but I see your point, and it may be worth a try esp. with Arsenal also playing a young team.

Then again, this is probably a "big game", so you've got to play your best team.

Bilal wrote:He could easily play Kalou , SWP , Geremi etc.

In Mourinho's state of mind you wouldn't. He doesn't trust the defence, he thinks his midfield's useless and his forwards are erratic. The last thing he'd want to do is throw in a bunch of players he doubts even more than those he's fielding.

Bilal wrote:I really dont get Jose when he puts the strongest team (in his eyes) for every game , an injury to a star player like Drog and the season is done for.

This is a final though, I believe Fergie fielded a very strong team for last seasons final (and rightly so).

Once you reach the semis of the CC, you should be "trying" to win it (which is why I'm baffled by Wenger's decision to play the "kids")

Just put a £10 bet on Chelsea to win 3-1 and Lampard to score the first goal. For odds of 66/1, that could prove to be a very nice payday.

S4P wrote:This is a final though, I believe Fergie fielded a very strong team for last seasons final (and rightly so).

Yes he did field a strong line up. The main difference is at that time he was out of the Champions League, FA Cup and realistically out of the Title race. It was their only chance of silverware.

S4P wrote:Once you reach the semis of the CC, you should be "trying" to win it (which is why I'm baffled by Wenger's decision to play the "kids")

We have been trying to win it, right from the first game. Just because Henry, Gallas, Ljungberg and Lehmann don't play doesn't mean that we don't care. We have players coming like Baptista and Djourou that want to show there qualities. We have a large squad also so we want to exercise this luxury in preparation for the 'big' games.

S4P , he has been putting his strongest teams throughout like Macclesfield , could easily have played more of his bit part player and perhaps some young guys.

Chelsea 4 - 1 Aresnal

I'm glad I'm out for this one at a Golf Day.

I really wouldn't care if Chelsea win 18-0 with 16 Lampard deflections.

Bilal wrote:S4P , he has been putting his strongest teams throughout like Macclesfield , could easily have played more of his bit part player and perhaps some young guys.

Yeah, that was a bit strange, but don't forget that at the time, we had Cech, Terry, Robben, Joe Cole and Boulahrouz out (possibly more), so it was actually a 'weaker' team, but the strongest side we had left (if that makes sense).

Michael Woods and Ben Sahar did get some playing time against Macclesfield, Forest and Wycombe too.

Bryan English, the Chelsea doctor confirms that JT can play.

This is a triple celebration, in my opinion, for the following reasons:

1. We have our best defender available.
2. Our best midfielder can play in midfield, rather than in defence.
3. Lampard won't be captain.

----------------Cech------------
Diarra-Carvalho-Terry-A Cole
---------------Essien------------
--------Ballack---Lampard-----
Shevchenko-Drogba-Robben

Feeling confident s4p?

I know it'll be tight, but yes. Certainly if you play your youngsters, such as Walcott, Denilson etc. For all their pace, trickery and skill, I think we'd end up overpowering you as the match goes on, and just about grab the victory.

You?

I think we'll win , 2-1.

Agooner wrote:I think we'll win , 2-1.

You can't say he's not optimistic...

As Almunia will be in goal, I feel a lot more confident too. I remember his performances v Liverpool, and the goals he conceded in the Champs League final.

I'd imagine we'll play the arsenal "youngsters". This involves leaving Walcott out but resting fabregas and playing denilson and Diaby.
Dont know what we'll do for the wings because we can't play Rosicky every match and Hleb is coming back form injury still and Ljungberg is as one dimensional as Walcott on a bad day.
Not worried about Almunia though, hes played well this season.

And losing Henry isnt such a blow, Aliadiere has been just as effective as him recently.

Kevin wrote:I'd imagine we'll play the arsenal "youngsters". This involves leaving Walcott out but resting fabregas and playing denilson and Diaby.
Dont know what we'll do for the wings because we can't play Rosicky every match and Hleb is coming back form injury still and Ljungberg is as one dimensional as Walcott on a bad day.
Not worried about Almunia though, hes played well this season.

And losing Henry isnt such a blow, Aliadiere has been just as effective as him recently.

Almunia has really impressed this season, he's a more than capable no. 2

I'd play hleb because he needs games to get back to his best with the upcoming Cl match in mind and rest rosicky because he's played a lot of matches recently.

To Arsenal fans

What is more important, the fans or the players?

The fans want Arsenal to win the Carling Cup, so Wenger should play his strongest XI.

But it seems like Wenger will show loyalty to the players that got Arsenal to the final.

Yep, we need one of the two otherwise we have no creatvity on our wings.

It was painfl to see Ljungberg and Walcott against Blackburn. We need to buy a good winger. Hell, even having reyes back would be nice.

I don't understand the hype around this, the first team probably wouldn't beat chelsea, the kids reserves a few first teamers? the odds are bizarre aswell.
Chelsea will win it easy