We now know our opponents for the Carling Cup final on the 27th of February, with Birmingham City coming from behind to beat West Ham last night at St Andrews.
The Hammers, sitting bottom of the Premier League at the moment (and where they’ve been for most of the season) might have been the more preferable choice for a cup opponent, not just because of their poor form this season, but, like most Arsenal fans these days, I really don’t like Birmingham.
Along with Stoke and Wolves, Alex McLeish’s side are one of the dirtiest teams in the league, with thugs such as Lee Bowyer, Roger Johnson and Cameron Jerome on their books, and of course there is the horrific injury that Eduardo suffered at the hands of their thuggish attitude. It’s not a great advert for English football that these bruisers have made it to Wembley and could realistically kick us off the pitch to get the trophy.
I think, and I hope, that we will be sufficiently on top of our game to match them for desire, and simply demolish them with our football, as we recently managed to do at St Andrews with a lovely 3-0 win.
Even so, I fear for someone like Jack Wilshere, making such great strides this season and looking like a future great; I fear that Lee Bowyer will want to ‘let him know he’s there’ and young Jack will suffer in the way that Aaron Ramsey did last season, when he too was making his mark on the first-team.
While Arsenal have had to deal with almost entirely Premier League opposition in this season’s tournament, knocking out Spurs, Newcastle and Wigan, Birmingham have had home ties against the likes of Rochdale, MK Dons and Brentford (only beating the latter on penalties).
However, the Blues have made St Andrews a difficult place to go this season, beating champions Chelsea 1-0 there, and holding Man Utd, Spurs and Liverpool to draws.
For Arsenal, the final will come inbetween two home games against Stoke and Sunderland, as well as the two legs of their big Champions League clash with Barcelona. Rotation will be needed around this period, but hopefully one of the league games will be sacrificed ahead of this big chance to finally win some silverware. We are one game away from ending the drought, and it has to take priority, or it could be another five years or more before such an opportunity presents itself again.
Our opponents, however, play the game inbetween some potentially important fixtures in terms of the relegation fight they face. A visit to Everton preceding the final, and games against fellow strugglers West Brom and Wigan will follow. If we’re lucky, McLeish will be making Premier League survival his immediate priority.
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