Arsenal’s junior Gunners (though Arsenal amazingly plays juniors in their senior side) edged out Tottenham in the Carling Cup to set up a tantalizing final against reigning EPL Champions, Chelsea.

Aided by Baptista’s two away goals at White Hart Lane, Arsenal always looked the likelier to claim the 2nd leg tense cup elimination tie if even by just a goal.

With Baptista injured and most of the other senior players given the night off, Arsenal lined up the youth with only the center-back Kolo Toure and midfielder Gilberto Silva, providing the backbone of the side—of course the Gunners held a few of their aces on the substitute’s bench in the form of Rosicky, Clichy, and Fabregas.  

In a game that was going down to the wire, Arsenal’s patience and (senior subbing) finally turned the game as it was the earlier disjointed Adebayor (pushed in by the brilliance of Rosicky), who found the back of the net in the 77 min. against a Spurs side that was being dominated by the immense amount of Arsenal possession.

Perhaps lacking the technical ability, Spurs showed their nerve though as Egyptian striker, Mido (also a substitute) reminded the young guns that there was still a game to play as he headed the equalizer past Toure and Almunia in the 85 min. and forced extra-time.

But the Gunners were not to be denied and avoided the dreadful penalty shoot out when young traveling striker, Aliadiere became the hero with his 105 min. strike as he punished Rocha’s defense blunder. In the end, Spurs completely capitulated as left-back Chimbonda forced a third into his own goal.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 31st, 2007 at 8:00 pm and is filed under Soccer World, England. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.