07/08 carling cup: arsenal kids on halloween night - trick or treat?
kojodinho - talkingOfArsenal.com
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A quick update after the Sheffield Utd Carling Cup game.
Fundamentally, the Championship side set up to play their usual physical game and it was clear from the first few exchanges that it could turn out to be a long night.
Fabianski, the goal keeping captain for the night, did well to save a long ball in which was turned goalward by Utd's Sharp. However, on seven minutes, a three-pass move deep out of Arsenal's defence saw Eduardo, the Brazilian-born Croatian, let rip a wonder 70mph strike with his left foot from outside the box to stun the home crowd, and settle the nerves of visiting and watching supporters.
Once the goal went it, the Arsenal kids started to play with the usual pass-and-move slickness that has come to typify Arsene Wengers sides, and it was only down to stout defending by Sheffield Utd that ended the first half at 1-0 to the Arsenal.
Five minutes after the break, Eduardo doubled his tally after receiving a fantastic defence-splitting 50-60 yard pass from first team debutant, Kieran Gibbs.
Gibbs is just one of a string of young English players whom Wenger has been quietly developing in the face of misplaced criticism about the multi-national nature of the current Arsenal crop, and the effect this has had on the English national side.
After receiving Gibbs' long pass, Eduardo kept his composure to slot past the Utd keeper again with his left foot. Current stats for the Croation run something like 10 goals in 11 games for his national side, and 34 goals in 32 games last season in the Croatian domestic league. If the Croatian's form keeps on improving at the current rate, it won't be long before Wenger has a real striker selection problem.
Twenty minutes after the break, and young Master Walcott could have had his name on the score sheet. After capitalising on some dreadful defending by Utd, Walcott out muscled and outrun a Utd defender, and easily beat Bennet, Utd's goalkeeper, only for the ball to hit the post and bounce back out in front of a gaping and empty goal.
If there was any criticism to be had, it was that none of the Arsenal players followed through to pick up the possibility of a loose ball - this is a tad harsh though, as to be fair few could have expected Master Walcott to get the better of the Utd defender and be through towards goal.
In the last 10 or so minutes, a dejected Sheffield Utd side didn't think it worth chasing down Denilson, the under-19 Brazilian captain, who after dribbling the ball past a couple of Sheffield Utd players, took a punt and struck well from distance. It took an oh-so-slight deflection off Morgan to beat the keeper and take the score line to a very comfortable 3-0. They should have known better, considering the quality of Denilson's edge-of-the-box goal against Newcastle's first team in the previous round of this competition.
After having had a really good start to the '07/'08 season, this rich vein of results will be put to test on Saturday, just after noon, when Arsenal's first team squad host current league champions Man Utd at Ashburton Grove, knowing full well that a win or even a draw would seal their position as early favourites for the premier league title.
It really is a hard one to call as both teams are playing out of their skins at the moment.
One thing is for sure though - the summit meeting between the two in-form teams at the top of the table pile promises to be a cracker of a game.
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