If you compare the two clubs that contested last night’s Carling Cup semi finals to restaurants, Arsenal would be like having dinner at the Ritz whereas their hosts Ipswich would be a more Little Chef-esque offering. That’s again what the cup competitions are about though – the chance for the Little Chef’s and service station diners of the world to take on the Michel Roux’s and Gordon Ramsey’s.
Not that we’re saying Gunners boss Arsene Wenger even knows what the word fuck is, let alone that he uses it in every sentence. Last night’s loss to struggling Championship side Ipswich might have been a just occasion to break out the bad language though – if it only extends to a polite use of the word crap.
This was the same side that succumbed to a 7-0 reverse at Chelsea on Sunday, but Tamas Priskin’s goal was all that the Tractor Boys needed to take a 1-0 lead into the Carling Cup semi-final second leg. Paul Jewell takes over today and will enter the Emirates in two weeks time with a goal advantage, and know that the side 36 places above them didn’t deserve anything from the game.
Despite losing, Wenger’s side are unsurprisingly 8/15 favourites to lift the trophy at Wembley in March but they again showed the metal that they seem to lack when trophies are at stake.
Blackpool hosted Liverpool in the evening’s other game. The home side came from behind to do the double over the former European Cup winners to leave returning hero Kenny Dalglish yet to record a win or draw.
“King Kenny’s crown is looking a little skewiff after just two games,” said William Hill’s spokesman Graham Sharpe, as the odds lengthened to 5/4 that he would be permanent boss come the end of the season.
