Tonight's action saw the first second leg of the Carling Cup semi-finals plus two re-arranged Premiership matches. After beating Arsenal 1-0 at Portman Road, Ipswich had the unenviable task of holding their lead at the Emirates. Manager Paul Jewell had only just been given the job prior to the first leg and therefore didn't manage Ipswich for it. But his side held Arsenal for 61 minutes until Nicklas Bendtner put the Gunners 1-0 ahead and level on aggregate. From there it looked to be only one winner and Laurent Koscielny made it 2-0 just three minutes later to give Arsenal the lead in the tie. Captain Fabregas was in top form tonight and deserved a goal to put the tie to bed with thirteen minutes left to go. Arsenal book their place at Wembley with their final opponents being named tomorrow as Birmingham clash with West Ham in their second leg.
Back in the Premiership, the DW Stadium held an untelevised meeting between Wigan and Aston Villa. Again there were no goals until the second half but Gabriel Agbonlahor gave Villa the lead just five minutes after the restart. Villa, who had momentum after seeing off Manchester City at the weekend, were awarded a penalty in the 62nd minute and captain Ashley Young sent Ali Al-Habsi the wrong way. Wigan pulled one back with ten minutes remaining thanks to James McCarthy but Villa held on for a second consecutive victory. The win moves Villa up to thirteenth but most teams around them have a game in hand.
Harry Redknapp said that if Manchester United remain unbeaten all season it would be a miracle. Well it was some sort of miracle for Manchester United to gain all three points away at Bloomfield Road. The speculation was all about Charlie Adam's possible move but by kick-off all that was forgotten as Adam became Blackpool's influential captain and playmaker again. United failed to maintain possession for most of the first half and their defending at set pieces was dreadful. Blackpool took full advantage and shook the Premiership after just fifteen minutes when a Charlie Adam corner wasn't defended and former United youngster Craig Cathcart was on hand to head home. United didn't learn from their mistakes and went two down two minutes before half-time; another Adam corner was flicked on from Nani and DJ Campbell pounced to head Blackpool 2-0 up. The second half didn't get much better and it should've got worse when Rafael looked to have barged into Varney in the box, but referee Peter Walton gave nothing. The tide of the match after the tactic of the match was played; an underwhelming Rooney was brought off after 66 minutes for Hernandez. They immediately started playing fast flowing football that a tiring Blackpool team couldn't deal with and Berbatov pulled one back with eighteen minutes left. Just two minutes later United equalised when Hernandez was put through by Giggs and the Mexican touched it past Kingson. Three minutes later an unfortunate clash of heads between Rafael and Harewood left Rafael dazed and in a heap. Reports at the minute say it's just concussion with worried brother Fabio leaving by his side down the tunnel. After that timely delay, United carried on where they left off and Berbatov broke free following a quick break and slotted past Kingson to make 3-2 and to win the game with two minutes of normal time left, but they still had to endure another ten minutes of injury time. The lucky win sees United go five points clear at the top with still a game in hand over Arsenal.
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