Arsenal line-up: Szczesny, Sagna, Koscielny, Djourou, Clichy, Rosicky, Nasri, Song, Wilshere, Arshavin (Chamakh, 77'), Van Persie (Bendtner, 69')
Birmingham line-up: Foster, Carr, Johnson, Ridgewell, Jiranek, Bowyer, Larsson, Gardner (Beausejour, 50'), Ferguson, Fahey (Martins, 83'), Zigic (Jerome, 90')
The first main silverware (excluding the Community Shield) went up for grabs yesterday as the Carling Cup final took place at Wembley. Arsenal were looking for their first piece of silverware in six years and the clear favourites over Alex McLeish's Birmingham. There was controversy early on as Bowyer was flagged offside when he looked onside and was brought down by Szczesny in just the third minute. Unusually the League Cup final saw two teams both looking to attack and go for the jugular straight away. Both teams created chances without any real venom until Birmingham won a corner in the 27th minute. Any questions about the inexperienced Polish keeper were well and truly asked with the corner met by Zigic in front of Szczesny and the Serb headed through the keeper's hands to give Birmingham the lead. Arsenal gained momentum following the goal but Foster and his defence kept a stern grip of the lead. Six minutes from half-time Jack Wilshere struck the crossbar and the rebound fell to Arshavin on the edge of the box. After rounding a couple of players, the Russian crossed the ball to Van Persie and the Arsenal captain equalised.
The second half saw Birmingham dealt a big blow with Craig Gardner suffering a knock to lead to his substitution just five minutes after the restart. News got worse for Birmingham as Roger Johnson also picked up a injury but was able to carry on through the pain. The Blues came the closest to re-taking the lead when Keith Fahey smashed the post on the hour mark. With Johnson and also Jiranek not looking their fittest, Arsenal decided to take advantage by bringing on Chamakh and Bendtner. Arsenal launched into wave after wave of attacks with Foster having an invincible display in front of the watching Fabio Capello. There was also heroic defending from the injured quarters with everyone throwing their bodies in the way to block Arsenal attacks. The game was almost certain to go into extra time despite the introduction of Obafemi Martins. But Arsenal obviously had other ideas; Birmingham cleared their lines after yet another onslaught and Szczesny looked comfortable enough to gather the ball. Somehow Koscielny decided to get in the way and a lack of communication saw the ball bounce of the pair of them into the path of Martins, the Nigerian was more than happy to tap the ball home to give Birmingham the Carling Cup victory. Arsenal's six year long wait for a trophy should have come to an end but take nothing away from the heroic Birmingham performance as Arsene Wenger has to keep fuming for a while longer.
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