Spurs Go Marching Out Of The Carling Cup.

Tottenham Hotspur 1 and Arsenal 4.

Tottenham Hotspurs went into White Hart Lane feeling like an away team, with experienced and rusty players compared to Arsenal who had a troop of youngsters looking for their break into the first team. The fast paced entertaining football was evenly poised in midfield, with Spurs with a little dominance, taking the game to the Gunners. They crumbled like a sand castle in a heavy storm.

It was one way traffic as soon as Arsenal got their rhythm, as Spurs failed to turn brief control of the match into something meaningful. Karen Gibbs exchanged passes with Thomas Rosiscky to set up Jack Wilshire to cross for Henry Lansbury to score in the 16th minute.

The goal burst Spurs' bubble completely as they were on back foot from then on, and chasing shadows. The Gunners started keeping the ball with authority for extended periods. Carlos Vela, Samir Nasri and Emmanuel Eboue were also influential in the proceedings. Spurs retreated a great deal, defending far too deep, just outside the 18 yard box inviting Arsenal to come at them. The Gunners were unlucky to have two crucial bad call when a clear penalty case was waved on and an offside decision denied them a potential one-on-one with the goalkeeper.

Eventually, Spurs came back into the game passing very well, but only operating in the middle 3rd of the field without venturing into the attacking third in any threatening manner. Arsenal were defending from the front, chasing every ball and pressing hard and tirelessly.

The second half started with Aaron Lennon and Robbie Keane coming from the bench for Spurs and within 2 minutes Fabrianski was picking the ball from the net. Keane was in an offside position which was never given and he coolly slotted under the goalkeeper to level the scores 1-1. It was then a balanced affair for most of the remaining second half.

The introduction of Chamakh and Arshavin did little to turn things around until the last 5 minutes of the match remaining. Despite Robbie Keane striking the post and a Lennon hesitation later on, there was not much goalmouth action for the Saints. Frustration was evident as Arsenal became more desperate trying to get the result that was going the finish the match before extra time.

A minute of extra time produced a moment of unnecessary panic as Bassong held Nasri in the box to hand the French man a spot kick he converted with a lot of ease to give the hosts a mountain to climb. 4 minutes later, Chamakh was felled in the box for yet another penalty that again, Nasri converted by sending the goalkeeper another way. Spurs dropped their heads as Bentley misdirected a header off-target from close range to surrender the match to the Gunners who scored the fourth through Arshavin who drove hard and low a quickly taken free-kick in the last-minute of the first half of extra time.