Like a Hammer to the groin West Ham forward Victor Obinna saw red during last night's Carling Leg semi-final first-leg victory over Birmingham City. The Nigerian petulantly flicked his foot up behind him to give Sebastian Larsson a swift kick to the crown jewels. Fortunately for the loanee, his side went on to win the [.

This Rafael red card vs Tottenham reduced Manchester United to ten men in the final minutes of their game at White Hart Lane on January 16, 2011. United however managed to hold firm to claim a point. Tottenham 0-0 Manchester United- 16th January 2011. The Rafael sending off was not a direct red for the [.

Football chants are the metaphoric glue that bonds fans together in banter. For some players these are songs praising their talent, for others, well, it's best not to go there. Unfortunately there are some offensive corkers we had to leave out, but the ones we left in are equally class.

I just glanced at the upcoming fixtures list and was pleasantly surprised by the remaining games in January. I knew there were Cup ties with Leeds and Ipswich followed by a game against West Ham but hadn't realized the next two games after that were at home against Wigan and Ipswich.

In effect, out of the next five games, three are against Championship sides and two against relegation candidates.

Much like the game against Leeds, I'm in the dark about the football prowess of Arsenal's opponents in the Carling Cup semi-finals. Add the fact that I haven't had much time in the last couple of days to even search for highlights involving their games and you get an apologetically ignorant blogger attempting a match preview based on some general observations.

Carling Cup calamity A goalkeeper would usually know he is at fault if he was beaten by a cleanly struck Carlton Cole effort, given his form this season. When a scuffed Cole strike beats you, you know something has gone horribly wrong. Birmingham City keeper Ben Foster picked a horrible time to play a game [.

Carling Cup calamity A goalkeeper would usually know he is at fault if he was beaten by a cleanly struck Carlton Cole effort, given his form this season. When a scuffed Cole strike beats you, you know something has gone horribly wrong. Birmingham City keeper Ben Foster picked a horrible time to play a game [.

JustArsenal can reveal the squad to face Ipswich later tonight is: Szczesny, Shea, Koscielny, Gibbs, Miquel, Song, Sagna, Djourou, Eboue, Clichy, Arshavin, Denilson, Wilshere, Bendtner, van Persie, Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott, Chamakh. A strong squad has been named to face Ipswich tonight with Miguel named as defensive cover and James Shea once again taking his place up on the [.

Since I posed the question in one of the posts yesterday, I was curious to determine how much of an impact Chicharito has had in terms of points won so far this season. Clearly, his impact is more than just goals and assists. But the intangibles are obviously more difficult to really measure. For the purpose of this exercise, I just went with a simplistic approach looking solely at the goals/assists stat and figuring out how many points he has won us because he scored/assisted.

Arsenal centre back Laurent Koscielny confessed he is very happy after the Gunners reached the Carling Cup Final after easing past Ipswich on Tuesday. Speaking to Arsenal TV Online after the game, the Frenchman admitted the ...

Apparently, there's a rumor floating around that we're looking to land Kaka on a loan deal this month. I highly doubt the credibility of said rumor or the likelihood of it ever transpiring. But if it does, I don't think it would be a bad situation to be in. We have needed creative reinforcements in midfield for awhile now and this would be a good environment for Kaka to get his career back on track after the injuries/dip in form he's had recently.

By Chris Wright

"I find your lack of faith disturbing"

It should come as no shock that Ipswich have, as this morning, respectfully told Roy Keane to 'stick it up his bollocks' and handed him his marching orders after a middling year-and-a-half in charge at Portman Road.

Work rate to go with the acrobatics?

FA Cup returns to the menu as Arsenal kick off their campaign against Leeds United. The opposition may only be a Championship team but their history means that we have to treat this match seriously. Since their glory days of getting in the Champions League semifinal, Leeds have plummet down the ranks of English football.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was visibly delighted after his side produced a solid performance to ease past Ipswich and reach the final of the Carling Cup. Speaking after the game, the Frenchman explained the players were ...

Something about this website has been bugging me for a while. It's a very welcome home for Arsenal-oriented debate, and the regulars here are great, all bringing something different to our little party. And the format is excellent, with contributions coming from that group of regulars, meaning one voice doesn't dominate.

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First things first.. Here's wishing a super happy new year to Gooners world over! 2010 was an exciting year to be a Gooner..

For me the year can be summed up under the following 5 pointers -

• Horrific injury to Ramsey (proving the -'ve football teams play against us)
• Comeback against Barca (proving our resolute)
• Wenger staying defiant despite getting jeered by the Old Trafford faithful (proving his faith in the ‘Arsenal Way')
• Standing ovation for Dudu at the Emirates (proving our class)
• Win against Chelsea (proving our belief)

That apart, there have been several moment which made us gasp in despair, jump in joy & go beserk in ecstasy.

The former Man Utd hardman's reign comes to an end after the Tractor Boys slumped to 19th position in the Championship and in serious danger of relegation. Roy Keane was sacked by owner Marcus Evans days before Ipswich play a FA third round fixture at Chelsea and then travel to Arsenal for the Carling Cup semi-final first leg.

Tumbling is not the way to go for big Nick

There's not much to go on about today. That title is true but only extend to the Arsenal reserves team. We were at the end of a 10-1 drubbing. That is a side which includes a slightly more experienced duo in Craig Eastmond and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas. No matter which way you look at it, being beaten by 9 goals is not good regardless of the level of competition.

Tumbling is not the way to go for big Nick

There's not much to go on about today. That title is true but only extend to the Arsenal reserves team. We were at the end of a 10-1 drubbing. That is a side which includes a slightly more experienced duo in Craig Eastmond and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas. No matter which way you look at it, being beaten by 9 goals is not good regardless of the level of competition.

If Larsson is about to sign for Newcastle United then nobody told Alex McLeish who started Sebastien Larsson tonight ion their 2-1 defeat at West Ham in the semi-final of the Carling Cup. Larsson had a good game and was doing the Joey Barton role for Birmingham in taking most of the free kicks and [.

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Titi returns to help guide Arsenal win a silverware!

Arsenal face Ipswich Town in a must win first leg Carling Cup semi-final on Wednesday night. The Gunners go into the match off the back of two disappointing draws that they looking back on they should have won. The matches against Manchester City and Leeds United were ones that Arsenal were expected to win, but they failed to do so.

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Titi returns to help guide Arsenal win a silverware!

Arsenal face Ipswich Town in a must win first leg Carling Cup semi-final on Wednesday night. The Gunners go into the match off the back of two disappointing draws that they looking back on they should have won. The matches against Manchester City and Leeds United were ones that Arsenal were expected to win, but they failed to do so.

LONDON, England Ben Foster handed under-pressure Avram Grant a lifeline with a huge error to gift 10-man West Ham a narrow 2-1 lead going into the second leg of their Carling Cup semi-final against Birmingham. The England stopper, who produced a series of stunning saves in the first half, failed to control Carlton Cole's [.

LONDON, England Ben Foster handed under-pressure Avram Grant a lifeline with a huge error to gift 10-man West Ham a narrow 2-1 lead going into the second leg of their Carling Cup semi-final against Birmingham. The England stopper, who produced a series of stunning saves in the first half, failed to control Carlton Cole's [.

Written by Big Raddy

Can you feel the tension? Are you moist with excitement? Breathlessly fearful of the possibility of defeat? Come on .... it is Semi-Final day.

These days do not come along as often as they used to I recall getting Wembley fatigue followed by even worse Cardiff fatigue, but now a Semi-Final is an unusual event.

Newcastle manager will meet with owner Mike Ashley today to discuss a couple of possible moves in the transfer market. We think one of those moves is for Birmingham's Seb Larsson, but with Seb playing last night in the the Carling Cup semi-final it's getting to be a rather strange transfer scenario. But another player [.

Lineups are in:

Ipswich: Starters: Fulop, Peters, McAuley, Delaney, Kennedy, Edwards, Norris, Healy, O'Dea, Wickham, Priskin Bench: Lee-Barrett Smith, Eastman, Civelli, Lambe, Murray, Hourihane

Arsenal: Starters: Szczesny, Eboue, Djourou, Koscielny, Gibbs, Walcott, Wilshere, Fabregas, Denilson, Arshavin, Bendtner Bench: Shea, Chamakh, Ramsey, Vela, Song, Eastmond, Miquel

A very strong lineup I would say.

Well I guess that settles one argument. Picking a strong side does not guarantee a result.

This game also proved Arshavin's First Law of Football – If you do not score, you'll concede!

But for large parts this was a tale of a woefully disjointed performance by Arsenal and some determined textbook defending by the hosts.

I hope everyone's rage has died down a little. Mine was slowly subsiding as I looked ahead to the West Ham game on the weekend and today's MLS SuperDraft. However, my anger began to bubble up again after hearing the latest comments from our captain:

"I don't know if it is long ball or it is a rugby kick but it worked for them.

Having already promoting promises of their maturity this season, Arsenal, once again left some question mark for their fans' hopes after the Gunners surprisingly suffered a 1-0 in the Carling Cup against Ipswich Town, despite fielding a pretty strong squad.

One of the cause of the defeat is being placed in the defensive department as with many injuries facing their main defenders, the substitutes' quality seemed far behind.

Tamas Priskin scored Ipswich's winner against Arsenal on Wednesday

In yet another week of cup ties in some of Europe's biggest domestic knockout competitions the biggest highlight came at the end of the week with local rivals Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid battling it out in the Copa del Rey.

Having suffered a very disappointing defeat against Ipswich Town in the Carling Cup, Arsenal will now shift their focus on the Premier League with some injury concerns for manager Arsene Wenger. Speaking to the Club's official ...

Three names that we were "linked" with have all fallen through. And probably for the best.

Roque Santa Cruz:

In total, Santa Cruz started eight games, with another 16 substitute appearances. The Paraguay international has earned around £6m in wages. (via guardian)

City have hardened their stance on the issue of wages for loan players since agreeing to subsidise Craig Bellamy's move to Cardiff earlier this season and Blackburn will pay the majority of Santa Cruz's salary.

Robin aiming to reach new heights

Another top versus bottom game for Arsenal in the Premier League. After West Ham last week, it's Wigan's turn this week. Wigan is only 2 points better than West Ham and sits also 2 places above them in 18th place in the standings. We've only got a point off them in the away games just before the turn of the year and traditionally, this has always been a home win for us.

Arsenal 3-0 Wigan Athletic ( Robin Van Persie*3) January 22, 2011 ( Arsenal at home) Robin Van Persie's brilliant hat trick gives Arsenal a comfortable 3-0 win over Wigan Athletic in the Premiership on Saturday. The winning margin could have been much higher had Wigan keeper Ali Al Habsi not been in such stunning form [.

After easing past Wigan Athletic in the Premier League on Saturday, Arsenal will now shift their focus to Tuesday's Carling Cup against Ipswich Town, at the Emirates. Ahead of the game, manager Arsene Wenger confirmed he ...

Fixture:- Arsenal vs Ipswich Town Competition:- Carling Cup Second Leg ( Ipswich lead 1-0 from the first leg) January 25, 2011- 19.45 UK-Emirates Stadium, London. Paul Jewell will look to repeat the feat he achieved with Wigan Athletic against Arsenal in the League Cup five years ago when he takes Ipswich Town to the Emirates [.

Fixture:- Arsenal vs Ipswich Town Competition:- Carling Cup Second Leg ( Ipswich lead 1-0 from the first leg) January 25, 2011- 19.45 UK-Emirates Stadium, London. Paul Jewell will look to repeat the feat he achieved with Wigan Athletic against Arsenal in the League Cup five years ago when he takes Ipswich Town to the Emirates [.

The Game We should not fool ourselves, tomorrow's is a very easy game and in my opinion easier than the just-won game against Wigan on Saturday. The Carling Cup draw has been kind to us ...

One big performance can earn Arsenal the ticket to Wembley for yet another final appearance that might be more cherished than previous ones due to the events of the past few years.

Ipswich Town bring a 1 – 0 lead to the Emirates. We can be sure the Tractor will be well anchored in front of their goal.