After Arsenal suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Championship outfit Ipswich in the first leg of the semi-final of the Carling Cup at Portman Road a fortnight ago, the Premier League giants have been left with the task of overturning the deficit at The Emirates Stadium this evening.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will be relying on his big guns to get the job done, and they don’t come any bigger at the moment than Robin van Persie.
Dutch forward van Persie has been in a rich vein of form in recent weeks, scoring a hat-trick in Arsenal’s most recent Premier League encounter against Wigan, and his return to the cup competition will be a welcome one for the Gunners. I wouldn’t be surprised if he netted again tonight as he’ll certainly be in the mood for it and such be the first player you select in your Picklive TRIO tonight.
If you look at the first leg at Portman Road, it was Arsenal players who dominated the points scoring. Denilson completed a massive 108 passes over the course of the 90 minutes, helping him rack up a huge 133 Picklive points. If the Brazilian starts tonight, expect him to put many of Arsenal’s attacks in motion and enjoy relative control in the middle of the park.
With Arsenal having to come from a goal down to make the final at Wembley, you can expect Wenger to pick a strong starting eleven, and thus one that contains captain Cesc Fabregas. The Spanish midfielder was awesome at The Emirates at the weekend and also broke the 100 points barrier in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final, so he’ll certainly be one to watch and therefore to select tonight.
As far as Ipswich are concerned, Paul Jewell will be conveying to his players the fact that they have a great opportunity tonight to reach a final and make a name for themselves. That’s exactly what Tamas Priskin did in the first leg, so will he be the man to do it tonight or will another Tractor Boy step forward?
It’s very hard to look past Arsenal tonight, as Arsene Wenger and his team won’t want to miss out on an opportunity to get one step closer to some elusive silverware. Therefore your Picklive selection is likely to be dominated by Gunners, with van Persie, Denilson and Fabregas somewhere near the top of the list. So what are you waiting for? Make your Picklive selections now!
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