Tottenham vs Arsenal – Carling Cup 

3rd round of the Carling Cup and the biggest rivals of London are head to head. These two teams can’t see one another and all the year they were complaining against each other.

Tottenham did not start well this season and they only manage to get their first win against Wolves, last game, by 3 goals to 1. They were losing 1-0 until 77 minutes.

The coach Redknapp says the Carling Cup is a good opportunity to improve the team and win something, but admits that he needs to rest players after a hard and tiring beginning of the season.

Many think that Arsene Wenger is the only one that saves players for this kind of games but Redknapp will do that too.

“Gareth Bale played two games for England and then traveled many miles to face Bremen in Germany. He is young and I have to protect him. I can’t use the same players every game. There will be many changes. Wenger has been doing that the last few years, even in the semi-finals. We got to do what is right for the team.
Strategy: Redknapp use an attacking midfielder to support the attack, which means that Gio dos Santos can play the role of Van der Vaart. Alan Hutton will be the right defender replacing Corluka which is injured.

Unavailable: Gomes, Corluka, Kaboul, Bentley, Defoe, Modric, Woodgate and Dawnson.

Probable team: Pletikosa; Hutton, Bassong, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto, Giovani, Palacios, Sandro, Kranjcar; Keane, Pavlyuchenko.

Arsenal haven’t won a trophy since 2005 but that is no reason to put a strong team in this competition. The Gunners are still thinking in the draw that they suffer at the 95 minute last game. Almunia feels that the team is gaining more experience and is increasingly able to meet new challenges.

“Every player is a bit older every year and every year we learn a little more. Football gives us experience.” Saidthe Spanish Keeper.

Strategy: Wenger knows only one way to play- go with full peace. Any team plays the same with this coach no matter the age and they are going to test the Croatian goalkeeper Pletikosa.

Unavailable: Fabregas, Walcott, Van Persie, Bendtner, Song, Ramsey, Vermaelen.

Probable team: Fabianski, Hoyte, Djourou, Squillaci, Gibbs, Eboue, Eastmond, Wilshere, Lansbury, Emmanuel-Thomas, Vela.

Conclusion: Two total different teams will face off and we certainly have doubts in each one we should bet. So I believe that we are going to have a game with a lot of goals because both defenses are going to present weaknesses. It’s a game that no one wants to lose because they are rivals.
Tottenham haven’t made major changes in a long time but Arsenal has many injured players. Totenham has struggled to use their best players when playing at home so against a strong opponent may also have serious game problems.