Well, the title is oversimplifying it a little bit, but let's not lose sight of everything in the midst of all the fallout from the Adebayor-Bendtner incident, and Spurs' champagne-spraying celebrations (as if they'd won the Champions' League or something).

The Carling Cup is, and always has been Arsenal's 4th priority. The Carling Cup, as Juande Ramos told us recently, was Tottenham's No. 1 target, and Dimitar Berbatov even said this was their "match of the year".

Hence we saw an extremely pumped Spurs team, at home, on the cusp of a Wembley final, playing a disjointed Arsenal side that have the slight distractions of competing for the league, and being in the Champions League AND the FA Cup.

The Spuds haven't won in this fixture since 1999, and that pathetic record of theirs was bound to end sometime. This was the perfect opportunity for it - at home, Carling Cup semi-final (which they messed up last year), and against their local rivals' second/youth side. They played like it was their "Match of the Year", and sadly we played like it was our lowest priority competition. However, while defeat is somewhat (only slightly) palpable, the scoreline was the shocking bit.

And on that, I have nothing to say other than "WHAT THE FUCK?". At 2-0 I shook my head, but though OK there's a chance. At 3-0 I grimaced, and at 4-0 I burst out laughing from the sheer absurdity of it all - who would have thought? Spurs up 4-0 against the Arsenal in a cup semi-final. Happily for them the record books will not tell us that the Carling Cup is a mickey mouse tournament, nor that Arsenal played a secondary side, but that's the price of losing.

Credit to them, they were excellent on the day, and quite clinical, but some of the Arsenal players were god awful. It wasn't even that weak of an Arsenal side, with Gallas and Sagna drafted in because of injury, and Hleb playing on the right to add some creativity. Fabregas even played most of the game after Denilson had come off injured after 20 minutes. Some of the players just did not seem up for it, and captain William Gallas particularly was awful.

Arsene Wenger gave in to the temptation of including some senior players, understandable given the size and nature of the fixture, but I understand completely his regrets in not letting some of the youngsters have a go and playing the players that he did, because some of them were just not in the game. 

The players will have to respond at the weekend against Newcastle, and it will be difficult with the cloud of the whole Bendtner-Adebayor clash hanging over them. Adebayor's behaviour was seriously, seriously out of order, and no matter how much he's done for the club, striking a junior teammate in public, in a game such as that, is completely unacceptable. While Bendtner is a cocky, mouthy lad, he is one of the family, and i'm sure the players and other people within the club are just shocked by what Ade has done.

There is some serious patching up to do.

The big news for the Carling Cup semifinal first leg at Ashburton Grove is that Lassana Diarra has been dropped, and that Robin Van Persie is in the squad. Fran Merida has also been left out, and that probably means that he's on his way to Chris Coleman's Real Socieded on-loan for the rest of the season.

Diarra not being in the squad means he's probably on his way, or that he's causing enough trouble for Wenger not to want him anywhere near the squad. Not quite sure what is running through his odd little (big?) head, but Arsenal has always been the place to be for young French players, and Wenger has an excellent track record of making them into internationals. Diarra is just 22, and his a big future ahead of him, but he's still quite raw. He wants to play so that he can be a France regular, but the irony is that most of his appearances for France have been filling at right-back, so what is he aiming for exactly?

He came from a Chelsea team that played ugly football and where he got no chances to an Arsenal team that plays wonderful football, and where he's gotten some chances, but what does he expect? To walk into a midfield that has Fabregas, Hleb, Rosicky, and Flamini playing out of his skin? Like Wenger said, he has to work his way into the starting lineup, that's how it is at a big club, and Diarra is causing problems and talking too much without having earned the right to do so.

He is a talented lad, and I hope he just goes out on loan, because the futures of Gilberto and Flamini are still in some doubt, so we might well need his holding abilities next year. Sam Allardyce was rumoured to be interested in signing him for Newcastle, but Sam Allardyce has been sacked, so who knows.

As for Van Persie, it's a welcome return for him. I doubt that he'll be starting, but it's a fantastic option to have him coming off the bench, and his individual genius is going to be much needed over the coming months. In games like the ones against Newcastle, Middlesborough and Portsmouth, where the team dropped points and looked uninspired, Van Persie could have made the difference with a dribble or free-kick or one of those inch-perfect shots from impossible angles.

The squad is as follows:

2 Abou DIABY
3 Bacary SAGNA
6 Philippe SENDEROS
9 EDUARDO
11 Robin VAN PERSIE
15 DENILSON
19 GILBERTO
20 Johan DJOUROU
21 Lukasz FABIANSKI (GK)
26 Nicklas BENDTNER
30 Armand TRAORE
31 Justin HOYTE
32 Theo WALCOTT
36 Mark RANDALL
40 Vito MANNONE (GK)
41 Gavin HOYTE

They are likely to lineup as:

Fabianski

Hoyte Djourou Senderos Traore

Walcott Denilson Gilberto Diaby

Bendtner Eduardo

That's a fairly straightforward 4-4-2, but Walcott will probably push further forward, with Diaby staying more central, and it might well be 4-3-3 depending on the situations.

The other possibilities are Sagna playing at left-back (Traore was awful against Burnley), or at right-midfield, with Theo on the left or up front. Van Persie could play wide in a 4-4-2, or on either flank in the 4-3-3, although the right-side is preferred by him.

Spurs have no real news coming into this game. Ledley King has returned for them at the back, and Michael Dawson will partner him in the middle. They have more or less a full strength side with Bale and Kaboul the only noteworthy absentees.

Update: Juande Ramos has apparently dropped Paul Robinson for this game 

The first goal, scored by Eduardo. A cracker after good work by Bendtner, who had a good game without being too effective:

Second goal, again by Eduardo, and a great pass from the youngster Kieran Gibbs. Some of you might remember him from the Emirates Cup where he played very well against Inter Milan. He was on the wing in that game, and Arsene Wenger described him afterwards as a "mini Ryan Giggs". Well, on Wednesday he played at left-back and gave a good account of himself, even though he is primarily an attacking player. Just goes to show the "total football" philosophy that is running through the club at the moment:

As for the third goal, well Denilson had a pop from long range, and it went in via a slight deflection from the defender, although enough to deceive the 'keeper. Denilson had a fantastic game, and this was a great reward for him:

Other honourable mentions go to Theo Walcott, who looks much more confident, and hit the post, and Lassana Diarra, who looks a fearsome prospect (although he hung on to the ball a bit more than he needed do, but he was probably just trying to impress). 

Don't they look spiffy in their suits? A great day for the kids (and Gilberto apparently), and let's hope that Chelsea are dancing to Fabregas's tune on Sunday. Good luck to the Arsenal!



You can also listen to interviews with Theo Walcott and Arsene Wenger

It's really great to see the boys having such a good time, and the camaraderie in the squad is excellent, and is a big thing that sets us apart from a lot of other teams. These kids all get along, they're all friends, and if they can stay together for 4 or 5 years they'll form a fantastic team with remarkable spirit and attitude.