Match report: Arsenal vs. Liverpool (Carling Cup).

Milk, Littlewoods, Rumbelows, Coca-Cola, Worthington, Carling…such have been the mutations of the League Cup since it was given over to sponsorship in the early eighties. Whilst these changes have been largely cosmetic and haven’t affected the basic format, there has been a definite decline in the status of the competition over recent years, driven by the top clubs fielding weakened teams in order to concentrate on the Premier League and the Champions League. One of the first clubs to adopt this approach was Arsenal. Whilst this attracted criticism at first, Arsene Wenger’s policy of blooding young talent in this competition is now widely recognized as being a good thing, and gave fans their first glimpses of the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie. 

Dupin went along to the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday evening to see some of the Arsenal young guns and, as a Liverpool fan (slight apologies for the Liverpool-centric flow of articles at present), to see the long-awaited début of Alberto Aquilani, the £20 million signing from AS Roma. Unfortunately, the brightest young gunner, Jack Wilshere, was out injured, but the brief substitute appearance from Aquilani was almost worth the entrance fee alone, as they say.

The 60,004 attendance is testament to the ongoing value of the competition; the Liverpool ticket allocation is all used up and both sets of fans are in high spirits. Truth be told, there isn’t much of a rivalry between the clubs, more of a mutual respect-at-a-distance. Most of the Arsenal banter is directed towards the upcoming derby with Spurs at the weekend.

Wenger has gone for a mixture of fringe first-teamers and youth, the names to note are the 18 year-olds Aaron Ramsey and Craig Eastmond (both in central midfield) and 19 year-old Fran Mérida, with strong attacking support from the returning Nasri, Bendtner and Eduardo up front. Liverpool have a similarly inexperienced central midfield in Jay Spearing and Damien Plessis, but elsewhere it’s the senior squad players, including a rare outing for rightback Philipp Degen.

The match is a tale of three fine left-footed strikes. The first, on 19 minutes, is a sharply taken effort from Mérida, just outside the box, which Liverpool stand-in ‘keeper Cavalieri can’t react to. It is with the flow of the game – Ramsey especially, whilst still lacking a bit of muscle, is a composed presence and too good for the leggy Plessis and the terrier-like Spearing. Nasri, whilst not doing anything spectacular, is looking eager for the ball and making things happen. From my vantage, I have the perfect first-half view of Degen, who is a recognizable footballing stereotype - an express train going forward but seemingly incapable of moving his hips and doing anything non-linear. He commits at least three foul throws during the evening to boot.

However, there is decent esprit de corps on the Liverpool side, captained by Dirk Kuyt, and they get an equalizer seven minutes later, when Babel lays the ball off with his chest for Insua to latch onto and put in a superb 25-yard dipping volley past Fabianski for his first Liverpool goal.

Arsenal  get the winning goal five minutes into the second half, as Bendtner beats Skrtel in the box and fires past Cavalieri. I suspect that Reina might have done rather better with this one.

On 76 minutes, the Liverpool fans are able to welcome Aquilani into the action and within minutes it is apparent that he is the best player on the pitch. He has that wonderful combination of artistic vision and physical presence that sets certain players apart from the rest. An Alonso-esque cross-field ball here, a confident ball juggle and volley pass there, now a cut and thrust run - it was a joy to watch. He might also have got a penalty when Senderos blocked a scissor kick effort with his arms but this would have been harsh on the Arsenal defender. The worry with Aquilani is that he is prone to breakdown but on this evidence, if he can get and stay fully fit, Liverpool have a fantastic player.

The match draws to a close, with Liverpool slightly unfortunate not to get an equalizer with some good late pressure but the result is not of huge importance to either club – for once, it really has been just about the nature of the football. Wenger will continue to field this sort of team in the quarter-finals and (probably) beyond and none of the Arsenal fans will be complaining. Outside the stadium and it’s back to the taunting of Spurs manager Harry Redknapp. That should be a great game.