A dramatic evening of Carling Cup football saw Blackburn cheer the ailing Big Sam with a penalty shoot-out win over a shuffled Chelsea lineup. Over at Eastlands meanwhile, Hughes fell out with Wenger but had a fine 3-0 for comfort. Here’s the analysis of last night’s team-sheets and action…
Starting with the spot-kick victory for Blackburn at Ewood and it was an unfamiliar lineup from Ancelotti on the night. Again he chose to shuffle the back four, starting with Ivanovic alongside Ferreira in central defence, with Belletti at right-back and Zhirkov on the left. It’s difficult to say how this will influence his defensive selection at City this weekend. Ivanovic will be favourite to keep his place; he too may have been rested last night had Alex been available. It seems set to be Ivanovic at right-back with Carvalho set to start alongside Terry, and Ashley Cole back at left-back.
The Chelsea midfield saw starts for both Joe Cole and Deco, although both were replaced at half-time as Ancelotti bizarrely chose to gamble on three subs at the break. It’s anyone’s guess who, of the two, will start at City. Joe Cole would seem the more likely; in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if Ancelotti kept faith with the same quartet that took on Arsenal (Mikel, Essien, Lampard and Cole) particularly as Ballack and Malouda played out the 120 minutes here. Kalou will be a big doubt having limped off with a groin injury last night, leaving Chelsea with ten men.
Blackburn fielded a strong, attacking lineup with Assistant boss Neil McDonald shaking things up after the stalemate with Stoke. He started with three strikers – Roberts and Kalinic lead the line, with McCarthy starting just behind them. Di Santo was ineligible against Chelsea as part of his loan deal, while Dunn and Andrews both missed out through injury. That saw a start for Gamst-Pedersen, while Salgado came in for Givet in defence. Both Dunn and Andrews remain doubts for the weekend meet with Liverpool at Ewood.
At Eastlands, Mark Hughes put out a full strength lineup. Bellamy restored on the left of midfield, while Tevez partnered Adebayor up front. Ireland and Barry made up the central midfield pairing. Both Wright-Phillips and Bellamy sparkled last night – the latter would now be confident of keepping his starting role for the visit of Chelsea this weekend, although it will be a tough decision for Hughes to keep Robinho benched in such a high-profile fixture.
As for Wright-Phillips, he continues to display the kind of form that earned him the plaudits in his first stint at City. He has now notched three goals in his last four starts for City and will be relishing the prospect of taking that form into the clash with his former club this weekend. He picked up a minor calf injury last night but is hopeful of being in contention.
In contrast, Adebayor’s form remains a concern. Hughes has recently blamed the striker’s suspension and ankle injury that followed for his dip. There’s little doubt that Adebayor is struggling a little for confidence and, after being a leading target for gameweek 14, the City striker tops the stats for “transferred out” this week in the Fantasy Premier League game. Last night’s blank will do little for his popularity.
While Hughes went with strength, Wenger sent out his usual mix of youth and second-stringers. This saw Song and Silvestre at centre-back, with Traore and Eboue at full-back. Rosicky provided experience in midfield, while Vela started up front – otherwise it was a very youthful, inexperienced side. The decision to start Song earned him a fifth booking of the season and Arsenal will now miss his muscular presence against Stoke at the Emirates this weekend.
This could be a major factor given then he is by far Arsenal’s biggest physical obstacle for the opposition – they are going to miss him when Delap starts slinging in those throw-ins. Suddenly the possibility of a rare Arsenal clean sheet looks even more unlikely and I’m also wondering how Song’s absence will affect Fabregas’ attacking freedom. Nasri could drop back to a holding role, although he is unlikely to give Fabregas the kind of protection offered by Song, so we might see the Arsenal skipper prompting from a slightly deeper position as a result. Certainly, off the back of two games without a goal, Wenger could do without such disruption to his midfield.