Carling Cup Semi-Final Draw
After this week’s quarter-final action, Arsenal are left as the odds on favourites to win the Carling Cup. The sides left also include Birmingham City, West Ham United and Ipswich Town. You have plenty of time to lock in your football bets as the first legs take place on 10th January, with the second legs a fortnight later.
Arsenal beat Wigan Athletic 2-0 on Tuesday to advance. West Ham surprised Manchester United with a win, so Arsenal got a favourable draw against Championship club Ipswich Town. This bodes well for the Gunners to win their first Carling Cup trophy in six years. Their odds to win it are 4/9 at Paddy Powder.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger used the Carling Cup as training for his younger players in the past and had some success, reaching two semi-finals in the last five years. But, after five seasons without a trophy, Wenger no doubt played his best lineup against Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United and Wigan to get here. With a somewhat easy road ahead, the Gunners should go all the way to Wembley and win the Carling Cup for third time in club history.
While Ipswich Town have lost their last four league games in a row, they shined on Wednesday with a 1-0 win over Premier League club West Bromwich. Wins over Exeter, Crewe, Millwall, Northampton and West Brom got them through to their first Carling Cup semi-finals. The last time Ipswich made it to Wembley was their 1978 FA Cup victory, which explains the 16/1 odds.
The other half of the draw has West Ham facing Birmingham City. Coincidentally, West Ham owners David Gold and David Sullivan used to have ownership over Birmingham City. Premiership basement dwellers West Ham shocked Manchester United 4-0 with a pair of goals from both Jonathan Spector and Carlton Cole. Their odds to continue that streak and win the Carling Cup are 5/1 at Paddy Powder.
Birmingham beat Aston Villa 2-1 to get into the semi-finals, thanks to a deciding goal from Nikola Zigic. They beat Rochdale, MK Dons and Brentford as well. They have won only one other Carling Cup trophy, back in 1963. We will see how they perform at Upton Park since they played at the comfort of St. Andrews for their other matches. They have 9/2 odds to win the trophy.