Arsenal vs Birmingham City Carling Cup Final 2011: Live on Ten Action TV Channel

You can get the live score and text commentary of the Carling Cup Final 2011 at the following link:

Arsenal vs Birmingham City Live Updates

Arsenal and Birmingham City are going to face each other tomorrow (27 February 2011) at London’s Wembley Stadium in the final of Carling Cup 2011.

League Cup which is also known as Carling Cup is one of England’s two cup competitions and in terms of prestige it comes second to FA Cup. However, ahead of Sunday’s Carling Cup final, fans on both sides are overly excited, and thus, increasing the magnitude of this encounter. Why? Well, both teams are bidding for their first major title in many years.

Arsenal is considered as one of the top four clubs in England, but has not won any trophy over the last 6 years. In fact, FA Cup 2005 title was the last one that the North London club added to their trophy cabinet. In these years, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger used League Cup and FA Cup as the land to cultivate young talents. Well, the Frenchman changed his mind this season as he started to play his regular players in the cup competitions with his young guns beginning to come of age.

Similarly, Birmingham is also raring to end their trophy-draught era of 48 years. It seems almost a generation of Birmingham fans did not get the taste of any major title. Naturally, the Blues fans are no less excited with the match than the Gunners fans.

Live on TEN ACTION

Football fans from South Asia can watch this match live on Ten Action television channel. Ten Action is a new channel of Ten Sports or Taj Entertainment Network. The channel covers various football leagues and tournaments including UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A, Carling Cup, Dutch League, Scottish League and Coca Cola Championship.

So, fans who are waiting to enjoy the Carling Cup Final 2011 can expect a high quality coverage from Ten Action television channel which has a group of international football analysts and commentators.

Who will be the main players for the Gunners at Carling Cup Final 2011?

In the final match of Carling Cup 2011, Arsenal will have to play without Walcott. Another four player who are doubtful for the match are Diaby, Fabregas, Koscielny and van Persie. So, if all of these are unavailable then it will be a big blow for Arsene Wenger. On the other hand, if he can get at least 2 of them, then it would be a big boost for the squad.

First of all, there is no doubt that if Fabregas and van Persie both can play then it will totally change the atmosphere of Arsenal squad in the final of Carling Cup 2011. Assuming that all of these four players will be unavailable, if really that happens, then they will have to depend on Chamakh and Nasri. Ashravin will have to play a major role too. This season we have not seen too much of Arshavin, but in the last few matches he is coming back.

Nasri is undoubtedly the best player for Arsenal this season. At times, he even looked better than Fabregas and van Persie. Chamakh started the season very strongly, but then had to make way for fit-again striker Robin van Persie. In the last few matches, he stayed at the bench and watch van Persie playing some excellent football. I am hopeful that Chamakh also contributes in the final match.

However, I think, the most important player for Arsenal will be their goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny. He is in best form. 

Can Birmingham cause an upset in Carling Cup Final 2011?

There is now too much coverage on Arsenal about the League Cup Final 2011. Almost every journalist is writing about Arsene Wenger’s possibility of winning a trophy after many seasons. There is no doubt about that because Arsenal is one of the top four clubs in England, but I think it is unfair not to write at all about Birmingham City.

After all, Birmingham has reached the final of Carling Cup 2011 and they won same number of matches like Arsenal. On their way to the top, they had to win some big matches. For Birmingham, the main problem is goal scoring. They are not in a good position in league table and have been able to get just 30 points from 26 matches in the Premier League. On the other hand, Arsenal has been able to get 56 points from 27 matches. A goal difference for Arsenal is 30, while for Birmingham it is -10. This can cause a lot of worry for Birmingham.

To be honest with you, I do not see any possibility of causing an upset in the Carling Cup Final 2011.

Can Arsenal win without Cesc Fabregas: Carling Cup Final 2011

Cesc Fabregas is undoubtedly the best player of Arsenal and last night, he was taken off because of injury during the match against Stoke City. After his departure, Arsenal became weak and could not score more. Arsenal won the match 1-0, but when Fabregas left they never looked to be strong. That is why, there are lots of worry among the Arsenal supporters.

If Cesc Fabregas cannot play in the Carling Cup Final 2011, then I think that it will be a great problem for Arsene Wenger. There will be no Theo Walcott also and I think that the main burden will be on Jack Wilshere, Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie. I am sure that in this match Arsenal will be with their full strength and that is why it may be possible for them to win it.

Birmingham is not a weak team, but one matter that I think is that if only the opponent was someone like Chelsea or Manchester United, then winning without Fabregas would have been impossible. With Birmingham this should not be impossible. This is my idea. What do you think?

Update: It is now confirmed that Fabregas would be out of Carling Cup 2011. 

Injury Crisis at Arsenal ahead of Carling Cup 2011 Final

Arsenal players, officials, fans all are waiting for Sunday’s affair with Birmingham City in the Carling Cup 2011 final at the Wembley Stadium in London. However, the Gunners have been badly hit by injury ahead of the highly significant match with the millions of fans expecting Arsenal’s first title since FA Cup 2005.

Arsenal started last night’s 1-0 win over Stoke City, leaving in-form striker Robin van Persie and defender Laurent Koscielny in the treatment room. Van Persie is recovering from hamstring injury and Koscielny is taking treatment for his back problem. However, nothing can be said on their involvement in the Birmingham match until they are further assessed on Friday.

Just to make the matter worse, Arsenal picked up two new injury problems from Stoke City encounter. Captain Cesc Fabregas was substituted in the 14th minute after his niggling hamstring problem reappeared and manager Arsene Wenger did not take any risk on his prized asset.

Then in the 71st minute of the game in-from striker Theo Walcott, who showed elements of confidence brought from the Barcelona game, was stretchered off after twisting his ankle. Wenger has already ruled Walcott out of the Carling Cup final, but the Frenchman is still hopeful of the services of Fabregas, though, nothing can be said until the Spaniard’s condition is fully assessed by the club’s medical team.

Overall, Walcott is for sure out of the Birmingham match, while Robin van Persie, Laurent Koscielny and Cesc Fabregas are running against time to be back in contention for the final.