Spurs destroy Arsenal to reach League Cup final Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Tottenham ended more than eight years of failure against arch-rivals Arsenal in some style with a resounding 5-1 (6-2 agg) win at White Hart Lane to book a trip to Wembley in the Carling Cup final.
Looking for their first win over their rivals since 1999, Jermaine Jenas and a Nicklas Bendtner own goal put them ahead in the first half at White Hart Lane.
Robbie Keane and Aaron Lennon added more in the second half to extend the remarkable run of Spurs head coach Juande Ramos, before Emmanuel Adebayor came off the bench and pulled one back for Arsenal and Steed Malbranque wrapped up the scoring.
The tone was set for the evening when Spurs were off to a flyer inside the opening three minutes. Dimitar Berbatov flicked the ball on to Jenas, who charged towards the edge of the area, before side-stepping Justin Hoyte. The England midfielder then coolly dispatched a low angled strike in off the far post.
The tie looked all but over on 26 minutes when Spurs moved 2-0 ahead. Jenas sent in a deep free-kick from the left, which floated into the Arsenal six-yard box. Michael Dawson jumped with Bendtner - and the unfortunate Dane could only guide the ball past his own keeper.
Spurs secured safe passage to Wembley two minutes after the restart. Berbatov flicked the ball onto Lennon in the centre circle.
His exquisite pass with the outside of the boot split the visitors' defence as Keane ran on into the box. The Republic of Ireland striker sent a half-volley towards the bottom right corner from just inside the box, which bounced up in front of Lukasz Fabianski and flew into the net.
Their short journey across north London on February 24 was confirmed when Lennon got in on the overlap down the right from Keane's quick pass and slammed in a low drive through Fabianski's legs.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger took off the ineffective Theo Walcott, introducing Adebayor while Croatian forward Eduardo replaced full-back Armand Traore after 65 minutes.
The Togo frontman pulled one back with 20 minutes left, linking up with Eduardo to smash home a 16th goal of the season from the edge of the box - but this time, Spurs would not be denied a long-awaited victory as Malbranque netted a fifth in stoppage time.
