The first piece of 2011 silverware in England will be handed out this Sunday as Arsenal face Birmingham at Wembley in the Carling Cup final. (LIVE on Fox Soccer at 11 am ET)
For Birmingham, who are just three points clear of the relegation zone and are an uncertain side at best, this is the closest thing to a "free" game a team can find. They enter as heavy underdogs and can save a lost season with a win - but they will not be pilloried should they lose.
Not so for Arsenal. It’s a must-win match for the Gunners, who enter under intense pressure to snap a six-year trophy-less drought and avenge a 2007 finals defeat in this competition to Chelsea. If the pressure from the bookmakers and the Londoners’ baying fan base wasn’t enough, an already-slight Arsenal enter this game with two new key injuries that could mean as many as five starters missing on the day.
The most recent casualties happened Wednesday against Stoke in a midweek Premier League fixture that saw the Potters hack down playmaker Cesc Fabregas and winger Theo Walcott. Fabregas walked off the field after only 14 minutes and is questionable with still another hamstring strain; Walcott is definitely out with an ankle injury after he was raked studs up by Dean Whitehead. Neither tackle drew sanction from ref Peter Walton, and manager Arsene Wenger described both as "accidents" that are "part of sport."
Arsenal’s casualty list already included first-choice 'keeper Lucasz Fabianski (shoulder; out for the season), defender Thomas Vermaelen (Achilles’; indefinite). And Wenger may not be able to call on in-form striker Robin van Persie (hamstring) or defender Laurent Koscielny (back.) As a result, the Gunners may have to pair Johan Djourou next to erratic Sebastien Squillaci and start either Nicolas Bendtner or Maroune Chamakh up top with Andrei Arshavin in support.
Birmingham have few major injury woes, although former Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb will be a game-day decision because of a badly-bruised knee. More important could be the loss of David Bentley who is cup-tied because of his appearance for Tottenham earlier this season.
Birmingham fans of course will have little sympathy for the Arsenal faithful who kvetch about bare cupboards: The Blues have won only one major title in their 136-year history, the 1963 League Cup, and their manager, Ally McLeish, has never won a trophy in England. (Big Eck of course won twice with Rangers in the Scottish Premier League.)
The match is expected to be bruising: Wembley’s turf is notorious: despite repeated assurances from its groundskeepers, match day seems to inevitably bring a choppy, cut-up surface that causes slips and falls. The two sides also have a rough recent history, with Birmingham’s Lee Bowyer taking a three-match ban after he stamped on Arsenal’s Bacary Sagna this season and Jack Wilshere being ejected for the Gunners after he scythed down Nikola Zigic last October.
Jamie Trecker is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com covering the UEFA Champions League and the Barclay's Premier League.
