A 2-1 victory to West Ham in the first Carling Cup semi-final leaves the tie wide open and Birmingham will be confident of overturning the deficit at St Andrew’s. Now it’s time to turn our attention to the second semi final between Championship strugglers Ipswich and Premier League high flyers Arsenal. A foregone conclusion you might think, but if Ipswich are to make the tie interesting they must perform well at Portman Road tonight. So which Ipswich players will be key to that?
Let’s get the bad news out of the way. On-loan pair Jake Livermore and Rory Fallon are ineligible, but perhaps even worse that that, is that Grant Leadbitter is still suspended. This is not a good run-up to the game for Ipswich, as Leadbitter is the leading Picklive points’ scorer for the Tractor Boys this season. He has racked up 149 points in Ipswich’s two Picklive encounters up to now, so he’s a big loss.
It is also pretty hard to take any positives from Ipswich’s 7-0 FA Cup hammering at the hands of Chelsea, but it should fire the players up to perform better against the Gunners. David Norris played in that game and he is Ipswich’s second highest Picklive points’ scorer this season, just ahead of Andros Townsend who has since returned to Tottenham.
Next in the rankings Jason Scotland, who could be a good selection as he’ll be desperate to score and show that he can perform against Premier League defences after all. His probable strike partner Connor Wickham is another one looking to catch the eye and show why so many Premier League managers are tracking the youngster. With Arsenal’s fallibility at the back, there’s a good chance that Ipswich will register their name on the score sheet tonight.
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As far as Arsenal go it’s the usual pretenders for the Gunners. Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Alex Song are still leading the way in the Picklive standings, but with Arsenal’s congested fixture list becoming even busier due to an FA Cup third round replay against Leeds at Elland Road, Arsene Wenger may select a youthful eleven tonight.
Theo Walcott looked like a threat when he came on at The Emirates against Leeds on Saturday, and if he gets a start in the Carling Cup tonight you should definitely consider him for your Picklive selection. Nicklas Bendtner was largely ineffective on Saturday, but if Wenger employs him through the middle expect the Dane to put in a much better showing.
Who are you going to select as your Picklive trio for Ipswich v Arsenal tonight? Our friends over at Gunnersphere.com are hosting a game so make sure you join them at 19:45 and try your hand at LIVE fantasy football, for free!
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Love fantasy football? Love live footy? You’ll love live fantasy football! Take part in the Ipswich v Arsenal match and play Picklive for FREE Go on, give it a go!
