Carling Cup - Burnley upset Arsenal to reach semis

Eurosport - Wed, 03 Dec 09:55:00 2008

Burnley reached the Carling Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1983 with a 2-0 victory against Arsenal at Turf Moor.

FOOTBALL Burnley's Kevin McDonald scores against Arsenal during their Carling Cup match at Turf Moor - 0

Kevin McDonald scored both goals for the Championship side, who had goalkeeper Brian Jensen to thank for a string of fine saves to deny Arsene Wenger's young gunners.

Jensen was called on as early as the fourth minute, when he rushed out to deny Nicklas Bendtner with a sharp save when the striker was clean through.

Moments later Burnley went ahead. Former Manchester United player Chris Eagles crossed from the right and a mistake from Arsenal goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski allowed McDonald to pounce on the loose ball and tap home.

Arsenal responded well, and within five minutes Bendtner once again found himself clean on goal, only to be thwarted by another piece of fine goalkeeping from Jensen.

On 35 minutes Aaron Ramsey's neat flick gave Bendtner yet another opportunity, but for the third time Jensen came out sharply and made the save.

Soon after Carlos Vela had an even better chance, but Jensen would not be beaten. The Dane was having an inspired evening and Arsenal went into the interval trailing despite having enjoyed the majority of the chances.

Owen Coyle's Burnley emerged for the second period with newfound defensive sensibilities, and Arsenal could no longer create chances at will.

The home side doubled their lead on 56 minutes, when McDonald brushed aside the attentions of Mark Randall all too easily before curling an exquisite shot beyond Fabianski with the outside of his right foot.

With that the Arsenal challenged evaporated. Wenger introduced Amaury Bischoff, Jay Simpson and Henri Lansbury, but his team could find no way past a resilient and determined opposition.

Burnley could have made it three when Robbie Blake's fine cross found Martin Paterson unmarked, but Fabianski made a sharp save to deny the forward.

The win for Burnley follows their dramatic penalty shoot-out victory against Chelsea in the previous round and leaves the Lancashire club just one win from an unlikely date at Wembley Stadium.

Will Tidey / Eurosport

Comment 83 - 102 of 122

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  1. north west power!

    From ezra, on Wed 3 Dec 8:25AM

  2. haha. i think arsenal should look for 1 or 2 senior and­ experienced players. they cannot totally banking on­ their youngsters. am i right? anyway, go! go!­ manchester united. we are the best.

    From ashraf, on Wed 3 Dec 8:12AM

  3. all these idiots on here who no nothing about football­ saying that Burnley "slaughtered Arsenal" and­ Arsenal "underestimated them." errrr not­ true! Wenger play's his young guns to give them­ experience in big matches. He doesn't really care­ about a small cup like the League Cup, he sticks to a­ group of young boys aged 16 to 20 and lets them get­ some experience. Plus they did no where near­ "slaughter us" mzchibwana u idiot! they­ played well defensively and their goalkeeper got lucky­ with his saves.... jeez this place is full of 11 yr­ olds

    From ask me, on Wed 3 Dec 8:06AM

  4. some peoples comments really s** me. wenger has been so­ explicit- he uses the carling cup for development­ reasons; to expose the young fellas. period. now, for­ someone to suggest that arsene under- estimated­ burnley, is utter rubbish and dis- gusting. it only­ smells hatred for arsenal. some criticism is just­ useless..

    From Ticha NYATEKA, on Wed 3 Dec 8:02AM

  5. This was nothing about being to confident.. or wenger.­ today arsenals young guns got beat for once well done­ to burnley the resason arsenal lost was to missed­ chances. thats it unlucky arsenal.

    From jakejj101, on Wed 3 Dec 8:02AM

  6. awesome stuff from Burnley, Arsenal shouldn't be so­ selfish, underestimating their opponents :)

    From First L, on Wed 3 Dec 7:55AM

  7. Wenger underestimated Burnley after beating Chelsea.­ This will silence him for a while. Well done Burnley­ for slaughtering them. It does not matter wether it was­ the young gunners who were beaten, but it is ARSENAL­ who were booted out of the curling cup.

    From Martin, on Wed 3 Dec 7:50AM

  8. Jim that's not true.Chelsea and Arsenal badly need­ this Carling Cup but were all overwehmed by a junior­ side.Whatelse does Chelsea or Arsenal want again if not­ this cup?ELP title?FA Cup or Champions League? None of­ the above as Liverpool will never allow any of them to­ titled EPL or Champions League and as ManU is ready for­ the FA Cup grap.

    From Michael, on Wed 3 Dec 7:47AM

  9. I really don' t think Chelsea and Arsenal­ underestimated Burnley, because if u look at where­ Burnely is at this moment in the Coca-Cola Championship­ table (4th), it's fair to say they are probably­ about as good as any of the teams in the bottom third­ of the EPL table.

    I think it comes down to the fact­ that Chelsea and Arsenal are not interested in the­ Carling Cup and would rather save their players and­ efforts for more important EPL and UCL games.

    From Jim V, on Wed 3 Dec 7:34AM

  10. Wenger must go. He has been making tactical mistakes­ all these times

    From Henderson, on Wed 3 Dec 7:34AM

  11. The demise of Arsenal started years ago when they got­ rid of Patric Vierra!!! You don't let a player­ like him just walk out of the camp!!! Look at Man U and­ Renaldo - they have held on to him.

    From Spencer, on Wed 3 Dec 7:09AM

  12. now h do you like that aresnal in your face, without or­ with cheating you didn't manage to score even one­ goal oh what's that oh right you lost­ (ARESNAL=LOSERS)
    ***K you aresnal

    From fadydaaboul, on Wed 3 Dec 7:04AM

  13. Looks to be an exciting final : Derby County v/s­ Burnley

    Why simply apply a new rule (The Mervin Rule,­ lol) and EPL teams not play or shall they play with the­ reserves... Just a waste of time of such clubs,­ especially the Big Four, as they have other challenges­ during the season.

    From Mervin A, on Wed 3 Dec 7:04AM

  14. assenal underestimated burnley, and paid for it..no­ disrespect to burnley though, they played very very­ good..hope united will win against blackburn tonight,­ and draw them next...that would be good game,cause SAF­ won't be underestimating burnley...plus i'm­ happy that chris eagles is doing well, he is very­ talented but just couldn't get past ronaldo, nani,­ fletcher etc...

    From deljuve_10, on Wed 3 Dec 6:54AM

  15. Re: #83 - Sure you didn't sign in as McPlonker?

    From freddyholmes45, on Wed 3 Dec 6:54AM

  16. Hahahahahahahahahaaaaaaa...

    Nuff said...

    From Buzz, on Wed 3 Dec 6:24AM

  17. The champions league should be for the champions of­ each league,not 2nd,3rd and 4th places,like the EUAF­ cup should be for cup winners only not teams coming­ down from the champions league. well done Burnley for a­ fine display of attacking football.
    jim h

    From jim, on Wed 3 Dec 5:49AM

  18. Well done Burnley...

    From philip, on Wed 3 Dec 5:37AM

  19. I am a Burnley fan.

    Firstly Arsenal played very well­ and were unlucky not to get at least 1 goal. The Beast­ played extremely well to stop them from scoring. Having­ said that we missed a hatful of chances as well.

    I do­ think though, that the Arsenal players underestimated­ Burnley, and that ultimatly was their undoing. All I­ read in the build up to the match, was how these­ players are really good, and that it is no suprise to­ each and one of them how good they are. No mention of­ they have to be careful of Burnley.

    Someone comented­ on how they doubt Burnley will keep this run in the cup­ going. I agree. If we play Man U at some stage, they­ wont underestimate us. Even SAF was watching the match.­ We have a small squad, so it is not likely that we can­ have the suprise factor, and any team worth their salt­ in the PL will have us sussed now.

    From jonathanr, on Wed 3 Dec 5:17AM

  20. going down arsenal....

    From adu bary, on Wed 3 Dec 5:02AM
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