When Birmingham City is planning to celebrate the birthday of their owner Carson Yeung with a prestigious Carling Cup trophy, Arsenal is facing a challenge of putting an end to their trophy-draught era spanning almost half a decade. Arsenal players, officials and fans are eagerly waiting for their first major success since FA Cup 2005 when the Gunners face Premier League club Birmingham City on Sunday in the final of Carling Cup 2011.
Now, if this occasion is supposed to be the source of inspiration and motivation for the Arsene Wenger boys, then the absence of captain Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott- two of their most important players this season- is undoubtedly a major blow in their bid to winning the Carling Cup title at the Wembley Stadium.
The only good news for Arsenal is that Robin van Persie and Laurent Koscielny are available for the match after recovering their respective injuries that kept them on the sidelines since their Champions League victory over Barcelona.
It is true that Arsenal, even without Fabregas and Walcott, should be too good for Birmingham City who did not win any major trophy since 1963 League Cup (now also known as Carling Cup being named after the title sponsors). Arsenal has a number of talented players like Samir Nasri, Andrey Arshavin, Song, Wilshere and some others.
However, Wenger boys know it very well that Birmingham would do their best to cause an upset. In fact, for the Blues they have nothing to lose in this fixture, but have everything to win. Moreover, Birmingham owner Carson Yeung’s birthday would work as an added motivation for Birmingham City players. Overall, Arsenal is undoubtedly favorite in this encounter, but then Wenger boys have to put in all their efforts to nullify Birmingham’s chances in the match.
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