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Arsene’s red army left red facede
Carling Cup semi-final
Arsenal 2, Wigan 1
(2-2 on aggregate)
Premiership
Everton 1, Arsenal 0
WIGAN Athletic are in the Carling Cup final after captain Jason Roberts scored a fairytale 118th minute winner at Highbury on Tuesday, writes Tom Foot. Roberts pounced as a long ball eluded both Sol Campbell and the woeful Philippe Senderos.
The two central defenders had been poor throughout – they could have conceded three penalties – and seething Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger slammed them as “naïve” for conceding such a soft goal.
The Gunners had already seen a Jose Reyes penalty saved before Arsenal took the lead. Thierry Henry headed in after good work from Arsenal’s man of the match Kerrea Gilbert. The tie seemed destined for penalties until super sub Robin Van Persie, on for the hamstrung Henry, curled a superb free kick into the top right hand corner.
But the red army were left red faced with two minutes to go and Wigan won on the away goals rule.
Wenger said: “It was naïve because there was one minute to go and it was our goal kick.”
Against Everton on Saturday, Arsenal’s patched up defence was caught napping again when James Beattie stole behind Campbell and Senderos to score the only goal at Goodison. Cesc Fabregas should have scored and was later sent off after lashing out at Tim Cahill.
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