Cup win tempered by Gibbs injury

Kieran Gibbs
12 April 2012

Arsene Wenger feels the 4-1 victory at Tottenham proves Arsenal have every intention of going all the way in the Carling Cup this season, but admits concern over a metatarsal injury to England defender Kieran Gibbs.

Teenager Henri Lansbury swept the visitors ahead from close range on 15 minutes. Robbie Keane, who came on at half-time, scored an equaliser three minutes after the restart to level for a much-changed Spurs side. However, neither team could find a winner in normal time, with Samir Nasri's penalty double and Andrey Arshavin's goal sending the Gunners through.

Left-back Gibbs hobbled off during the first period of extra-time with what could be another serious metatarsal problem, the youngster having missed a large part of last season and with it the chance to feature at the World Cup because of a similar injury. "We have to check, that is the only disappointment of the night, because Gibbs had a very good game," said the Arsenal manager.

"We hope we do not get bad news on Wednesday. It is a metatarsal again, it is the one next to the one he had broken, the second one, so we hope we have good news, because that would be a massive blow to us."

Wenger had named a strong side for Tuesday night's tie, with the likes of Arshavin and Marouane Chamakh on the bench.

"We have got a few reproaches that we did not take the competition seriously, it was a derby and to go out straight away for us would be difficult," said the Gunners boss.

"If everybody is fit, I can go as well for this competition. I have always said that the big competition you really count are the Champions League and the [Premier League] championship. I maintain that, but I want to win every single game I play with my team."

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp admitted it was in the end too much of an ask for his much-changed side, but believed it was a worthwhile exercise.

"We made 10 changes, they made eight, but it was a chance for those lads who had not played, because they needed to play," he said.

"I was picking the players I needed to play - I can't keep playing the same people, you end up killing them off in the end."

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