2011 Football League Cup Final

The 2011 Football League Cup Final was the final match of the 2010–11 Football League Cup, the 51st season of the Football League Cup, a football competition for the 92 teams in the Premier League and the Football League. The match was contested by Arsenal and Birmingham City, at Wembley Stadium in London, on 27 February 2011.[4] Birmingham City won the game 2–1 and were guaranteed a spot in the third qualifying round of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League.[5] Mike Dean was the referee.[2]

2011 Football League Cup Final
Match programme cover
Event2010–11 Football League Cup
Date27 February 2011 (2011-02-27)
VenueWembley Stadium, London
Man of the MatchBen Foster (Birmingham City)[1]
RefereeMike Dean (Cheshire)[2]
Attendance88,851
WeatherMostly cloudy
6 °C (43 °F)[3]

Background

Arsenal held the advantage over Birmingham in the league matches between the two sides in 2010–11, having beaten them 2–1 at the Emirates Stadium in October and again 3–0 at St Andrew's on New Year's Day.[6][7]

Arsenal had played in six Football League Cup finals, but had only won two, most recently in 1993 when they beat Sheffield Wednesday 2–1. Birmingham's only League Cup title came in 1963, when they beat local rivals Aston Villa 3–1 on aggregate after a two-legged final. They also reached the 2001 final, which was played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff against Liverpool, but the 2011 final was Birmingham's first appearance in the final of a major competition at Wembley for nearly 55 years, their last being the 1956 FA Cup Final.

Road to Wembley

ArsenalRoundBirmingham City
ByeRound 2[A]Birmingham City3–2Rochdale
Tottenham Hotspur1–4Arsenal (a.e.t.)Round 3[B]Birmingham City3–1Milton Keynes Dons
Newcastle United0–4ArsenalRound 4Birmingham City1–1
(4–3 pen.)
Brentford (a.e.t.)
Arsenal2–0Wigan AthleticRound 5Birmingham City2–1Aston Villa
Ipswich Town1–0ArsenalSemifinalWest Ham United2–1Birmingham City
Arsenal3–0Ipswich TownBirmingham City3–1West Ham United (a.e.t.)
Arsenal won 3–1 on aggregateBirmingham City won 4–3 on aggregate

Pre-match

The starting line-ups being announced before kick-off

In the build-up to the game, Arsène Wenger criticised the FA and UEFA for overpricing tickets for their finals.

A number of Arsenal players missed out on the final. Thomas Vermaelen was not fit, while goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański had been ruled out for the rest of the season. Theo Walcott picked up a sprained ankle in a match against Stoke City a few days prior, and captain Cesc Fàbregas was also injured in that game; both missed the final. Abou Diaby was also injured.[8]

For Birmingham, Scott Dann was ruled out for the rest of the season following an injury in the League Cup semi-final, while James McFadden was still not recovered from an injury received in September. Former Arsenal player Alexander Hleb was injured in an FA Cup match the week before, and failed to recover in time to play. David Bentley, who had replaced Hleb in that match, was cup-tied, having played for Tottenham Hotspur in their defeat to Arsenal in the third round.

Match

Summary

The teams lining up for kick-off

There was a moment of contention just two minutes into the match as an early Birmingham chance was created through Lee Bowyer, who appeared to be fouled by Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny in what would probably have been a penalty kick and red card for the keeper. However, Bowyer had already been flagged offside (a decision that replays proved was incorrect).

After ten minutes, Birmingham's Barry Ferguson was involved a collision, and played the rest of the game with what proved to be two broken ribs.[9]

Arsenal threatened regularly throughout the course of the match, with an eventual 20 attempts on goal to Birmingham's 11 (both teams were denied by the woodwork once), however the fine work of Birmingham goalkeeper Ben Foster kept the north London team at bay. Foster would go on to win the man of the match award, and with it, the Alan Hardaker Trophy (also making Foster the first-ever player to win the trophy on two separate occasions).[1]

Birmingham took the lead in the 28th minute when a corner kick was sent into the box, Roger Johnson won the initial header towards goal which was then flicked in off the head of Nikola Žigić past Wojciech Szczęsny into the net. Arsenal levelled 11 minutes later when, moments after Jack Wilshere struck the crossbar with a shot, Robin van Persie volleyed an Andrei Arshavin cross in with his right foot. However, Van Persie injured himself upon landing, and while he was initially able to continue, he struggled as the match went on and was eventually substituted by Nicklas Bendtner partway through the second half. Going into half-time the scoreline stayed at 1–1, with both teams failing to capitalise on good opportunities to score a second, including Arsenal's Samir Nasri who had a long-range effort saved, and then in the second half Birmingham's Keith Fahey was denied by the post.

On 83 minutes, Birmingham brought on Obafemi Martins in place of Fahey. Six minutes later, and in the final minute of normal time, Martins scored to put Birmingham 2–1 up after a mix-up between Szczęsny and defender Laurent Koscielny. A long ball from Blues keeper Foster, flicked on by Žigić, appeared to be heading safely into the hands of the Arsenal keeper. But Koscielny attempted to play the ball, distracting Szczęsny and causing him to bobble the ball into the path of Martins, who tapped it into an empty net.

Too little time was left for Arsenal to recover, and after four-and-a-half minutes of injury time was seen out, Birmingham City secured their second Football League Cup trophy.[10]

Details

Arsenal1–2Birmingham City
Van Persie  39' Report Žigić  28'
Martins  89'
Attendance: 88,851
Arsenal
Birmingham City
GK53 Wojciech Szczęsny
RB3 Bacary Sagna
CB20 Johan Djourou
CB6 Laurent Koscielny 35'
LB22 Gaël Clichy 52'
CM17 Alex Song
CM19 Jack Wilshere
AM8 Samir Nasri
RW7 Tomáš Rosický
LW23 Andrei Arshavin 77'
CF10 Robin van Persie (c) 69'
Substitutes:
GK1 Manuel Almunia
DF18 Sébastien Squillaci
DF27 Emmanuel Eboué
DF28 Kieran Gibbs
MF15 Denílson
FW29 Marouane Chamakh 77'
FW52 Nicklas Bendtner 69'
Manager:
Arsène Wenger
GK26 Ben Foster
RB2 Stephen Carr (c)
CB5 Roger Johnson
CB28 Martin Jiránek
LB6 Liam Ridgewell
RM7 Sebastian Larsson 41'
CM12 Barry Ferguson 90+4'
LM18 Keith Fahey 83'
AM8 Craig Gardner 50'
AM4 Lee Bowyer
CF19 Nikola Žigić 90+2'
Substitutes:
GK1 Maik Taylor
DF3 David Murphy
DF21 Stuart Parnaby
MF23 Jean Beausejour 50'
FW9 Kevin Phillips
FW10 Cameron Jerome 90+3' 90+2'
FW17 Obafemi Martins 83'
Manager:
Alex McLeish

Man of the match

Match officials

Match rules

  • 90 minutes
  • 30 minutes of extra time if necessary
  • Penalty shootout if scores still level
  • Seven named substitutes
  • Maximum of three substitutions

Statistics

Arsenal Birmingham
Total shots2011
Shots on target127
Ball possession56%44%
Corner kicks63
Fouls committed119
Offsides24
Yellow cards23
Red cards00

Source: BBC Sport[10]

Notes

A. ^ Clubs competing in the Premier League, but not in UEFA competitions, receive a bye to the second round.
B. ^ Clubs competing in UEFA competitions receive a bye to the third round.

References

  1. "Foster makes history at Wembley". football-league.co.uk. The Football League. 28 February 2011. Archived from the original on 31 July 2012. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  2. "Officials named for Carling Cup final". football-league.co.uk. The Football League. 31 January 2011. Archived from the original on 11 February 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  3. http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/EGLL/2011/2/27/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA
  4. "Carling Cup Draw Dates". Carling Cup official website. Molson Coors Brewing Company. Archived from the original on 20 July 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  5. McCarra, Kevin (27 February 2011). "Obafemi Martins grabs glory as Birmingham beat Arsenal". The Guardian. London: Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  6. Sheringham, Sam (16 October 2010). "Arsenal 2–1 Birmingham". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
  7. Magowan, Alistair (1 January 2011). "Birmingham 0–3 Arsenal". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
  8. "Arsenal's Theo Walcott ruled out of Carling Cup final against Birmingham and Cesc Fabregas doubtful". The Daily Telegraph. 23 February 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  9. Curtis, John (9 March 2011). "Barry Ferguson to play on with broken rib for Birmingham". The Independent. Independent Digital News & Media. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  10. McNulty, Phil (27 February 2011). "Martins the hero for Blues". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
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