For a team so often accused of not taking the Carling Cup seriously, our record in it is undeniable. The 2-1 victory over Bolton tonight secured our place in the quarter finals for the ninth year in a row and kept our unbeaten home record in the domestic cups intact. I always enjoy the chance to see Wenger’s more promising youngsters in action but the saviours tonight took the form of the little Russian and new signing Park.

Experience Essential

Vermaelen made his long-awaited return and immediately showed why he’s so desperately needed in our back line. His assured presence and commands to the back line and midfield ensured Arsenal didn’t fall apart when Bolton went ahead just after the start of the second half. He also reminded us of his goal-scoring ability with a stinging free-kick that a full-stretch Bogdan struggled to keep out. He came off towards the end with an injury problem, but thankfully Wenger says it was just a precaution and the player himself on his Twitter confirmed it was a minor cramp.

His partner at centre-half, the troubled Squillaci, looked jittery for the majority of the first half but soon settled down to put in a decent performance, no doubt aided by having a figure like Vermaelen beside him. The harshly criticized Fabianski, while sometimes erratic in his decision making, impressed me. He prevented extra-time with an excellent reflex save and definitely kept Arsenal in the tie, although he is nowhere near challenging the exceptional Szczesny for the number 1 jersey.

Benayoun put in yet another energetic performance, showing he isn’t the panic buy many pundits made him out to be with a deftly executed swivel and snap shot that just skimmed past the post.

It was Arshavin and Park who interested me the most out of our elder-statesmen. Arshavin played in the hole behind the striker, the same position he plays for Russia, and took the chance to show that he is much more suited to being a ‘number 10’ than out on the wing. He had an indifferent first half, yet in the second half showed why Arsene has kept him around and why he relishes the role behind the striker. He ran at the Bolton defence who continued to back off him and with seemingly no effort, smashed the ball past an unsuspecting Bogdan and into the bottom corner for the equalizer.

After Chamakh’s vanishing act against Stoke at the weekend, I was looking forward to see if Park could give Wenger a selection headache, a good one for once at least, which he definitely did. Caught offside often in the first half, he adapted his runs in the second half, cleverly twirling behind Gary Cahill while Arshavin ran at him and without a first touch, curled the ball into the side netting. An absolutely exquisite finish and after that performance I can’t see why he isn’t ahead of the Moroccan as Van Persie’s back-up.

Rising Stars

I really believe this is one of the most exciting batch of youngsters under Wenger’s reign and it’s always intriguing to see how they take to first team opportunities. One of the most promising starlets is 18-year-old Nico Yennaris who made his debut for the first team at right-back after a string of impressive performances for the reserves has thrust him into Wenger’s spotlight. A solid and aggressive performance will have done wonders for his confidence. At the other flank, centre-back Miquel was rarely troubled but looked comfortable out of position at left-back. Exciting midfield duo Coquelin and Frimpong (if you don’t follow him on Twitter I highly recommend you do, mainly for his abuse of United and Spurs fans!) were uncharacteristically poor and their mix-up led to Muamba opening the scoring. Chamberlain was virtually non-existent on the right-flank, disappointing after his recent thrilling performances but it vindicates Wenger’s decisions to hide him from the spotlight for now as he still has a lot to learn, an exciting prospect nonetheless. Possibly one of our most exciting prospects, Ryo Miyaichi made a 20 minute cameo, skinning Bolton full-back Steinsson to great applause and not shirking his defensive responsibilities. Ozyakup and Boateng also came on as subs, the former showing a good touch and composure on the ball.

Overall a good team performance and it was impressive not to see the young heads drop in a very intense game for them after Bolton scored, an act which the first team seem far too guilty of at times.

Best Chance for Silverware?

After a bit of a choppy ride to the latter stages and the potential for silverware gets more serious, I would expect Wenger to introduce additional experience when possible to try and secure something for the trophy cabinet, of course that would depend on our league predicament which is steadily improving. The best draw we can hope for would be Cardiff or Crystal Palace, but with the likes of United, Liverpool, City and Chelsea left it will be interesting who we draw in the quarter-finals.

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