With West Ham’s stonking victory over Man United last night, it proves that anything is possible in this season’s Carling Cup. Tonight’s big fixture is the midlands derby between Birmingham and Aston Villa at St Andrews, while Ipswich have the chance to overturn Premier League opposition when they host West Brom.
Blues boss Alex McLeish is expected to step up and introduce a stronger squad for this round, with Craig Gardener looking likely to feature against his old team after recovering from his ankle injury. The experienced Alex Hleb will be absent with a hamstring strain – though he was not selected to face Chelsea when fit, so has not been as influential to the team as he was anticpating when he arrived.
Craig Gardener may make his return
Aston Villa have their own trouble with absentees, as influential Stephen Ireland is missing with a sickness bug and Marc Albrighton is recovering from having his appendix removed. This is in addition to notable omissions: Nigel Reo-Coker, Steve Sidwell, Emile Heskey and Stiliyan Petrov. Because of this ever-growing list of injuries, Gerard Houllier is expected to field a younger team for tonight’s fixture – though they do have the boost of striker Gabriel Agbonlahor returning from illness. In spite of age and relative inexperience, Houllier is confident that his young stars can handle the derby cup tie.
Ipswich’s joy at reaching the quarter finals of this cup have been overshadowed by a recent run of poor results, with four consecutive league losses that includes the embarassing defeat to Norwich in the East Anglian derby. Ipswich have their fair share of injuries at the moment, with Luke Hyam, Tom Eastman, Gareth McAuley, Mark Kennedy and Connor Wickham all out, and goalkeeper Marton Fulop doubtful since picking up an ankle injury in the defeat to Norwich. Damien Delaney can’t be selected as he is banned.
Roy Keane's side have a tough job against West Brom
West Brom will travel down to Ipswich, buoyed by their emphatic 4-1 defeat of Everton in the league at the weekend. It follows a slightly disappointing winless run, but their impressive performance against teams like Man United and Arsenal this season shows Ipswich that they still have every reason to fret. West Brom also have a less severe list of injury worries, but still see Jonas Olsson and Ishmael Miller ruled out, and have to accomodate for Youssouf Mulumbu’s two-match ban which starts tonight.
Who are your favourites to progress tonight? Who do you want to go through – what ties do you want for the Semi’s and the Final? LET US KNOW, with a quick and easy wink ;)
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