Arsenal beat Ipswich to reach Carling Cup final

LONDON - A 3-0 win Tuesday over Championship side Ipswich Town secured Arsenal their place in the Carling Cup final.

Ipswich Town led 1-0 from the first leg and held on for more than an hour until two goals in three minutes turned the game Arsenal’s way.

Goals in quick succession from Nicklas Bendtner and Laurent Koscielny were later follow by a third from Cesc Fabregas.

“It is going to be a very difficult final, but we will do our best because I think the fans deserve a trophy again at the Emirates,” Fabregas said.

“The goal was to get to the final, but it was difficult. We have got to congratulate Ipswich for what they’ve done. We wanted to score an early goal, but the key was patience, and we did it really well.”

Fabregas had riled Ipswich before the game by dismissing them as a “rugby team”, leading their fans to sing the England rugby song “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” as Arsenal struggled to break them down in the first half.

Arsenal had most of the ball, but as so frequently this season, they struggled to make inroads.

Robin van Persie headed against the bar on the half-hour, and Fabregas skewed a shot wide from a good position a few minutes later, but Ipswich defended diligently and clung to their advantage into half-time.

The deadlock was finally broken 16 minutes into the second half, Bendtner cutting in from the left with an extravagant piece of skill before curling a finish inside the far post.

“It’s been a little while since I last scored, but I made a good run in behind, and it was a good finish,” Bendtner said.

“Ipswich deserve all the credit. They played really well and made it very difficult for us, but we always knew we’d have the chances, and it was just a case of finishing them off. We do everything we can in every match to win a trophy, and now we’re in one final, and we’ll do everything we can to try and win it.”

Three minutes later, Arsenal had a second as Andrey Arshavin crossed for Koscielny to head home.

It was the Russian, out of sorts for much of this season, who laid on the third as well, latching onto Denilson’s long pass and crossing for Fabregas to score.

Arsenal will face the winners of Wednesday’s semi-final between Birmingham City and West Ham United in the final. West Ham lead 2-1 from the first leg.