Morning:
9°c
Bring on Arsenal ... we want our revenge
Simon Johnson, Evening Standard19 Dec 2007
Tottenham defender Pascal Chimbonda is desperate to face Arsenal in the Carling Cup semi-finals to get revenge for last season's heartbreak.
Both sides secured their place in tonight's draw after Spurs won 2-0 at Manchester City and Arsenal defeated Blackburn 3-2.
The north London rivals clashed in the last four in January, when Tottenham threw away a two-goal lead in the first leg as they were beaten 5-3 on aggregate.
But Chimbonda believes they have learned from their mistakes and is confident about their chances of lifting the trophy.
He said: "Everybody wants to win something and the League Cup is a great opportunity for us. We want to go one better than we did last year.
"We know what we have to do if we draw Arsenal again. It hurt us a lot to lose to them last season. We were winning 2-0 at home in the first leg and they got it back to 2-2 and we ended up losing the second leg.
"But we have learned from what happened and it will be different this time. We can win the trophy this season. We can achieve anything when we perform like we did against Manchester City."
Chimbonda played his part as Spurs became the first team to win at City this season after holding out with 10 men for 70 minutes after Didier Zokora's controversial sending-off.
Chimbonda believes the decision should be overturned. He said: "I don't think the referee made a good decision, Didier is not a dirty player."
Zokora's dismissal led to Jermain Defoe being substituted and the striker appeared to show dissent to the bench as he walked off. But assistant manager Gus Poyet said: "He was upset, but not with the change because one striker had to come out."
Defoe's future at the club is already in doubt as he has only 18 months left on his contract and chairman Daniel Levy is worried he has yet to sign a new deal.
Levy will also be concerned about the future of Dimitar Berbatov, who was today the subject of fresh reports linking him with Manchester United.
Sir Alex Ferguson is reportedly ready to offer a part-exchange deal involving Wes Brown, Louis Saha and £6 million.
