Wenger looking for Gunners improvement

Arsene Wenger expects his Arsenal side to be sharper when they look to overturn a 1-0 deficit in their Carling Cup semi-final against Ipswich.

The Premier League title contenders were shock losers at Ipswich’s Portman Road in the first leg on January 12, leaving them with some work to do in the return fixture at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.

Wenger acknowledges his team were second best in their initial meeting with the Championship outfit, and knows a significant improvement will be needed if they are to reach the final at Wembley Stadium on February 27.

“I feel on the day Ipswich were much more solid defensively. Don’t forget that they had just lost 7-0 to Chelsea three days before,” Wenger said.

“Three days later, they were really sharp defensively and we, on the night, were certainly not playing our fluent passing. We were not sharp, we were not quick enough. So we expect them to play the same way again but we want to be of course much sharper on Tuesday night.”

Wenger will also be taking on new Ipswich boss Paul Jewell, who was in charge of the Wigan Athletic side that knocked Arsenal out of the competition at the same stage in 2006.

Arsenal trailed 1-0 from the first leg on that occasion and despite winning the return match at Highbury 2-1, a Jason Roberts strike deep into extra-time sent Wigan through to the final courtesy of the away goals rule.

“We did win but we didn’t go through because we didn’t win enough,” Wenger said of the memorable semi-final.

“You cannot compare every year and every season is different. The history does not play a part tomorrow; it is the players that play tomorrow. The quality of our game is important and that is the only thing you want to focus on.”

“We play against Ipswich; we do not play against Paul Jewell. So we want to find a way to score goals and we want to find a way to win the game.”