England winger stretchered off at the Emirates

By Zain Alvi | 30th November 2010

Wigan Athletic’s England Under-21 winger Victor Moses had to be carried out of the club’s Carling Cup quarterfinal tie against Arsenal in North London. Moses, who played with incredible energy while he lasted in the game for a little over a half hour, was replaced by Charles N’Zogbia with the score still goalless.

However, as soon as the injury took place, the Gunners gained some much needed momentum and finally took the lead through an own goal from Latics defender Antolin Alcaraz. Theo Walcott delivered the corner and even though it appeared that Nicklas Bendtner arrived first to head home the cross, the ball last touched Alcaraz.

Nevertheless, the Arsenal faithful inside the Emirates on a cold November evening weren’t too worried about how it happened as long as they were ahead. Their visitors were in control of the game early on and despite a brilliant back-heel pass from Robin van Persie serving as the highlight of the first half, Arsene Wenger’s men looked slugglish for the most part.

Jack Wilshere stood out as he persistently pushed to create chances for his teammates but Carlos Vela, the recipient of most of the passes (including the aforementioned one from van Persie), was wasteful with his poor first touch.

Therefore, the Gunners have to be content with leading 1-0 after a scrappy performance at half-time, particularly considering that bitter rivals Manchester United are trailing 2-0 against West Ham just a few miles away at Upton Park.

Check out bookmaker Bet365 for Carling Cup odds as well as other footballing competitions.

Updated after this article was originally published: Both Arsenal and West Ham held on to their clean sheets, and qualified for the Carling Cup semifinals with 2-0 and 4-0 wins, respectively.