Arsenal Vs. Birmingham City, Carling Cup Final: Nikola Zigic Opens Scoring For Birmingham

Long balls towards Nikola Zigic and set pieces are how Birmingham were going to try to score, and, well, it's worked pretty effectively here. A looping cross towards the Serbian was nodded behind for a corner, and Arsenal's nervous defence allowed Roger Johnson to nod the delivery towards Zigic, who was lurking in front of Wojciech Szczęsny in the six-yard box. As soon as Zigic managed to make contact, it was a certain goal, the giant flicking the ball off his forehead and into the net, with no Arsenal player managing to get anywhere near him to challenge. So, 1-0 to Birmingham City - not exactly what was expected, but full credit to Alex McLeish's team for taking advantage of their opposition's weaknesses.

Arsenal did almost reply immediately, but Robin van Persie's bullet header flew just wide of the post. However, the goal seems to have given City some added impetus, and nearly doubled their lead when a tussle at the edge of the box (midfielder Craig Gardner was fouled, but not in the area) fell to Zigic in acres of space and one on one with the goalkeeper. Unfortunately for the big striker, his footwork is somewhat less of a strength than his heading, and he rolled the ball straight at a relieved Szczęsny. It's been a bad few minutes for Arsenal.