THE Emirates? Forget about the Emirates.

THE Emirates? Forget about the Emirates.

Paul Jewell takes his Ipswich Town team to the Lions’ Den to face an in-form Millwall this afternoon, hoping to mark his first game in charge with a league win.

Town’s new boss watched from the stands, as a packed Portman Road hosted a thrilling 1-0 win over mighty Arsenal in a Carling Cup semi-final first leg tie on Wednesday night.

Of course Jewell loved every minute of it, but he doesn’t want his new charges to get carried away with one result, however fantastic, when they return to the nitty gritty of the Championship in south London this afternoon.

And he shouldn’t have any worries on that score. No Town player needs reminding that, in the wake of Roy Keane’s dismissal, Charlie McParland’s breathless two-game reign as caretaker, and Jewell’s arrival on Monday, the club is still just three points clear of the relegation zone.

“The Emirates is not on the radar at the moment. We’ve got Millwall and Doncaster first,” insisted Jewell during yesterday’s Portman Road press conference.

“The important thing is not to get too carried away with one performance.

“The players’ feet are firmly on the ground, but it’s also really important to think positive.

“The players showed terrific character after getting beaten at Chelsea (7-0 last Sunday), so they’ve proved that they have got it.

“When you are playing at home, under the lights in front of 30,000 in a Cup competition, people will always tell you that you get energy from somewhere, while the week before you didn’t think you had it.

“But we’ve got to try and transport that into our league form, because we’re in a battle at the moment.”

n Town’s Carling Cup semi-final second leg against Arsenal, to be staged at the Emirates on Tuesday, January 25, is a sell-out. The remaining 1,100 tickets for visiting fans were sold yesterday morning, with many having queued from the early hours. Town will have 9,000 fans at the Emirates, their largest away following since the UEFA Cup game against Inter Milan in the San Siro in 2001.