RELATIONS between Ipswich Town and Arsenal were enhanced during the Carling Cup semi-final leading to hopes that Town will benefit from future loans from the high profile Premier League club.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger was seen chatting to new Ipswich manager Paul Jewell for some considerable time after the London-based side completed a 3-1 aggregate victory at the Emirates on Tuesday.

And Wenger said: “Paul is a good choice by Ipswich.

“He’s done well wherever he’s gone and I consider him a shrewd and intelligent man.

“We’ve had a few chats and I always listen to what he has to say when he is on television.

“Ipswich were equal in many aspects of their game to what we meet in the Premier League.”

Arsenal are renowned for developing players, and always looking at the benefits of loaning out youngsters to give them first team experience with Henri Lansbury (Norwich City), Sanchez Watt (Leeds), Jay Emmanuel-Thomas (Cardiff) currently on loan and Aaron Ramsey having been with Leicester City.

Gunners midfielder Andrey Arshavin has revealed that Wenger called for his players to remain patient at the interval with Ipswich still holding on to the 1-0 lead they gained in the first leg of the semi-final.

Arshavin said: “During the break Arsene told us to play in the same high-tempo and try to speed up.

“He said that there would come a moment when the Ipswich players would get tired and then it would get more and more difficult for them to hold back our attacks.

“The coach asked us to keep our cool, not to make hasty, ill-considered passes, take care of the ball.

“He was sure that there would come a moment when we’d press them out.

“Actually, we played that way and that led to the Nicklas Bendtner’s goal. I would say that the goal came at the right time.

“It’s worth pointing out not only his skills in finishing this chance off, but also Jack Wilshere’s great assist.

“We took a very seriously approach to this game, and tried to ‘crush’ our opponents from the very first minute.

“We expected to score a quick first goal, but after the first 45 minutes, the score was still 0-0.

“It wasn’t a super match for me, but I’m satisfied with the result.

“We will be favourites to win the final against Birmingham, but everything will depend only on us, on our game in the match.”