Just like old times in north London last night. A sublime goal from their gifted foreign striker gliding in from the left to send the Gooners on their way to Wemba-lee.

For the first hour, Ipswich had frustrated Arsene Wenger's aesthetes with a dogged display of hard running and close marking to protect a 1-0 first-leg lead in the Carling Cup semi-final.

But Nicolas Bendtner relieved the home side's anxieties with a goal that bore all the hallmarks of his adored predecessor in the Arsenal attack, Frenchman Thierry Henry.

The Dane, drifting wide out on the left at the Emirates, leapt to control a long diagonal ball with the outside of his right boot, quickly regaining his stride and pulling the ball back with his left foot to cut inside his marker and roll the ball with the inside of his right boot this time into the far corner.

A header from Laurent Koscielny put the Gunners ahead before Cesc Fabregas sealed a 3-1 aggregate victory.

Arsenal will now play the winner of tonight's other semi-final between Birmingham and West Ham in the final at Wembley on February 27.

There was a time not that long ago when some of the club's fans might have considered this trophy small beer compared with the other silverware in their sights.

But they were dancing and singing in the aisles last night as they celebrated clinching a seventh appearance in the Carling/League Cup final.

Well they might. Arsenal has not added to the trophy cabinet since winning the FA Cup in 2005.

Beaten by Barcelona in the Champions League final the following year, Wenger's teams have earned a reputation as the best-looking team in the Premiership but lacking that bit of grunt to take them all the way to the title.

Still alive on four fronts at home and in Europe, the Gooners will still harbor ambitions of overhauling unbeaten Manchester United in the Premier League, though the Carling Cup would seem their best hope of breaking a six-year trophy drought.