In the sport of golf, being below par is clearly a good thing, although Arsene Wenger was instead lamenting the sub-standard performance of Arsenal on Wednesday night.

The Frenchman will know that his team are still strong favourites to book their place in the Carling Cup final, although he would have preferred for the Gunners to have a comfortable lead to take back with them to the Emirates.

Instead, Wenger will have to field a strong team and he was scratching his head to understand how his team could have created so few chances.

“We had no spark and Ipswich were sharper,” said Wenger. “I’m disappointed and the players are as well. We had a lot of the ball but didn’t make a lot of it, while Ipswich defended with heart and commitment. They showed a team can have 70% of the ball and still lose. We were not sharp, not creative, and had an off night.

“Every single pass was a problem from the start. We rely a lot on our sharp and crisp passing, but that was always a problem tonight. In every department we were below our usual level. In the second half we looked more vulnerable defensively and I’ll put that down to fatigue. But I believe we’ll turn it round. We got a good warning tonight … and we will not always be as lacking in creativity as we were this evening.”

Latest odds to win Carling Cup:

Arsenal, 8/13 with Stan James

West Ham, 17/4 with bwin

Birmingham, 5/1 with Victor Chandler

Ispwich 14/1 with Boylesports