Canada’s Peters blankets Arsenal’s Arshavin

What a night for Jaime Peters. The Canadian right back enjoyed a great night, shutting down Arsenal’s Andrey Arshavin in a rather one-sided one-on-one duel, as Ipswich Town shocked the Gunners 1-0 in the opening leg of their Carling Cup semifinal at Portman Road. Arshavin, one of the best players at Euro 2008 but who has struggled this season in England, was absolutely shackled by Peters throughout the first half. In fact, Arshavin had so little space, that Arsenal did most of their attacking through its right side — with Theo Walcott down that wing. Hungarian striker Tamas Priskin gave Ipswich the stunning lead when he scored on the break late in the second half. He also had a first-half overhead-kick goal ruled out for offside. Priskin could have opened up the scoring earlier in the second half; in the 61st minute, Peters lofted an inch-perfect ball for the striker to run on to, ahead of two Arsenal defenders. But Priskin had problems getting the ball to settle in the Arsenal penalty area, allowed himself to be caught, and had to scuffle a hurried shot. Peters, who was 2009 Canadian player of the year Simeon Jackson’s housemate at Gillingham two seasons ago — the pair are close friends — only had two uncomfortable moments all game long. A cross by Arshavin fell to Cesc Fabregas in the box, but the usually reliable Spaniard couldn’t direct the ball into an open goal. And, when Walcott switched to attacking down the left, he was able to get by Peters to get a shot on goal, but it was saved by Marton Fulop. But, for most of the game, Peters had the blanket on Arshavin. And it’s the kind of performance that should have him in consideration for a national-team call-up when Canada faces Greece on Feb. 9. Here is the dataclock on the game, courtesy of Picklive.