The under-fire Gunners fired a timely reminder of their qualities on Wednesday night!
Arsenal defender Hector Bellerin celebrates his side's victory after the full-time whistle (Photo: AFP)
Embattled Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was given a major reprieve by his players as the Gunners edged arch-rivals Chelsea 2-1 (2-1 on aggregate) in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final tie at the Emirates Stadium to set up a final with Manchester City.
There was everything to play for after the first leg at Stamford Bridge had ended goalless earlier in January and both managers named strong lineups for Wednesday’s clash.
Arsenal, playing for the first time since the sale of Alexis Sanchez to Manchester United, trotted out in a 4-3-3 formation with Alexandre Lacazette leading the line, flanked by Alex Iwobi and Mesut Ozil.
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Henrikh Mkhitaryan, signed by the Gunners as a part of a swap deal for Sanchez from United, was in the stands as he was cup-tied and initially it seemed the hosts weren’t up for the encounter as Chelsea sliced through their defence to take the lead.
Eden Hazard, starting at the tip of Chelsea’s 3-4-3 as a false nine, collected Pedro’s through ball and calmly slipped the ball past the oncoming David Ospina in the 7th minute itself.
Arsenal hit back almost immediately, with Nacho Monreal carrying on where he left off against Crystal Palace on the weekend. The Spaniard headed Mesut Ozil’s corner at goal and helped by a generous deflection off Antonio Rudiger, the Gunners had their equaliser barely five minutes after conceding.
Both sides would continue to enjoy half-chances as they look to hit each other on the break with pace but as half-time neared, neither truly looked like they would break the impasse.
Chelsea were forced into making a change at the half-hour mark, with Willian coming off in place of new recruit Ross Barkley and without the Brazilian’s pace, the visitors did look a little blunt in attack, especially with £60 million-man Alvaro Morata not in the lineup as well.
The best chance of the half would fall Ozil’s way, but the German’s effort, via a deflection, flew just past Willy Caballero’s post, much to the relief of the Chelsea bench.
Arsenal began the second period on the front foot and would eventually get the second goal they deserved, right on the hour mark. Granit Xhaka, scorer of long-range thunderbolts, showed his predatory instincts aren’t half bad as he toe-poked Lacazette’s cross past Caballero.
Conte responded by sending on Michy Batshuayi, but the Belgian was unable to affect the game in the desired manner.
In fact, Arsenal came closest to scoring, with Iwobi fluffing his lines after Ozil had deftly laid it on a plate for him.
As it was, the Gunners held on for the win, to come within a step of claiming their first silverware of the season.
Considering they have been knocked out of the FA Cup and are far from the Premier League summit, the North Londoners are effectively competing for trophies only in the Carabao Cup and the UEFA Europa League and Wednesday’s result will go some way towards appeasing their disgruntled support.
For Chelsea, however, it’s been one setback after another as not only has their Premier League title defence gone up in smoke, but they have suffered the ignominy of losing to a derby rival in a cup semi-final.
With their lack of goals a well-documented issue already, expect the West Londoners to be the busiest top-flight team as the winter window nears its deadline as they are in desperate need of reinforcements.
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