Arsenal 2 Chelsea 1: Granit Xhaka sends Gunners into EFL Cup final at Wembley
Read Time:2 Minute, 56 Second
Arsene Wenger will have the chance to claim the last domestic honour missing from his trophy collection after Arsenal overcame an early deficit to defeat Chelsea 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium.
A relentless start to the contest saw Eden Hazard hand the Blues a sixth minute lead only for Antonio Rudiger’s own goal to draw the Gunners level soon after. Granit Xhaka secured a 3-2 aggregate victory in the second half as Arsenal booked their place in the EFL Cup Final, where they will face Manchester City.
On the two occasions these two sides have met at Stamford Bridge this season they have put on displays of solid yet stultifying football, but from the off it was apparent this would be more akin to a rerun of the breakneck football of their Premier League meeting here on January 3.
Maybe it’s something in the Emirates water that causes defenders to lose their most basic faculties, apparent as early as the fifth minute, when Shkodran Mustafi passed straight to Tiemoue Bakayoko. The resulting move saw Pedro head home, but from an offside position.
Arsenal were not so lucky a minute later, when Mustafi was caught in no man’s land and N’Golo Kante and Pedro combined to slip Hazard in to open the scoring.
Chelsea though were no better in defence. Nacho Monreal was left unmarked at a corner, his header deflecting off first Marcos Alonso and then Rudiger on its way past Willy Caballero.
That neither side added to the scoreline before half-time was not due to any particular improvement from the two defences but an inability to create more than a chance each.
Willian should have restored Chelsea’s advantage on 20 minutes when Hazard’s dummy outfoxed Mustafi but he dragged his shot wide. The Brazilian would soon be withdrawn through injury, Ross Barkley taking his place for his Blues debut.
Moments before half-time Arsenal were denied the lead as Ozil’s low drive sliced off Andreas Christensen and inches wide of goal.
Wenger has spent much of the season prevaricating between a back three and four and this time made a switch midway through the game, dropping Mohamed Elneny alongside Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny, at least when Arsenal were out of possession.
The change of formation did not immediately provide any additional security, Hazard bursting in behind only to trip himself up.
Further forward Arsenal were showing worrying positional discipline, deep-lying playmaker Xhaka often among the hosts’ most advanced players in the first half. Often the Swiss international’s forays forward leave the Gunners with a soft underbelly but this time it paid dividends.
Lacazette’s cross from the right deflected off Rudiger and Xhaka was on hand to poke out a left boot and divert the ball beyond Caballero, handing Arsenal the lead with half an hour to play.
To their credit Arsenal responded to their advantage in composed fashion, controlling possession, fouling tactically and keeping men in reserve when they got forward.
Alex Iwobi could have doubled their lead but after a flowing move began by Elneny winning possession in midfield he shot straight at Caballero’s legs.
Chelsea, though, were unable to create chances of a similar quality and saw themselves eliminated with something of a whimper as Arsenal secured their passage to Wembley on February 25.
Receive Alerts on: Whatsapp: 08155131310
Twitter: @hotjist
Facebook: hotjist.com
Instagram: hotjist
Share your story with us: SMS: 08155131310
Whatsapp: 08155131310
Email: hotjist@outlook.com
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0