Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 tonight to book their place in the Carabao Cup final.
The Gunners started the match out of sorts, giving our rivals ample space in our half, and our defence did not look like they were going to enjoy the best of days.
The Blues had the ball in the back of our net twice inside the opening 10 minutes of the match, but thankfully one of those was ruled offside (correctly), but Eden Hazard’s neat shot into the bottom corner stood.
Their lead was short lived however, with Nacho Monreal getting onto a cross to head towards goal, only for it to pinball off two defenders in Marcos Alonso and Antonio Rudiger and over Willy Caballero into the Chelsea goal.
I can’t recall another clean-cut chance in the first-half apart from when Lacazette burst onto a ball over the top, but the French striker fumbled the control and failed to get a shot away.
The start of the second-half was no better either, the Blues again had much of the ball, although our defending was much the more organised, and once again, a lucky rebound off Toni Rudiger gifts us another goal, with Lacazette’s blocked pass coming off the German international into the path of Granit Xhaka to shoot past the keeper with ease.
Chelsea were not willing to give up without a fight, and came at us, throwing Michy Batshuayi and a fresher-legged Davide Zappacosta to bring more impetus to their attack, but they couldn’t manage to create the necessary attacks to cause Ospina any real trouble.
In fact it was us this time who should have scored and put the game to bed, with Alex Iwobi being put through on goal, only for him to give Willy a fairly easy save with his foot, and that left us a nervy 15 minutes of football to endure.
Chelsea will be frustrated at having failed to win after two dominant displays, especially when they analyse just how unlucky they were to have conceded those two goals, but they should know that our defending in the second-half was all too good for them, and they will make the short trip back across London with their tail between their legs.
Will Conte be livid in his interview after the match? Does our defence deserve the plaudits for our victory? Would that second-half display have been good enough against finalists Man City?
Pat J
No Arsenal Fans tv and chill today ?
wem be leyyyy
wem be leyyy
were going to wem be leyyyyy
UP THE GOONERS!!!!!
Que sera sera
Strange article heading, we one because we were the better team and then it finishes with, our defence is not good and we won’t beat man sh.ty, get a grip and try being positive, we won enjoy it.
I was a stadium tonight and what a lack of quality from both sides !!!
Sooner we get Mkhi and Auba involved the better…watch Laca pile up the goals|!
you are a fool! some great passages of play from both teams albeit a bit nervy at times… Auba will need some time to bed and Mkhi won’t be a starter for a while!
Why? Do you only watch it when we lose? I watch Arsenal fan tv without fail. Win or lose.
Ospina 7
Bel 8
Kos 8
Mustafi 8
Mon 9
Wilshire 8
Iwobi 6
Elneny 6
Xhaka 6 the goal saved him
Ozil 8
Lacca 8
Spot on! I really thought Xhaka, and Iwobi stood out a lot…in a negative way. Much better second half.
Iwobi did OK today, esp in his defensive duties. Four times he deprived Moses of the ball in dangerous places. But he should learn to shoot to score.
Is obi played realy well today he deserves 7 at least
This is nonsense and bias. Iwobi was better than iwobi yesterday. His take ons where spot on, and so is his ball movements and decision. Only let down was the missed chance. And Elneny was my man of the match. He looked like Santo yesterday with the calmness and control in midfield. His interceptions where on point.
Try to give a fair judgement next time pls. Xhaka was OK.
Iwobi useless again
I’m usualy desapointed in Iwobi but I thought he played realy well today specialy defending
That’s probably his best game he did really well, good performance.
Whole team played well..they had simple instructions not to lose the ball thats what Iwobi and Elneny offered us, escpecialy Elneny, he even played one over the top today, hardly ever does, give this guy time, he’ll come good. Sure Iwobi shuda scored but he did his job pretty well, and if most people noticed he was almost forcefully playing wingback due to Moses’ high position. I like what i saw from him, theres room for improvement though.
Iwobi destroyed Moses!
You are blind. sorry
At this level when your through 1-1 on goal you have to score that’s what separates the top teams/players
Still young… he lacks composure but he can be very good.
He needs a year at brentford or similar and then can see … What is for sure he should not be in a starting eleven of a team wanting to challenge for top trophies
Agreed.
His maturing has stopped (not uncommon in the EPL).
A loan to a mid-table or bottom table club for a year next year. Iwobi’s last chance to at least start shooting away for the exact centre of goal.
hmmmmmmmm !
I can count how many one on one great strikers have lost. Even our great henry. I have watched CR7 missed sitters, even messi, Delima Ronaldo, etc. How can you judge a whole match performance by I missed chance esp when we won.
Prejudice.
And that’s what Dhaka and Elneny are facing as well. No matter how well they play, they will always be tagged not good enough.
Did anybody notice how badly wilshere played yesterday?
where are the fans who predicted an aggregate of 6-0 to Chelsea???bunch of haters
I predicted 5-0 to Arsenal against
the tired Chelsea team
already planning for life
with out Conte who is being sacked.
So quite disappointed.
Arsenal have no Champions league and out of the PL title race in October.
Chelsea are already planning for next season
with a new manager and are just going through the motions.
The Mickey Mouse cup is where Arsenal are at these days 🙁
Mancity in the final won’t be easy. It’s only a Micky mouse cup when the teams are easy to beat. Winning won’t just be good because we haven’t won it before but because winning would mean beating Mancity in the final.
No, Arsenal was better team today. Wanted victory more.
Iwobi destroyed Moses on the chelseas righthand side.
Nacho and whole defence including Elneny played well. Ospina was not that great, I wonder what would happened if he was tested more…
Middle was everywhere and sometimes nowhere.
Lacazette was great, didn’t have much assistance.
Ozil and Wilshere were closed well by Chelsea.
and
Ross Barkley… what a player! Ha ha ha ha he s Championship quality. Pure Chelsea, they had to buy him.
p.s.
I felt team is breathing better without Alexis, but we were missing one player today – Henrikh Mkhitaryan!
better 2nd half . Ozil still class player , Wilshire redemmed himself in 2nd half . We won all matches in Wembly. Bring on City
I just think Mohammed eleney is the magic in this formation he plays the deep roll as a midfielder and a defender. That was missing in xhaka
It was victory well earned. I just hope these two past victories will not affect our bid for Auba we really need something to cheer about after losing Sanchez to utd
Wait till you see Miki in action than. Imagen todays team, with Miki replacing Iwobi..i for one am looking forward to that. Kinda fear for Laca though, Auba might just force him to the bench.
I would have been mad at Iwobi for that miss if Chelsea went ahead to win the game.
It was a much better second half. Credit to Lacazette as well for the second goal. That run was a good one.
you guys saying Iwobi is useless are blind or have some sort of vendetta against him.
Him and Ozil made good partnership, and he held the ball well in tight spaces.
Free flowing football back to my Arsenal!!
Who dafuq needs Sanchez??
we Nasri, Cesc, Rvp n our assssses moved on!!
Elneny good game!!
Iwobi keep growing and ignore your critics
He played better yes, but he should have scored!!
Correct Iwobi will be really good.
Iwobi owned Moses, Yes he should have scored But he had a good game, Wenger and his subs are terrible he should have gotten Wilshere out for Ramsey and Xhaka for AMN, anyway a very nice Win very needed. YA GUNNERS YA!
ozil has finally brought consistency this season
CRIKEY
sign da ting
Yea his second balls just dropped so he will be off then to United in the summer free transfer he will get a sighning on fee around 25M and 300K a week
If he won’t sighn AW should bench him and consantrate on Mik
He will
or he wont
but he will never go to United.
Think why.
Why?? Barcelona???
Que sera sera!!! Get in there! You know it gets sweeter every time we beat them! Love it!
Well done AFC!!!!
Let’s hope we go ahead and sign Auba, i heard our bid was rejected. I wonder why we can bring out over 90 mill for Lemar and table under 60 for Auba who is clearly a better player. The dealings of this club makes me sick to my stomach at times. I hope we wrap up this deal because it will cusion the impact of losing Sanchez
It’s simple. One is younger and has a resale value, while the other is older and cannot be resold for much in future.
However, Aubameyang will have more impact in short term, especially with Mkhi and Ozil in the team. Arsenal should just pay up, let’s move ahead!
what a feeling to beat these frauds…. bring on shitty
Those dirty cheats, I hate them!!!
Who helped us? We played and won. That’s what I know. Good night.
Shout out to Elneny. Broke up plays well and seemed to be more focused on driving the team forward. Xhaka was poor with his passing but I like him in a more forward position. He makes intelligent runs and picks the right time to press. Iwobi? Have no idea why people are slating him. Yes he gave the ball away to much but do did the whole team. He owned Moses and won the ball back for the winning goal. No complaints from me.
Rub it in guys! Sweet, sweet victory over the boastful bunch of bluegrass!
Well-deserved win. Shame on the lot who expected us to lose. Shame on them! Blind bats!
Wembley, here we come!!!
What are you smoking down there ?
Boastful bunch of blue-heads!
Shame on a conniving auto correct trying to spoil the fun!
Pls guys, show Iwobi some love, whatever he did wrong today, one or two other player did worse,,, even top players lose a one on one sometimes,,, for me, Iwobi did really well today,,, we fell short when he was removed esp in dead ball situations…. I trust this guy, he just need consistency….
Sweet Sweet win…. COYG
His defenetly had two good games in a week
Pores
As you so rightly said Where are the knockers?
Hoping we lose two Swansea so they can come back on with their negative soul destroying comments.
AS Arsene Wenger said recently, the media concentrate on the noisy minority at our club for headlines only.
They ignore all the others and these so called fans believe they are the voice of Arsenal!
Well done to the players, staff, manager and the supporters … Wembley here we come again!!!!!!!
Arsenal to make their 10th Wembley appearance in less than four years. They’ve won 9/9. Can they make it a superb 10/10?
Our passing football is coming back……..i really enjoyed it.
That’s why I’m Arsenal fan…
Ramsey please sit at the bench and learn one touch Football.
Outdated and finished Wenger has now beaten Tactically Mindful Conte in:
• PL
• FA Cup
• League Cup
• Community Shield
#AFCvCFC
Now I can watch free flowing football again from Arsenal.. No Alexis who’ll turn and turn and turn and then give the ball away freely. No play is bigger than this club. Now the boys are showing commitment and playing for each other. The fighting spirit and passion was there for all of us to see tonight. Great one over the fraudsters. I thought Barkley was MOTM? LOL.
Just read in the mirror that Southgate England manager is giving our Jack Wilshere a chance in the two friendlys against Holland and Italy
Go Jack Go my favourite Arsenal player
You must be very young then. I also love JACK but being a fully qualified old git fan, I have dozens from over the decades I would love more than Jack. But in present squad, he wins hands down , since he is the only one who bleeds red and white. My all time favourite( but not best player) is the man they named three times, first name of Ian.
John you old fox yes I meant from the current crop, and NO I’m not young my first visit to Highbury was in 1970 and I was 10 but you canot share this info because I’ll have to kill you ?
Jon we have something in common
Yes we can thank Antonio Rudiger.We seem to have finally seemed to turn the screws on those PLASTIC CHAVS and it’s about time we start lording it LARGE over them like they have to us over the last few years.Do we care about the fact the goals we scored both were the result of fortunate deflections?Of course not.Good character from the team and hoping Mikki and (if we get him) Aubawill give us a boost for rest of season.Must make sure we get Auba as that will guarantee that useless twat Iwobi is out of the side.All you defending him saying he is young and needs time.Seriously?What does he bring to the team?Get real -he is another that is not good enough simple as that
Wenger is for Conte what Mourinho is for Wenger-doesn’t matter how shit…y we play,Conte never wins…
Despite a slow start we steamrollered a very tired and out of sorts Chelsea in second half. Surely Monreals best performance in our shirt; dare I say “a captains performance” as he did an Adams or Gerrard today! After ten minutes I could not see us winning; but after 65 I could only see US winning. Why we cannot muster this great attitude in run of the mill league games, eg Stoke, WBA , Watford, is a real mystery. Great to see Chelski slink off pitch forlorn!
Couldn’t be a Gerrard because he would have slipped – just saying.
????? love it!!
Iwobi is still developing and still is a star in the making, his defensive work should be commended and use of body in shielding the ball, but i worry for his passing and shooting, which has been a letdown
Yeah and passing and shooting doesn’t really rank as being an important attribute when you are an attacking player does it?Defensive discipline is one thing and I accept he probably plays to orders but this player is proving week after week he is not good enough and never will be.Open your eyes
WEMBELY!!!! well.the boys were not too bad today. From my goal side seats I could see both positives amd negatives.
For starters im sick of iwobi fluffing easy starters. Please miki show him how it is done. We were so confused as to if he was a wing back or left forward today. If he was a wing back he was far too far from moses. And if he was a forward he was far too far back to have a real impact. Sor it out geeza.
On a more positive after the 1s 10 mins the defence was solid. Mustafi kos monreal sot on. Hector did alright defensively.
Going forwards I want to know why the hell we do not whip the ball in the box. I mean okay lacca is not a tall guy. Whip it on the bloody floor then. Does my nut in u do all the running to stop turn around and go back where u started. Our 1 kinda cross more of a sideways pass inside the box got xaka a goal. Feed Lacca he needs through balls and crosses.
Positive lacca looks to be gaining some confidence. His set up for xaka was not rushed or snatched it was perfect and xaka had only a lil to do.
Elnany is a strange one couldnt make out if he was tackeling loosing the ball or probs both the guy looks weirs on the ball.
Hope ozil stays we need him alot
Fantastic win. I wasn’t sure about the lineup.
Monreal is good. I wanted Kolsanic who is better than Monreal on and Iwobi, Xhaka off.
Im grateful for Xhaka’s goal but he is still more of a liability.
Theo and Ox were better than Iwobi. Unfortunately Mkhitaryan is cup tied. We can’t play Iwobi or Xhaka in the final. I’d rather play Aub if we get him and Ramsey for Xhaka. City will be tougher than Chelsea.
We can’t expect help like an own goal in the final. We need to put out an even stronger team.
I think the FA or whoever it is should change the rules to remove this cup-tie nonsense. If you allow a player transfer during the winter window, you don’t turn round to deny the new club the use of that player through some stupid rule.
Pat J
You made a true 4rd tier League Cup looked good.This must bee the best of “Micky Mouse Cup” chance ever, cause many gooners here were excited.
I don’t understand why some gooners complaint about our FA “Micky Mouse Cup” trophy last year, though we beat the EPL champion to get it.
Fella gooners must learn from Jose about how to appreciate every wins at every finals, no matter degree the cup are. You’ll see no different of expression.
This is not what we want from the beginning of the season, but don’t let your desperation drowning the happiness of winning the cup.
Well Rudiger lived the dream of many fellow Arsenal fans – scoring a goal for Arsenal at the Emirates. Top class finish too lol
Ospina 7
Bel 8
Kos 7
Mustafi 7
Mon 8
Wilshire 5
Iwobi 6
Elneny 8
Xhaka 7
Ozil 8
Lacca 8
The key for the team win was not allowing Hazard to take over the entire game and Elneny did a good job on harrying the Belgian. Funny how fans fail miss the key man…
Iwobi (?) allowed the ball to be in play iin the middle. Yes, Iwobi did well to stop attack down his side, but once in possession in defense he made mistakes. Including a clear shot on goal in the box from an Ozil pass that Alexi would have buried.
Wilshere should not be in the EPL. He is knock off the ball and lacks speed. Will only get slower as he gets more stout.
It will be sadly Elneny who will have to give up his place to Mikhi as the boss is trying to sign Wilshere to a long term deal before flogging him to a some club willing to buy him.
But, in reality the better team would be with Elneny protecting the back line or taking the opposition’s playmaker out of the game.
Time to splash the cash and buy a legit hit man to keep Lacazette company. Auabmayang is good. But for 50M are there other player that are better and proven in the EPL? Maharez?
I think the fact that Chelsea only ended up with 2 yellow cards is a joke.
I thank god ozil is not injured from this game, Chelsea tried American football style tackles on ozil every time he had the ball
We play final again. Not sure of any other manager than has been to Wembley more than AW in the last 5 yrs. Wembley is home to Arsenal. Let’s go pull a surprise against City. Not the biggest trophy around but we sure need it for confidence. And we are playing City……not going to be just another final. COYG!!!
AW just know how to deal with Conte! Who needs Sanchez by the way!
We really need to be honest and focus on the facts.We were poor all over the park in the first half and very lucky to be drawing. Xhaka was anonymous.We matched up with the Chelsea system in the 2nd half and were the better side with Elneny doing very well in his defensive role.Is Kolasinac fit?