Half-time Highlights & Report: Arsenal must make changes or Chelsea will succeed

Arsenal will consider themselves lucky to have got the half-way stage without trailing, but must up their game or change the system if they want to qualify for the final.

We started the match terribly giving the Blues too much space on the ball, and they took well advantage of the gaps to pile the pressure on us from the off. Pedro even got the ball into the net inside five minutes, only for it to be correctly ruled out for offside, but that had us shaken.

Unfortunately it was less than two minutes after that disallowed goal that we did fall behind, with Eden Hazard splitting our defenders to run through on goal, and he slots it into the bottom corner of the net from just inside the box.

Amazing goal from Hazard!🔥 #arsenalchelsea #hazard #live pic.twitter.com/H8l8OZYhfD

— Instant Goals (@GoalsInstant) January 24, 2018

Luckily we managed to get back into the game a shortly after conceding, thanks to an enormous amount of luck, when Nacho Monreal’s header took not one, but two deflections off Chelsea defenders Marcos Alonso and Antonio Rudiger and into the back of the net.

Who does the credit goes to…!!!#Football #goal pic.twitter.com/RlyTw5TTEh

— Justin Jacob (@justinmynest) January 24, 2018

Unfortunately we failed to build on our equaliser and once again were allowing the away team to come at us at pace, although the injury picked up by Willian on the half-hour mark did slow them down somewhat.

We did manage to get a ball over the top to Alexandre Lacazette, only for him to fail to control the ball properly in the box and lose it, and I can’t help but think he should have just gotten a shot off instead of attempting to control it….

At the interval, I can’t help but think we already need to make a change as the control and impetus is very much with our opponents, and I’d even go as far as to say that on the pitch it looks as if we are the away side.

Can our boys turn this around? What changes need to be made?

Pat J