Arsenal v Chelsea: Carabao Cup semi-final, second leg – live | Carabao Cup
Key events
65 min Chelsea have upped it, Esetevao pulling wide then laying back to Fernandez, who also tries a curler, the ball disappearing over the bar once more.
64 min But the delivery is poor and into the ground, the clearance reaching Cucurella, whose shot is like his barnet: curling, over the top, and generally suboptimal.
63 min A decent pass between the lines, I think from Chalobah, picks out Gusto, who wins a corner off Hincapie. Fernandez comes over to take it, the box loaded.
61 min Since Rosenior took over at Chelsea, no side in Europe has more goal involvement from subs. I’ve not watched all these games, but from what I have seen, it’s been more a case of correcting errors than inspired changes.
60 min Gusto hurts himself so takes treatment, then Chelsea make their change, Estevao and Palmer replacing Hato and Delap, which means a change to 4-2-3-1, Estevao on the left, Palrmer the right and Fernandez in behind.
58 min “There’s a flaw in Karl Tulnius’s point about megalopsychia,” reckons Colum Farrelly, “as shown by the England cricket team which shows iron self-belief and exudes such confidence that others … just laugh at them, really. You needed to … demonstrate ability.”
57 min Estevao and Palmer are stripped. The longer this remains goalless, the more nervous Arsenal – and the home crowd – will get.
56 min Madueke skirts around the outside of Delap, who kicks him over and is booked.
54 min “Continuing the theme (and distracting from the poor football), a friend of mine was in the central nightclub The End in the 90s,” begins Matthew Davis. “He ran into a guy with bleached blond hair and leather get up and said ‘Are you trying to look like that **** Mr C? To which, to his eternal credit, he replied ‘I am that **** Mr C’.”
Yes, I’m afraid I know too well what and where The End is, but Mr C is a legend of the game. I saw him quite recently at a party he organised in an office, replacing bogroll. He’s refined, he’s fine, he makes you feel fine and all that.
52 min Delap ragdolls Hicapie, tossing him aside and escaping unpunished, so the Arsenal man charges after someone, anyone, seeking revenge, eventually fouling Joao Pedro; Arteta is booked, I think for complaining but it might be for his little trousers.
52 min The ball is clumped backwards and forwards; both Estevao and Palmer warm up like their introduction is imminent.
50 min For a second, it looks like Gyokeres is away, gambolling down the left, then Chalobah comes across and humps clear.
47 min Chelsea win a corner, Fernandez swings it in and everyone, Kepa included, misses it, the ball bobbling behind. There’s a quick VAR check – seriously, it’s quick, I promise – to see if Saliba fouled Joao Pedro, but he did not.
46 min “For all their lack of inventiveness,” says Henry, “Arsenal have scored more goals this season than both Liverpool and City, having played the same number of games in the same competitions, so it’s a bit overblown (though I agree it often seems cautious).”
They’ve scored fewer in the league than City, though, but I’m talking about individuals able to override match circumstances, and attacking combinations that are too quick and precise to defend. I don’t think it’s controversial to say Arsenal are behind both teams in that aspect, but have a more solid platform behind them, which helps with attacking freedom.
46 min We go again…
Back come our teams. It feels impossible for the second half not to be an improvement.
Estevao and Palmer are on the pitch kicking about. I don’t imagine Rosenior will leave it too long before introducing both.
“As that last half was basement-level stuff and not very elevating,” returns Justin Kavanagh, “let me regale you with my story of meeting the sanguish man in a lift in DC many moons ago. I was headed to a meeting, head down getting my papers in order, when in stepped two men. One of them had an unmistakable voice I couldn’t quite place, but then I twigged it. ‘That’s the best Sean Connery impersonat…’ I blurted out foolishly, before stopping myself… because, of course, it was the suave Scot himself. Okay! Carry on…pleashe continue…”
A mate of mine went to the kluhrb in New York and found himself at afterparty in an apartment with mody gold discs on its walls. “You must really love Moby,” he said to his host. I imagine you can guess the rest.
Half-time email: “The discussion of tachles reminds of another concept that has exemplified some of the best sides and managers in football,” writes Kári Tulinius. “Aristotle considered the most important virtue to be ‘megalopsychia’, which could be glossed as ‘being great and knowing that you are’. The best teams have so much iron self-belief, that they never think they’re beaten, and exude such confidence that their opponents start doubting themselves. Anyway, I spent a winter beating my head against the knotty prose of Aristotelian ethics and in comparison to that this match is mind-numbing.”
I’ve always found Hegel and Kant the hardest to unravel; by contrast, this match is relatively simple, two teams fearful of losing in their desperation to win. Arsenal do try to affect Aristotelian virtue, but they don’t really believe it yet.
Half-time reading:
HALF-TIME: Arsenal (3) 0-0 (2) Chelsea
Chelsea have been the better side, but neither has been anything approximating to good.
45+1 min I didn’t see Arsenal at the weekend, but the one before, against United, their counter-pressing, especially in the first 20 minutes, was excellent. I don’t know if they’re more nervous tonight, given the lead they hold, but they’re sitting off in a way they don’t usually. I’d not be surprised if Arteta shares with them some sentiments and feelings at half-time.
45 min Arsenal go again with another ball over the top, Eze leaping with foot extended but unable to get a touch. We’ll have one additional minute.
45 min This is up there, or down there, with the worst halves I’ve seen this season – and on a weekly basis, I watched Ruben Amorim’s Man United.
43 min Fofana wins it high, feeds infield to Fernandez, who opens his body to try a curler … and Kepa fists clear.
41 min On which point, Arteta is often criticised for his safety-first tactics, but the problem as much as anything is a lack of quality – Saka is his only attacker of elite level, and really you’d want him to be the third-best in your forward-line, not the best by far. Anyhow, Chelsea win a corner, easily cleared.
38 min It’s amazing how much money has been spent on this Chelsea squad, for it to be so lacking in forward areas. They’ve some good players, obviously, but not enough of undefendable brilliance – likewise Arsenal. Compare them to Liverpool and the Manchester clubs who, for all their ills, and there are many, are much more enterprising and inventive in attack.
36 min “Tough watch this,” reckons Stephen Carr. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Arteta has had them watching classic Mourinho compilation DVDs all week.”
I seem to recall a League Cup semi second leg, at Old Trafford in 2005, won by Chelsea following some choreographed pushing from a corner…
34 min Rice wins a throw deep inside the Chelsea half … and it goes backwards. Arsenal seem nervous, but as I type, a long pass over the top from Gabriel, swatted beautifully to meet the out-to-in run of Martinelli, who gets away from Gusto as he enters the box, then spins when caught up to swivel into a shot … which the defender does well to block. But that was better from Arsenal and almost immediately afterwards, Gyokeres bursts into the box from the left, then shoots into the nearest available pair of shins. Suddenly, he’s bossing it.
32 min We see a graphic advising us Gyokeres has had one touch so far. He perhaps needs to decide what he’s going to do: come deep to get on the ball, or constantly threaten in behind, because at the moment he doesn’t seem to be doing either.
30 min Delap down the line for Gusto, whose lowish cross is cleared. Half an hour gone, and we’ve seen one serious save – Sanchez’s from Hincapie – and even that wasn’t especially difficult.
29 min I guess, on the other had, Arsenal have a good defence fortified by Rice and Zubimendi in front, so don’t mind a bit of back-foot play, even if it’s not how Arteta wants them to go about things.
28 min There’s not much in this so far but Arsenal have been tepid with Chelsea looking marginally likelier.
27 min Fernandez delivers flat, the ball’s headed back to him so he goes again, and this time it’s headed away to Chalobah, who butchers a shot somewhere towards Blackstock Road.
26 min Rice gives it away to Santos, looking to play out from the back, but Santos, who intercepts, can’t find a perceptive pass, so Chelsea slow it down, then Delap’s cross is deflected behind and Fernandez goes over to take the corner.
23 min Joao Pedro is doing well pining Saliba, most recently beating him to a ball when second-favourite and winning a free-kick. He’s maturing into a fine all-round centre-forward – he already looks a way better player than he did last season, putting himself about with greater aggression, conviction and intent.
21 min Arsenal have appeared into the game, Kepa finding Martinelli with a long pass, but his cut-back misses everyone.
20 min “I can’t help with the concept of ‘tachlis’,” says Andy Gordon, “but ‘shanguish’ is what Sean Connery has at lunchtime.”
20 min …and this time it’s cleared properly at the first attempt, so Arsenal build again.
18 min This time, the corner half-cleared then, out of naewhere, Hincapie flings himself into a shot from 25, Sanchez flying to high right to parry but without getting the ball around the post … and Gabriel is lurking! But the ball comes to o quickly, he can’t rearrange his feet, and the chance evaporates … but shortly afterwards, Arsenal win a free-kick which Rice will swerve in…
17 min Still, though, Madueke’s delivery is decent and Hincapie is up, his header hitting Fofana’s arm, raised for leverage as he jumps, and going behind for another corner.
16 min For the first time, Arsenal set Madueke at Cucurella, who looks beaten but bites back to concede a corner. As Enzo Maresca did, Rosenior sends three players forward, to limit bodies in the box.
15 min Arsenal have barely had a touch in the Chelsea half and as soon as they get Martinelli on the ball, Caicedo crunches in to a challenge, then the flag goes up for offside.
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