Gunners dumped out of League Cup

Arsenal 0-2 Chelsea

 

 

Arsenal were knocked out of the Capital One Cup last night, in a match which once again led the media to doubt the Gunners title credentials.

Arsene Wenger was forced to rotate his starting line-up with the likes of Fabianski, Jenkinson, Monreal,Vermaelen, Miaychi and Bendtner offered rare starting berths. Yet the first twenty minutes of the game were extremely tight. Chelsea enjoyed greater possession and were applying pressure on the Arsenal defence, but the Gunners were holding firm, restricting the space in behind and as a result, the visitors were unable to open them up. For all their possession in fact, Chelsea were reduced to long range efforts at best, which did not trouble the Arsenal goal at all. As a result, the Gunners were matching Mourinho’s side and it appeared as though the match would be heading for a stalemate.

In such a game, the first goal is vital and the fact Arsenal simply gifted it to Chelsea made it all the more painful. Following an Arsenal corner, which was easily cleared, the visitors raced forward. Aaron Ramsey’s tackle on Michael Essien saw the ball loop forward towards the Gunners goal. Yet with Wilshere and Jenkinson both on the edge of the box, it seemed the attack would come to an end with a simple clearance. However as Wilshere shouted to Jenkinson to leave it to him to clear the ball, the Arsenal right back decided to head the ball back to his goalkeeper instead. Unfortunately he did not put enough power in the header and the ball fell short, allowing Cesar Azpilicueta to nip in and poke the ball past Fabianski to give the away side the lead.

It was a needless error which had been ruthlessly punished and set Arsenal on the back foot as a result. They had handed the initiative to Chelsea which was an ideal situation for Mourinho as he could now set his side up to sit deep and hit the Gunners on the break. Yet Arsenal responded well and could have restored parity only four minutes later through Nacho Monreal. The Spaniard latched onto a poor clearance from his compatriot Azpilicueta before surging forward and unleashing a low drive across goal which flew just wide of the far post. Had that shot hit the back of the net instead, it would have changed the whole complexion of the match.

Arsenal started the second half in strong fashion, taking the game to Chelsea with Ramsey having the best effort of the early exchanges as his deflected effort flew just wide of goal with Mark Schwarzer stranded. It was a somewhat frustrating night for the Gunners as for all their possession in the second period of the game, they struggled to break down a stubborn Chelsea defence. However while this owed much to the visitor’s good defending it was also down to a lack of attacking fluidity from the home side. Far too often, the final pass was too long or too short, allowing a Chelsea player to nip in and regain possession, thwarting another Arsenal attack.

The Gunners also lacked movement in the final third. With Chelsea happy to sit deep, Arsenal needed the likes of Bendtner and the attacking midfielders to make incisive runs to move the Chelsea defenders out of position and therefore create space and confusion amongst the visitor’s back line. But with Bendtner largely anonymous, as he struggled to match Giroud’s work rate or hold the ball up due to a poor first touch and therefore could not link up well with his team mates, Chelsea were able to resist the Arsenal pressure all too easily.

Ryo Miyachi also struggled on the right flank, with the Japanese winger far too easily outmuscled and brushed off the ball, while also seemingly struggling with confidence as he failed to demonstrate the searing pace he possesses. Time and time again Miyachi would play the ball square or back rather than embarking on a forward run and attempt to get past the Chelsea left back Ryan Bertrand. As a result, Miyachi would slow down the Gunners attack, allowing the visitors to regroup and eliminate the threat of an Arsenal counter attack.

The Chelsea sucker punch arrived in the 67^th minute with Willian’s flick on falling to Juan Mata on the edge of the box, for the Spaniard to fire a wonderful and unstoppable shot into the far corner of the net. Although Olivier Giroud, who replaced Bendtner following Chelsea’s second goal, had a good effort saved by Schwarzer, the game was up and there was to be no way back.

Arsenal came under great criticism from the media following this defeat, with many suggesting that Chelsea had enjoyed an easy night against the Gunners and that there was a huge gulf in class between the two sides, with Ray Wilkins even describing it as embarrassing at times for Arsenal. Yet up until a catastrophic error by Jenkinson which gifted Chelsea the first goal, the visitors weren’t exactly peppering the Gunners goal. In fact throughout the entire evening, Fabianski had very little to do. The truth is this was a tight game which was ultimately decided by that fateful mistake. The major problem for Arsene Wenger is that the same could be said of the loss to Borussia Dortmund. In both games the Gunners pressed the self-destruct button and ultimately threw the games away. If Arsenal are to really become title challengers or win a first trophy in eight long years, they need to quickly eradicate these needless and costly errors.