A couple of costly individual errors saw Arsenal come from behind to deny Chelsea a place in the League Cup final as the Gunners emerged as 2-1 winners.
Chelsea started the game brightly, as they did so ruthlessly against Brighton at the weekend, putting the ball in the back of the net after just four minutes through Pedro. However, the Spaniard was rightly ruled offside for straying beyond Arsenal’s backline just a fraction too soon. This decision didn’t seem to matter though as Chelsea continued to push on, finding their goal in the seventh minute through Eden Hazard – whose 12 goals now sees him draw level with Alvaro Morata as Chelsea’s top goalscorer this season – as he slid the ball past the onrushing David Ospina having been slipped through by Pedro’s deft offload.
Arsenal were not at their free-flowing best, with N’golo Kante and Tiemoue Bakayoko dominating in the midfield, but the stroke of luck that can often swing a game and subsequently a tie in the favour of the lucky recipient was handed to Arsenal on a silver platter. Nacho Monreal’s header was drifting off target before it deflected, not once, but twice, off Chelsea players, and into the back of the net, ultimately going down as an Antonio Rudiger own goal.
The German didn’t have much better luck in the second-half either as on 60 minutes, the ball nicked off Rudiger’s leg allowing Granit Xhaka to poke home from close range and hand Arsenal a vital but nonetheless fortuitous victory.
Heres’ how the Chelsea players rated in the tie:
Willy Caballero - 7
Was the ultimate sweeper keeper closing down Jack Wilshere and numerous loose balls, whilst also making a good save from Alex Iwobi to keep Chelsea in with a chance late on.
Cesar Azpilicueta - 6
Some good last ditch challenges to mop up positioning mistakes from Andreas Christensen, but an ultimately indifferent performance.
Andreas Christensen - 5
It was about time his run of consistency came to an end, up until now, he had easily been one of the first names on the team sheet. Didn’t make a single tackle or interception all game and his pass accuracy was uncharacteristically low.
Antonio Rudiger - 5
Had an absolute shocker, but in fairness the mistakes couldn’t really be helped. His deflections cost Chelsea the game, hence his low rating, but he had good range on his long balls. Also misjudged a good headed opportunity late on and conceded two fouls.
Victor Moses - 6
Gave away the ball so often and only once managed to beat his man. For a wing-back, there is an expectancy to provide at least a couple of good crosses into the area but Moses managed the same amount of crosses (three) in 71 minutes as his replacement Davide Zappacosta did in the remaining 20 minutes or so.
N'Golo Kante - 7
Unreal at times especially in the first-half. Kante put in seven interceptions, numbers similar to those he has during last year’s title winning season. The new, more aggressive and less composed Kante emerged as the game wore on however, with the Frenchman committing four fouls and failing to make a single tackle in a more dogged second-half contest.
Tiemue Bakayoko - 8
Another performance reminiscent of his days in Monaco. A dominant Bakayoko won four tackles and two interceptions, although like Kante, he was also prone to some lazy fouls, especially when Chelsea had counter attacking opportunities available. A less bashful approach would definitely help Chelsea when the game is stretched.
He also completed five dribbles, which is equal to the king of dribble success rate Eden Hazard and more than double that of Kante and Ross Barkley – both regarded as more adept dribblers of the ball than the gangly Bakayoko.
Marcos Alonso - 6
A couple of really wayward shots summed up his poor deciosn making in the attacking third of the pitch. Defensively, he won five aerial duels and made two clearances to help push Chelsea up the pitch.
Willian - 6
Came off injured early in the first-half. Managed a single key pass but Chelsea looked less dangerous on the counter following his departure
Eden Hazard - 7.5
As aforementioned, he completed five dribbles, the joint most alongside Bakayoko, whilst also laying on four key passes. Hazard drew five fouls but this just helped Arsenal slow play down even when they needed a goal, and the tempo swung back in favour of Arsene Wenger’s men. Composed finish to open the scoring.
Four dispossessions and unsuccessful touches apiece painted a picture of the slight inconsistency that has hounded the Belgium from pushing on to greater things this season.
Pedro - 7
Slid through the ball to set up Hazard’s goal and managed a couple of key passes, but he didn’t get in good enough positions to pepper the goal with shots and seriously trouble Ospina.
Subs:
Ross Barkley – 6 – As I thought and really hoped he wouldn’t, Barkley was deployed out wide and it did him no favours as he lacks the burst of pace that Willian possesses. He looked intimidated by the occasion at times, struggling to make the right decision as to when he should shoot or pass, tending to just spray the ball wide.
This tendency seems to be deep rooted within the current crop of English internationals, a fear to go for goal because of the backlash they’ll receive is a seriously debilitating tact and with both Danny Drinkwater and Barkley suffering from it, Chelsea’s levels of concern should be quite apparent.
In fairness to him, it was a long awaited return to football, let alone a long awaited debut for his new club.
Michy Batshuayi – 5 – Offered literally nothing but a 33% pass accuracy, touching the ball just six times in the half an hour he played – in roughly the same amount of time Willian made almost triple the amount of touches (17 touches having played 29 minutes).
Davide Zappacosta – 6 – Wasn’t any better than Moses, who himself was average enough to warrant his substitution. He was more of an attacking threat, producing the same amount of crosses as Moses despite playing 50 minutes less than the Nigerian.