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:
