Wednesday 23rd January 2018 Kick off 2000hrs Arsenal v Chelsea Football – England – League Cup The first leg of this League Cup semi-final was one of the dullest affairs in a long time as Arsenal and Chelsea were unable to make any breakthrough and perhaps not altogether willing to do so with the second leg still to come. Having played out one of the games of the season only a week before it was something of a surprise to be presented with such a dire affair but we only need to go back to the early stages of the season for a similar game played out at Stamford Bridge. History repeated itself a fortnight ago and lets hope it does so again with Emirates hosting Chelsea for the second time in three weeks.
Arsenal have been in the headlines on and off the park for a number of weeks, and we’ll come to matters on the pitch shortly. The reason for the attention they have been attracting off the park is one of the most bizarre transfer sagas in recent memory involving Alexis Sanchez. Since last summer it looked as though he would be moving to Manchester City, either in this window or at the end of the season. Jose Mourinho and Manchester United usurped that attempt in the last couple of weeks however and Sanchez will now ply his trade at Old Trafford. Arsenal have attempted to minimise the loss of Sanchez by bringing in Henrikh Mkhitaryan in a straight swap deal, that sort of transfer is rare these days but we’ve all known for a while that Sanchez had no intention of staying so to get a quality player as part of the deal should be commended. On the park Arsenal were able to get back to winning ways and record their first victory of 2018. The early blitz of Crystal Palace only papers over cracks, though, and if they are to make a big step forward then a win over Chelsea is required otherwise it will be seen as more failure amongst the support.
Chelsea have had their own interesting transfer window thus far as they leap from transfer target to transfer target in an attempt to bring in another striking option. It’s something of a surprise to see the current Premier League champions linked with players such as Andy Carroll, Peter Crouch and Ashley Barnes but that seems to the type of player they are after and so far, their search is proving unsuccessful however and that will be another reason for Antonio Conte to be frustrated about, adding to what’s been happening on the park. The first leg stalemate was Chelsea’s fourth successive draw and third consecutive time they failed to score a goal, illustrating just how important other striking options are as Alvaro Morata seems to be going through a quiet spell. The Blues did manage to get back to winning ways on Saturday as they thrashed Brighton 4-0 away from home. Like Arsenal, that was their first win of the new year and they will hope it is the start of a decent run which sees them reach the final of this competition before putting pressure on United, and possibly City, in the Premier League.
Arsenal v Chelsea Betting Tip
A lot of the attention in the build up to the first leg was the fact that it would be another rollout of the controversial Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system. Unfortunately, the discussion after the game wasn’t about much else and we can’t blame any controversial incidents in the game for that. The wins gained for Arsenal and Chelsea over the weekend, and the fact they found their goal scoring boots in those games, should be the perfect tonic for a much more entertaining match and will hopefully provide confidence to the attacking players in both teams.
Arsenal have only have ever reached the final of this competition once under Arsene Wenger’s stewardship which is somewhat surprising but also indicative of the approach he has taken to the League Cup. Chelsea have enjoyed far more recent success, however, with four triumphs in the last 20 years. The last time the Gunners win the whole thing was 1993 so they will certainly feel a final appearance is long overdue. It’s a very close came to call as has been shown in the previous meetings between the two this year all ending in a draw. The away goal rule works slightly differently in the League Cup, of course, and only counted at the end of extra time if scores are still level. That means that the two managers can approach it in a more adventurous way than normally in a second leg of a cup tie but I think the value is in the outcome still being the same after 90 minutes and requiring extra time (possibly penalties) to sort this one out.
Draw 63/25 @ Marathon Bet
