Liam Rosenior said he would learn a lot about his players when they faced Arsenal in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final. One thing he will have learnt is that his side can be resilient.Alth...
Liam Rosenior said he would learn a lot about his players when they faced Arsenal in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final. One thing he will have learnt is that his side can be resilient.
Although Arsenal prevailed 3-2, the scoreline could have been much worse. The Gunners had a two-goal lead twice, and Chelsea pulled it back to one twice.
There were familiar problems for the Blues, as Robert Sanchez was at fault for two goals.
For Arsenal’s first, he went to claim a corner and got nowhere near it, leaving Ben White to head into an empty net.
It was largely his fault, but the delivery from Declan Rice was sublime and everyone is aware of Arsenal’s prowess from set pieces. It didn’t help that this was seven minutes into the game though.
But Arsenal’s second was simply inexcusable from the Spaniard. Bukayo Saka played in White on the overlap, the Englishman then delivered a ball into the box that should have been straightforward to deal with.
Sanchez had both hands on the ball and looked to have swallowed it, but it somehow popped out from under him and Viktor Gyokeres was on hand to tap into an empty net, the second time Arsenal were able to do that.
At this point, the travelling Arsenal fans began singing ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’ at Liam Rosenior.
It was only his second game in charge, and his first home game. His first match at the helm was a less than challenging 5-1 win over Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup, and this was the other extreme.
A baptism of fire, a London derby in which Chelsea were being thoroughly outplayed, and were 2-0 down in.
Chelsea got on the scoreboard when Garnacho scored four minutes after being brought on in the second half, but Arsenal quickly made it 3-1 with a world class individual effort from the often unsung Martin Zubimendi.
Gyokeres laid him off at the edge of the area, he paused and dummied past both Andrey Santos and Wesley Fofana in the box, before curling past Sanchez with his weak foot, who this time was completely helpless.
As the clock ticked down, Garnacho scored his second in the 83rd minute. It came from a Chelsea corner which was cleared to the edge of the box, which Garnacho expertly took at waist-height and drilled into the goal with one touch.
It set up a nervy and exciting final 10 minutes, but Chelsea couldn’t level the tie.
In truth, they offered little in the game and were outplayed for much of it by the visitors, but they will go into the second leg in three weeks only one goal behind, and with a fighting chance of reaching the final.
Category: General Sports
