Arsenal host Chelsea at the Emirates for the second leg of the Carabao Cup semifinal. The Gunners hold 3-2 aggregate lead from their win at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago and are looking for a spot in their first final since winning the FA Cup in July of 2020. As has become my refrain, a number of supporters might not care about the League Cup, but the club and the players certainly do. Winning matters. Silverware matters. They want this.
The Gunners were convincingly the better side in the first leg,
but they couldn’t make their dominance count. It was quite the annoying match, really. Arsenal squandered a bunch of chances to make the second leg a formality. Chelsea didn’t generate much of anything. They scored two pretty fortunate goals, both of which could have been chalked off by VAR for fouls. But apparently you’re allowed to smash into players, knock them over and out of the play, not come all that close to the ball, and it’s fine.
It is what it is. Today’s match is at the Emirates and if Arsenal play like they did at Stamford Bridge, they shouldn’t have anything to worry about. After all, the onus is on Chelsea. The Blues need to win to advance and do so by more than one goal if they want to avoid extra time.
Chelsea have done a fair bit of winning under Liam Rosenior. They’ve won 6 of 7 matches with him in charge, the first leg against Arsenal was their only defeat. That said, they haven’t been particularly convincing. They needed a late goal to beat Napoli and a three-goal second half comeback to beat West Ham. Mighty Pafos and Crystal Palace are also among their recent wins.
The Blues will have Reece James, Cole Palmer, Malo Gusto, and Moises Caicedo all available, none of whom featured in the first leg. They’ll be without Jamie Gittens, Tosin Adarabioyo, Dario Essugo, Romeo Lavia, and long-term absentee Levi Colwill.
Mikel Merino and Max Dowman miss out for Arsenal. The Spaniard needs surgery to repair a broken bone in his foot and will be out until at least May. The young winger is still on the shelf with the ankle injury he suffered in a closed-door friendly back in November. Bukayo Saka is likely unavailable with a minor knock suffered in warmups before the Leeds match but shouldn’t be out too long — Mikel Arteta wouldn’t rule him out for the weekend in his press conference.
Lineups will be posted when available.
Arsenal –
Chelsea –
WHO: Arsenal vs Chelsea
WHAT: EFL Carabao Cup semifinal second leg
WHERE: The Emirates Stadium, London
WHEN: Tuesday, February 3, 12:00 pm PT | 3:00 pm ET | 8:00 pm GMT
HOW TO WATCH: Streaming on Paramount+
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