Arsenal ‘out-thought’ by Chelsea but ‘squeeze through’ before Guardiola controversy

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·4 February 2026

Arsenal ‘out-thought’ by Chelsea but ‘squeeze through’ before Guardiola controversy

Arsenal ‘squeezed through’ to a cup final despite being ‘out-thought’ by Chelsea, while Pep Guardiola wanting people to not die is a ‘humanitarian tirade’.

The blame for a really quite mundane Carabao Cup semi final second leg is assigned to the team which did not need to score at any stage to advance.

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And the Daily Telegraph headline generator has caused a bit of a commotion by being too on-brand.

Squeeze apply

A bizarre paragraph to kick us off in The Sun‘s match report from a triumphant Emirates:

‘Arsenal’s fans still sang the name of their manager as they squeezed through thanks in large part to their 3-2 win at Stamford Bridge last month.’

Why does it sound like Charlie Wyett has never previously encountered the concept of a two-legged tie? Of course they reached the final ‘in large part’ thanks to having an advantage from the first match. That’s often how it works.

Also, Arsenal literally won both games. They ‘squeezed through’ by two clear goals, having led the tie on aggregate from the seventh minute of the first game onwards.

Love it when (half) a plan comes together

There is some more textbook Wyett on Liam Rosenior later on, too:

‘His game plan of staying in the game and then trying to nick a goal worked pretty well but even once he made his changes, Chelsea never really looked like scoring.’

Definitely ‘worked pretty well’ then.

Oh and of course Wyett subscribes to the Gary Neville school of thought that the game’s relative lack of entertainment value was because of ‘Arzzzzzzzenal’, and not the side which went into those 90 minutes needing a goal and barely mustered a couple of tame shots on target.

School of out-thought

Oliver Holt is far more complimentary of the final-reaching, Quadruple-chasing Gunners in the Daily Mail, but even he writes that ‘there was also a creeping suspicion that Arsenal were being out-thought’ at one point, and that ‘they seemed unnerved by Chelsea’s formation change and Chelsea started making inroads’.

Only a few paragraphs before, Arsenal ‘faced intense pressure here and they dealt with it without missing a beat,’ as Chelsea ‘could not break down the Arsenal defence’.

But sure, they ‘out-thought’ them all the way to a 1-0 defeat in a game they had to win and Arsenal didn’t.

‘Right on the hour, Rosenior made the changes many had expected. Having contained Arsenal, he called for the cavalry,’ Holt adds.

If using up 60 of 90 minutes purely ‘containing’ Arsenal in a game the Gunners were content with drawing but in which Chelsea had to score at least once means Rosenior ‘out-thought’ Arteta then sure, the bloke is a genius.

This paragraph neatly sums up the apparent ‘frustration’, ‘irritation’ and ‘restlessness’ of the hosts, of which Holt speaks:

‘There were more nervous moments for the home team. Palmer and Fernandez stood over a free kick on the edge of the Arsenal area ten minutes from time. Arguments raged over the placing of the wall. Palmer took the kick. It hit Havertz in the wall. Chelsea screamed for a penalty. It was not given.’

M. Night Shyamalan couldn’t dream up those nerve-shredding twists and turns. Spare a thought for those Arsenal supporters still on that emotional rollercoaster of a free-kick hitting the wall and let them never sign Cristiano Ronaldo.

‘Spurs make post-deadline signing after Frank’s side left crippled by injuries’ – The Sun website.

Has Thomas Frank dipped into the pool of free agents? Are Raheem Sterling and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain about to rock up in north London again?

‘TOTTENHAM have bolstered their medical staff amid their crippling crisis. Liam Horgan, who worked with boss Thomas Frank at Brentford, has been appointed as the club’s first-team rehabilitation physiotherapist.’

Oh for fu…

Pep talk

We stay with The Sun website for their coverage of the least important aspect of Pep Guardiola’s most recent Manchester City press conference.

”Grumpy’ Pep blasts City for not spending more before making true feelings clear’ is the headline, which does not quite do enough to get across those ‘true feelings’ and funnily enough makes them unclear enough to presumably drag in some furious clicks.

Guardiola literally said his comments about wanting Manchester City to be first rather than seventh in the Premier League net spend table were a “joke”, as if such a clarification was even necessary. So selling it as a ‘blast’ feels more than a little disingenuous.

What the Duck?

Someone is in trouble at the Daily Telegraph:

That subhead has since been changed to ‘Man City manager seemed to delight in using his platform to denounce ICE killings, the war in Gaza…and bad refereeing,’ which is at least slightly more reflective of the balanced piece Ducker actually wrote.

In fairness, considering his employers, Ducker should probably just be grateful that his name wasn’t put next to something painfully transphobic. Or a hit piece on the BBC. Or both.

Describing Guardiola’s stance that we probably shouldn’t just be okay with people dying as ‘humanitarian tirades’ is comparatively small fry, and perhaps the greatest, most depressing example of Daily Telegraph-based artistic licence imaginable.

They have indeed deleted, tried again and stopped putting words in Ducker’s mouth, posting an actual excerpt of what he wrote instead of making him sound like a right c***.

But is that unnamed Telegraph sub responsible for the worst take on Guardiola’s emotional, impassioned, righteous press conference? No, because GB News inexplicably still exists, so…