Chelsea 2-3 Arsenal: Arsenal survive Chelsea fightback to take first leg lead back to Emirates | OneFootball

Arsenal will take a narrow advantage back to the Emirates Stadium after an entertaining 3-2 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg.

Goals from Ben White and Viktor Gyökeres either side of half time seized control, before an inspired Alejandro Garnacho pulled one back for the hosts.

Martin Zubimendi fired home the decisive goal before Garnacho notched his second with minutes to spare, as the Blues fightback fell short in Liam Rosenior’s first home outing.

As it happened

Just six minutes in, Declan Rice’s inswinging corner caused chaos in the Chelsea box and White rose highest to head into the net to give the Gunners an early lead.

Arsenal made the perfect start in West London and once again, it was a set piece that did the damage.

The visitors continued to press high and force turnovers in the Chelsea half, though they were unable to fully capitalise. Chelsea gradually grew into the contest, finding joy down their right side with Acheampong and Estêvão combining well.

Chelsea’s best moment of the first half came through the Brazilian winger, as he wriggled away from Jurriën Timber before forcing Kepa Arrizabalaga into a sharp save at his near post.

Three minutes after the restart, Arsenal doubled their lead. A quick throw in released Bukayo Saka, who slipped White in on the overlap.

His low cross squirmed through Robert Sánchez’s grasp and Gyökeres reacted quickest to slide the ball home from close range.

Chelsea however, responded well and were back in the tie soon after.

Pedro Neto did brilliantly down the right as he delivered a cross to the back post where substitute Garnacho took a touch and fired past Kepa at his near post to make it 2-1.

Their momentum was quickly halted, though, as Arsenal restored their two goal cushion.

Substitute Mikel Merino found Gyökeres, who held the ball up well before laying it off to Zubimendi. The Spaniard showed great composure, jinking past two defenders before firing a left-footed finish into the corner to make it 3-1.

Arsenal had chances to put the tie to bed, with Merino and Gabriel Magalhães both spurning good opportunities, and they were made to pay late on.

From a Chelsea corner, the ball dropped kindly for Garnacho, who volleyed home his second of the night to set up a tense finish.

Despite late pressure, Arsenal held firm to see out the win and take a one goal advantage into the second leg at the Emirates.

The Gunners now turn their attention back to the Premier League with a trip to Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening, where they aim to get back to winning ways in the Premier League after back to back cup wins.

Chelsea, despite missing key starters like Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo and Reece James, were able to compete well against Arsenal. Garnacho’s goals will give them hope that they can overturn the deficit in the second leg.

They host Brentford at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Analysis: Gyokeres finally up and running?

Although he spared himself from the ‘007 hatewatch’ as it’s been coined by fans online, he couldn’t avoid them pointing out his hairflicks per 90 often outnumbered his goals.

It’d be safe to say that Viktor Gyokores has been a ‘here and there’ signing so far, but will his performance tonight finally provide the long-awaited spark to his Arsenal career?

The Swede’s second half strike at Stamford Bridge is the only goal he’s scored for the Gunners in eleven matches against clubs in the top half of the Premier League.

Liam Rosenior’s Chelsea would have always found tonight challenging, but with this man on form, their task became much harder. So why’s it taking him this long to get going?

Well, it’s likely a matter of adapting to a new system. At Sporting Lisbon, he was the main scoring outlet – used to being constantly fed the ball into space in the channels to run in on goal, or outmuscle defenders with his back turned to the net.

Ruben Amorim’s Sporting were more direct, which suited Gyokores’ off-the-ball movement, strength, and fierce shot down to the ground. In last year’s Liga Portugal campaign, he notched an incredible 44% of their goals.

But Mikel Arteta demands goals from all of his front three, and indeed anyone else. Arsenal’s strategy – other than mastering set-pieces – is more patient, waiting for a mistake from the opposition allowing them to effectively walk it in.

Gyokores is now required to find space in much more crowded areas, unlike his preference to peel in behind off of the last defender’s shoulder.

Let’s face it, the cross from Ben White should never have made it to the striker, with Robert Sánchez unable to smother the cross, but he was in the right place at the right time.

It’s these kinds of poachers’ goals that haven’t come very often for Gyokores, but this will likely do very well for both his confidence and understanding moving forward. 

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