PREVIEW: Arsenal carry slim advantage into Chelsea clash with Wembley in sight | OneFootball

The second leg of both Carabao Cup semi-finals takes place this week, starting with Arsenal vs Chelsea on Tuesday night.

The Gunners hold a 3-2 advantage coming into this one, thanks to their win at Stamford Bridge last month, just days after Liam Rosenior had taken charge in West London.

Arsenal’s goals came from Ben White, Victor Gyökeres and Martin Zubimendi that night, whilst Alejandro Garnacho netted a second-half brace for the home side to keep them in contention ahead of the second leg.

Since that night, Rosenior has stamped his footprint on this Chelsea side, with them picking up five wins from five games across the Premier League and Champions League.

Most notably, two five-goal thrillers in this past week with 3-2 wins over Napoli and London rivals West Ham United, mounting exciting comebacks both times.

The Gunners’ recent form had been slightly less convincing until they ran riot at Elland Road on Saturday afternoon, putting four past Leeds United without reply to secure their first league win since January 3rd.

Despite that minor blip of a winless three games in the top flight, Arsenal remain clear at the top of the division, also topping the Champions League league phase with an impressive 100% record and only four goals conceded along the way.

The starting centre-forwards of both sides are the key players to keep an eye on heading into this one, with summer signings Joao Pedro and the aforementioned Gyökeres in fine form as of late.

The Chelsea frontman has now scored five goals in as many games since the first leg took place, including a brace in Naples and a superb substitute appearance this past weekend, where he played a pivotal role in his side’s comeback, netting the first and assisting the winner.

Meanwhile, the Swedish star of Arsenal has three goals and an assist to his name in his last five outings, alongside the goal and assist he picked up at Stamford Bridge in the first leg.

England winger Bukayo Saka suffered an injury in the warm-up at Elland Road on Saturday, casting a cloud of doubt over his availability ahead of Tuesday night.

The Gunners are trophyless since Mikel Arteta’s first campaign in charge, back in 2020, when they lifted the FA Cup.

His side have come up just short in recent times, finishing second in the last three Premier League seasons and exiting the Carabao Cup at this stage last year.

Arsenal haven’t even made an appearance at Wembley since their FA Cup win at the turn of the decade, excluding Community Shield games that is.

Meanwhile, Chelsea’s last major honours came this past summer, when they lifted both the Europa Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup, and their last trip to Wembley ended in an FA Cup semi-final defeat to 2023/24’s runners-up, Manchester City.

The match will take place at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, February 3rd, with a 8pm UK time kick-off.