Arsenal literally took one step closer to their dream of playing in the Carabao Cup final by winning i3–2 against Chelsea in the first leg of their semi-final tie, while they extended their unbeaten streak to 10 games in all competitions.
The Gunners opened the scoring through the execution of a set-piece, as Ben White got his head on the ball and converted a Declan Rice assist after Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sánchez was caught in no-man’s land. Despite conceding, the home side did not hang their heads, and both João Pedro and Estêvão had decent chances of scoring as Arsenal’s back line showed cracks.
Arteta’s men pulled further away from the opposition after the restart as White’s cross deceived Sánchez, and Viktor Gyökeres was left with an easy finish from a couple of yards away. In order to turn things around, Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior brought on Alejandro Garnacho, and the youngster almost immediately made his presence felt as he got one back for the Blues with a cool finish after Pedro Neto’s cross.
Not long after, Arsenal went back to their two-goal lead, and it was brilliant, as Gyökeres nicely held the ball for Martín Zubimendi to run through Chelsea’s defence and then beat Sánchez with a stunner.
Chelsea wouldn’t just give up without a fight as Garnacho scored his second after a corner from Neto resulted in the box being in a state of disorder.
Right up until the dying moments of the game, the Blues were applying lots of pressure, but the Gunners were able to keep the lead and, therefore, they go for the second leg with a very narrow advantage, which means the tie is still very much up in the air before the next encounter.
