Kevin Whitcher
If you’d have offered Gooners a goalless draw against Chelsea before the kick off of this first leg League Cup semi-final, most would have have bitten your hand off. Stamford Bridge was packed for the game, and I would imagine, after this, the Emirates, with tickets ranging from a fiver (for kids and OAPs) to £20 (upper tier adult price) should sell out for the return leg.
Effectively, it’s a game Arsenal will have to win, as it is difficult to envisage 120 minutes without a goal, the only way the tie can be decided from the penalty shoot-out. If it’s a score draw, Antonio Conte’s side go through, although only after extra time. This assumes the rules remain as they were.
Arsene Wenger was once again in the stands, although unlike the previous time he was banned from the bench at the Bridge, rather than sit amongst Chelsea supporters, he has a seat in the press box, next to Jens Lehmann and some security heavy. Did they expect the journos to start giving him abuse or something?
Anyway, the team selection was interesting. Per Mertesacker swapped places with Calum Chambers, who was on the bench for the embarrassment at the City Ground on Sunday, as Arsenal lined up with a back three, Holding and Mustafi the other two. Up front, Mesut Ozil was supposedly still injured, whilst Alexis Sanchez was confined to the bench. To clarify, the Chilean being cup tied for the final in the event that he does move to Manchester City (and Pep Guardiola’s side qualify), is not an issue. Sanchez played against Doncaster in an earlier round. The reason that the number 7 was on the bench was because a move is likely and the manager wanted to minimize the risk of injury by restricting his game time.
City are prepared to offer £20 million to get Sanchez now. Arsenal want more. So it’s a stalemate. City will probably call Arsenal’s bluff and at the end of January, Sanchez will move for the £20 million to boost City’s Champions League squad. Arsenal will get a further couple of weeks out of the player, but with his sale almost certainly sacrifice any lingering hopes of making the top four. There is very much a feeling that the decision on Wenger’s future has already been made. It appears as if he was given a season to turn around the decline seen last season, and without the distraction of Champions League football for the first team players, there is no good reason he should not have been able to do better in the league. It hasn’t happened. There is a clause in the contract where both parties can decide that the final year of the deal does not happen, and I imagine that would mean the manager gets his final year’s salary as pay-off. The arrivals of Sanllehi and Mislintat, and the procuring of young Greek centre-back Mavropanos (on the bench last night) on the latter’s recommendation, are the beginning of the post-Wenger era. And for most fans, it can’t come to soon. It was interesting to see there has been a change of tune regarding Mavropanos. Before even seeing him train, the manager was stating he would be going out on loan. Translated – I decide who plays for this club, not some scout, so I won’t be having him around until I can credit his abilities on developing at another club rather than giving Mislintat any credit. Now, he has looked good enough in practice to (in tandem with the evident decline of Mertesacker and the unreliability of Koscielny) suddenly be part of the manager’s plans.
As for the long term. I’ll discuss the Carlo Ancelotti story and its implications tomorrow, but change is definitely afoot. Let's get back to the game. It was interesting to see a Wenger team effectively decide to prioritise containment over possession. Perhaps this was a consequence of their often having trouble keeping possession when they got anywhere near Chelsea’s penalty area. The home side had by far the better chances, although there weren’t as many gilt-edged ones as they enjoyed at the Emirates last week, or that Forest had on Sunday. Ultimately though, their attempts were either wide or comfortable enough for Ospina to gather. The Fabregas header near the end of the first half was one a better header of the ball would have converted.
Arsenal’s defenders played with far greater conviction than we often see. With the amount of injuries (Koscielny, Monreal) and the loss of form of the club captain, both Holding and Chambers have the opportunity to get a run in the team and convince the doubters. There is no doubt that not playing such a high line helped both. All three centre-backs made key interceptions over the course of the 90 minutes to frustrate the home side. The midfield did not give the ball away too cheaply too often, although the quality of Granit Xhaka’s corners is a mystery. How difficult is it to get the ball in the air? It would be nice to see some set-piece routines, because the Gunners’ use of corners is not generally efficient.
Jack Wilshere captained the side, which was good to see, but there will be worries over the injury that forced his withdrawal during the second half. The club’s current midfield options don’t look very extensive, especially with the sale of Francis Coquelin. However, once one of the left backs returns to fitness, it would be no great surprise to see Ainsley Maitland-Niles slot in there. For now though, it looks like a Xhaka – Elneny partnership. It should cope with the immediate Premier League matches, which are hardly taxing.
One thing that will be of perhaps greater immediate concern is the difficulty Arsenal had getting their attacking game together. There was a good attempt by Iwobi in the second half (and it shows how bad things are that the manager could not punish the player by leaving him out of the picture for a couple of weeks for his weekend partying), but not too much else. Assuming Sanchez goes, it looks like, creatively it will all be down to Ozil to unpick locks. And if the player cannot be relied upon to start away matches habitually, it's going to be a long second half of the season.
Alexis did enter the game with three quarters of the game gone, and did spark things a little. But nothing really came off at the key moments and Arsenal looked to have weathered the Chelsea storm, where, in the earlier part of the second half, a goal looked almost inevitable. Conte’s side came close a few times, but lacked a clinical finish.
This was the first time that Videa Assisted Refereeing (VAR) was used in an Arsenal fixture. It meant a couple of delays, but no change of decision. Get used to it, I am confident it will be in full use next season.
With Arsenal needing to win the second leg to progess to the final, we wait to see who will be available for the return match in a fortnight’s time. Sanchez may still be at the club then, and we will know whether Manchester City await in the final. Currently injured players will hopefully be back, especially Wilshere, who seems the one creative element at present. Conte’s disappointing record against Arsenal remains. He has only once beaten the club in a competitive match.
Here’s an omen for you. Last season, on the weekend Arsenal were scheduled to face Manchester City in the League, the fixture had to be postponed because they had reached the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, where they played against… Manchester City. This season, Arsenal are due to host City on the weekend that the League Cup Final takes place at Wembley. We’ll see.
To finish, a gag from Doktor Schneide reflecting on the Iwobi party story and the team’s recent form - Arsene Wenger was stunned today by another report involving an Arsenal player partying late before a key game in surroundings where drugs such as speed and cocaine were freely available. The bemused French manager responded by saying, “I have no idea about this. I mean, judging from our results recently it’s clear that no one at Arsenal Football Club has been anywhere near a performing enhancing substance.”
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