Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea
League Cup semi-final second leg report 
by Layth Yousif

ON A FREEZING cold, rain-lashed February evening as this endless winter fails to cease, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal gloriously reached the League Cup final, to be held at Wembley Stadium in this spring. 

March is normally a time for renewal, but in Islington on a relentlessly wet and misty night, revival came a month early, as the Gunners reached their first cup final at the national stadium since the wretched lockdown of 2020, and their first League Cup under the arch since 2018. 

All season long the character of this Premier League and Champions League table-topping Arsenal team has been challenged, questioned, and even mocked. At the end of this utterly absorbing capital clash the dissenters and haters were quieter than they have been all year. 

The prospect of the Gunners finally getting over the line, and lifting silverware came a step nearer by reaching the first showpiece final of the campaign, ahead of what could be a truly momentous few months ahead for the north London giants. 

Arteta’s assiduously assembled Arsenal side showed guts and no little patience to win through to March’s showpiece event after beating London rivals Chelsea with a 97th-minute winner, from Kai Havertz, of all people. 

That the last-gasp goal came from a former Blue, one who was booed by a section of embittered natives at Stamford Bridge during his cameo appearance during the 3-2 victory in the semi-final first leg in early January — despite scoring the goal that won Chelsea their second European Cup back in 2021 — made it all the more delicious for those of a red and white persuasion on a memorable Tuesday night in N5. 

The fact Havertz merrily cavorted with two other Stamford Bridge old boys at the final whistle — now proudly plying their trade for Arsenal, in Noni Madueke, and Gunners cup keeper Kepa — only served to underline the momentum shift in the power stakes of London football.

Havertz’s late winner sealed a hard-fought 1-0 victory on the night, to make it 4-2 on aggregate, and send the Gunners through to Wembley. 

Substitute Havertz, who has returned in triumph from a debilitating hamstring injury, carefully steered the ball past onrushing Chelsea keeper Robert Sanchez, to slide the ball into the net on a saturated surface in the seventh minute of added time, in which only six were supposed to be applied, as the stadium erupted into such deep and prolonged celebration that even the entire Arsenal substitutes bench raced more than 50 yards to engulf Havertz and their teammates. 

It was an ecstatic climax to an absorbing clash, to send the home support into raptures at the prospect of their first trip to Wembley Way in this competition since the utterly miserable 3-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester City, during the Beast from the East eight long years ago.  

Speaking after the match, a beaming Arteta said: “We are so happy. 

“I think overall, over the last two games, we deserved to go through. It was a long match, we expected that, we wrapped it up at the end in a beautiful way, with Kai [Havertz] scoring the goal in the manner that he did and the reaction from the crowd. 

“The starters, the finishers, the staff, it was just magical. So, I’m really happy because it was a really tough match against a great opponent and we’re in Wembley.”

Arteta made three changes from the resounding 4-0 win at Leeds United on Saturday as they went into this crucial last-four tie.

Bukayo Saka, who limped out of the warm-up prior to the victory at Elland Road missed out, as did club captain Martin Odegaard, while Kepa Arrizabalaga retained his place as the cup goalkeeper in place of David Raya.

Reece James was missing from the Chelsea squad, but talented Brazil teenage attacker Estevao was included among the substitutes following compassionate leave.

Cole Palmer was only on the bench, with Liam Delap starting up front, with Joao Pedro and Enzo Fernandez as part of the Blues attacking trident.

Boss Liam Rosenior picked five defenders in Malo Gusto, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Jorrel Hato and Marc Cucurella. 

Amid a raucous pre-match atmosphere, following a light and laser and smoke display despite the rain, it was clear Rosenior had a plan to negate Arsenal’s presence at set pieces, by keeping three players of his own players high, thereby ensuring a trio of Gunners were withdrawn from the danger area to marshal their presence. A brave move. Not to mention his well-signposted intention on simply keeping it tight as the game wore on, before throwing on his big guns in a late bid to win the match.

Alas, for Chelsea hopes, Rosenior’s “cunning” tactical plan appeared to have more of Blackadder’s hapless Baldrick about it than, say Pep Guardiola’s guile. 

Amid plenty of hustle and bustle, but precious little end product, or even creativity in the wet, on 18 minutes Piero Hincapie curled the ball towards the far corner, but keeper Sanchez leapt to his right to palm the ball away.

As the bluster continued, Chelsea appearing cagey rather than cavalier, Kepa dived to keep out Fernandez long-range shot three minutes before the interval, in the most noteworthy action of a disappointing opening 45 minutes. Perhaps it was understandable given the stakes involved. 

Thankfully the second half opened with far more vim and vigour. It even spread to the touchline where Arteta was booked by referee Peter Bankes after the Arsenal boss had a robust “conversation” with the fourth official.

Shortly afterwards Delap joined the Gunners manager in the book, after a cynical foul took out former Blue Madueke on the touchline, the Chelsea striker deservedly handed a yellow card for such a blatant foul. 

On the hour mark, Estevao and Palmer came on for the Blues, as Rosenior ramped up his attack in a bid to break the deadlock and grab that vital goal. Yet, curiously the pressure expected from Chelsea failed to materialise in any meaningful sense. 

Hincapie marshalled Gusto, as the ball went for a Chelsea corner that Cucurella fired over from the edge of the area, after the ball fell to him from the set-piece. Enzo Fernandez then fired over the bar shortly afterwards as the visitors pressured Arsenal, but still the forecasted onslaught from the visitors failed to arrive. 

On 68 minutes, Gusto was booked for a blatant dive. It was such a pathetic thing to do especially as he had the beating of Hincapie.

Shortly after, the jeers from the home crowd aimed at Gusto turned to cheers when Havertz came on to great acclaim. The popular 26-year-old German international replacing the perennially underwhelming Gyokeres, who even with 11 goals this term appears sadly ineffective — even if his plight is a conversation for another day — in a double switch, with Leo Trossard replacing Madueke with 20 minutes remaining.

As the rain continued to fall, and the clock ticked down, Rosenior’s hopes for his side slipped badly. 

Assessing his team’s punchless performance and guileless gameplan after the match, the new Chelsea boss meekly offered: “In terms of the control and domination we had, there were moments in the second half I thought it was there for us. We just didn’t take it.

He added: “All in all, disappointed not to go through against what will be a very, very good team, but we can’t let this setback affect our future.”

With 10 minutes remaining Cole’s free-kick was blocked by the Arsenal wall, with the ball heading out for a Chelsea corner. From the deadball, Wesley Fofana’s effort fell the wrong side of Kepa’s near post. 

As all assembled thought that was to be that, Havertz made the game safe with his last-gasp, breakaway winner, fed by prime candidate for Player of the Year, Declan Rice, still such a compelling force at such a late stage, to send Arsenal through to Wembley Stadium. 

It has been 20 years since Ashburton Grove first opened, and rarely can there have been such delight at the final whistle of a game, as Havertz’s “anthem” blared out, Shakira’s global hit, Waka Waka (This Time For Africa). As Arsenal’s unfairly derided loyal support chorused their ironic adaptation of the 2010 World Cup anthem, singing gleefully: “Sixty million down the drain/ Kai Havertz scores again.”

In the other tie, with Manchester City — already 2-0 up from last month’s first leg in the north-east — set to face an ailing Newcastle side mired in a raft of fixture congestion on Wednesday evening, Arsenal could face the prospect of Guardiola’s former assistant Arteta, confronting his former mentor and boss at Wembley.

When the ground had finally emptied, but the elation remained unbroken, a smiling Arteta spoke. 

When asked about the significance of reaching a final, and longed-for possible silverware that can act as a catalyst to further glory, Arteta said after the match: “Well, it’s the best vitamins that we can put in our bodies because we’re playing every three days. But the fact that you work so hard to achieve those moments and to have these moments together, it’s just magical, because you can see the joy, the smile, the energy in the dressing room and everybody who works at the club. So, yeah, looking forward to it.”

Media duties finally over, walking away from a now deserted stadium, despite the rain continuing to fall amid the evocative late-night mist, the fog amplified by street lights alongside the now empty but glistening Islington roads, the sense of renewal that spring brings somehow appeared to move imperceptibly closer — along with hopes that this great north London club is finally on the verge of revival, and glory, after far too many wasted years in the wilderness.

And as you headed away, on a freezing cold, rain-lashed February evening, scurrying for the last Tube, it was also hard not to replay the words in your head that Arteta added in the aftermath of this semi-final victory, when he said: “Now let’s win the final.”