Advantage Arsenal, but still work to do to reach Wembley

Morning all.

It’s a big one this evening as we take on Chelsea in the second leg of our Carabao Cup semi-final. We have a 3-2 lead from the first leg, and in truth we probably should have won that game by a greater margin with some late missed chances to score more goals before they struck late-ish to make the scoreline tighter.

Perhaps though, that will concentrate the minds for this evening, and bar one or two changes, I think Mikel Arteta will pick a strong team for this one. Ben White started the first leg, and after Jurrien Timber did 90 minutes against Leeds, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him come into the team tonight. Fitness might dictate the central-defensive pairing, but I can’t see beyond William Saliba and Gabriel, while I reckon we’ll see Riccardo Calafiori back in at left-back.

There’s no Mikel Merino for midfield, and I suspect it’s too early in his return for Kai Havertz to start two games in such quick succession, so after a good cameo against Leeds the likely pick in there is Martin Odegaard with Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi making up that trio. Eberechi Eze is an option, of course, but one I’d be surprised to see the manager go with based on recent team selections.

Up front, I think there’s a case for Gabriel Martinelli to start on the left, with Noni Madueke filling in again for Bukayo Saka on the right. The manager sounded relatively positive about his injury in his press conference yesterday, but we don’t need to take any risks, and the former Chelsea man did well last time out with a goal and an assist. He’s earned a chance on the basis of that performance.

The two wide selections might then play a part in who starts up front. Martinelli + Madueke + Gyokeres hasn’t really been a success in the past, with a lack of real technical security in that trio, so after a very good goal at Elland Road, Gabriel Jesus might come into the manager’s thinking for a start. If, however, he plays Leandro Trossard on the left, chances are it’ll be Viktor Gyokeres up top.

Chelsea will come into this buoyed by their weekend win, although hopefully Joao Pedro is still worried about the looming presence of Adama Traore and his foolish decision to engage in pushing and shoving, but we know what they’re about. They have plenty of threat, they’ll make it scrappy and physical, but none of this will be a surprise to Arteta as he makes his plans for this one.

Regardless of how anyone views this competition, we’re now just 90 minutes (hopefully) from a Wembley final, and that brings everything into sharp focus. It’s potentially the first trophy we could win this season, but hopefully not the only one, and there’s no other way to look at this evening than Arsenal having a serious job to do. Arteta says:

The next one is always the most important one, and it is the closest to reaching a final. Tomorrow we are going to have people who really need to create the atmosphere, the energy, the belief that we are going to do it, and all together, I am sure we are very capable of doing that.

We can have a beautiful night together again to make something special and if we’re all together, we’re going to do it.

Cup football is a strange beast sometimes, but fingers crossed this is one we can navigate without too much drama. That might be out of our hands, it does feel like tonight’s opposition are a team/club right now for whom that kind of dynamic is very much at their core, but if we play well and do our jobs properly, hopefully we can look forward to an overdue Wembley final and some very overdue silverware.

As ever, you can join us later for live blog coverage, we’ll bring you all the post-game stuff on Arseblog News. If you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, the Arsecast Extra is below, and for more we round up all the weekend’s Premier League action in The 30 over on Patreon. For now, have a good one.

Come on you reds!