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MOTD- Arsenal 0-2 Chelsea

By on October 29, 2013
Juan Mata scores Chelsea's second goal on the night

Juan Mata scores Chelsea’s second goal on the night

It was originally Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho who threatened to field his back-up side verses Arsenal in the Capital Cup Round Four, yet Arsene Wenger was the one suffering after sidelining some of his starters.  Mourinho had previously claimed he would start his U-21 side at the Emirates over scheduling issues, and although Wenger talked of the “psychological effects”,  of which he said came with losing the London derby, before the match, the Frenchmen started both Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud on the bench, and ended up finding his side knocked out of the Capital One Cup while Chelsea advanced to the quarterfinals.

Chelsea out-played the home side with relative ease, perhaps to much when playing a side top of the Premier League.  The visitors certainly found the opening minutes quite comfortable, keeping nearly all the possession with relatively no reaction from Arsenal.  Mourinho’s side swiftly put their dominance to good use, testing Arsenal goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski when Kevin De Bruyne cut in from the left in the nineteenth minute and curled a show shot goal-wards from twenty-yards out.  Although Fabianski stood in the way of De Bruyne’s effort, the Poland international couldn’t stop Chelsea from grabbing a deserved opener in the twenty-fifth minute.  Aaron Ramsey slid in to block a Michael Essien pass as Chelsea broke following an Arsenal corner, sending the ball spinning high up towards the Arsenal box.  Carl Jenkinson tried to head the ball back to Fabianski, but mistimed the header and Cesar Azpilicueta cut out the back-pass before poking into into the bottom corner past the charging Fabianski from eight yards.
Yet Arsenal immediately responded, and nearly found an equalizer just three minutes later when Nacho Monreal stepped in to intercept Azzpilicueta’s pass on the right wing, and flew into the Chelsea box.  The left-back sent a blistering shot towards the far post, which took a slight deflection off of Gary Cahill and zipped inches wide of the frame.  Wenger’s side remained on top, but found themselves struggling to create chances as the match rolled on to the second half.

Mourinho’s half-time talk must have also been better than Wenger’s, for Chelsea took hold of the reigns at the beginning of the second half.  Samuel Eto’o sent a low twenty-yard shot whizzing inches wide of the post in the forty-ninth minute, although Ramsey blasted an effort just over the bar on the hour mark Chelsea doubled their lead moments later.  Juan Mata received a loose ball on the edge of the area, and sent an unstoppable swerving shot into the top-right corner with his weaker left foot to put his side 2-0 up.

Arsenal tried to grab a second equalizer, with Giroud, who Wenger brought on as a substitute in the sixty-seventh minute, forcing Mark Schwarzer into a good save with his legs before Santi Cazorla curled a good effort wide of the post in the final minute of normal time, Chelsea kept strong and saw out a huge win after three minutes of added time.
Man of the Match: Samuel Eto’o

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.