Arsenal vs. Chelsea Carabao Cup Semifinal, 1st Leg Samford Bridge Wed, 1/10/2018 3pm EST ESPN2 Godspeed.
Fact: We've played Chelsea 4 times since May and have lost 0. Edit: Gotta find a way to stop leaking goals for that run to continue.
Full strength squad please. No effin' around. This is really our only chance at silverware this year...realistically.
I agree but unfortunately a true "full strength" is far from possible. The only returning players are possibly Xhaka & Mustafi who have fitness tests today. We're still without Kos, Nacho, Kola, Giroud, Ramsey and last but not least Santi. But, at long last, Arsenal finally gets VAR! It's been a long wait for all of us and M. Wenger. It was funny listening to 5Live yesterday and they were all jazzed up about the first time it was used for top-flight teams (Brighton-Palace in FA Cup)... I don't think it figured into the game much, if at all, but they still debated it strongly for 30 mins or so. In a short time, they'll look back at their initial overreaction with amusement. Remember when Goal line technology was controversial and spawned similar debates? Sure GL is much simpler. And there are many kinks & subtleties to work out with VAR, so there will be stumbles. But I'm convinced it's going to be a big net positive.
I'm still pissed off that VAR was conveniently omitted for all but a single match in the third round.
Yeah, I had gotten the impression it was going to be used in a more widespread way. But then yesterday I heard that it was only going to be possible at PL club grounds, which makes some sense. Still there were more than one of those in the third round! But in the end, even if VAR had disallowed Forest's 4th goal (PK), we still looked second best to them on the day. We got what we deserved.
Chelsea are declared fully fit as Hazard passes a late fitness test. Meanwhile we're without 6-8 key players. It's gonna take some exceptional performance by our team, and probs a fair amount of luck, to come away from the Bridge with a win or a draw.
WTF no Ozil no Sanchez. Cue The transfer rumors. Arsenal XI: Ospina, Chambers, Mustafi, Holding, Bellerin, Wilshere, Xhaka, Maitland-Niles, Iwobi, Welbeck, Lacazette Bench: Macey, Mavropanos, Mertesacker, Elneny, Nelson, Walcott, Alexis
Laca with a GREAT chance and then he shanks it to Row Z. If we're gonna have any chance of getting a result here, we need to be CLINICAL!
Mustafi is about to get a card from VAR I think. Edit: No it was Chambers. And no he didn't get a card. Lucky boy me thinks.
The VAR incidents seem a little more pronounced in this game than most of the MLS matches I saw last year. Atkinson seems to have consulted VAR 3-4 times in the first half, and each time it's added about +10 secs of stoppage.
Great speed and positional defense by AMN there on Hazard who was basically in one-on-one with Ospina. I'm liking Ainsley's work of late.
Ugly half. Wilshere and AMN are the only bright spots, but Chelsea continue to play down to our level.
Interesting to hear the analysts say that it was a clear foul on AMN which should've given us a PK. I personally thought the contact was too slight, and it would've been a soft pen. Hmm.
All the commentary actually suggested because the ball was out of play Chambers couldn't have gotten a penalty because he was held badly before the push, so It could only have been a red to Ac... Acu... The Chelsea guy, which obviously he isn't getting a red for that. Soft Pen going our way? Not a chance. Still nil all, happy with this we look better defensively and I think we can take them 2-1 at home especially if we get Ozil back or LANS comes in.