Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Chelsea Knock Out Arsenal From Football League Cup


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Cross-town English giants Arsenal and Chelsea squared off in a Capital One Football League Cup match today, the latter coming off a win against Manchester City just two days ago.  Not surprisingly Chelsea manager José Mourinho rested everyone used in the weekend match except defender Gary Cahill.  Similarly Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger sat all but three players from the weekend match.  The changes to Arsenal's line-up proved to be more costly than Chelsea's as the defense was not always on the same page.

For the second game in a row, Chelsea scored as a result of a bad header by an opposing defender to their keeper.  Chelsea defended an Arsenal corner-kick successfully and managed to break out on a counter-attack.  Carl Jenkinson attempted to play a header back to his keeper, but he did not get enough power on the ball and César Azpilicueta was ready to poke the ball in for Chelsea (25').

Mesut Özil and Olivier Giroud were inserted into Arsenal's line-up in the second-half, but could not produce a goal.  Instead Chelsea extended their lead thanks to Juan Mata.  With his first touch Mata settled the ball before ripping a shot from just outside the penalty box to beat the keeper (66').

This fourth round meeting knocks Arsenal out of the tournament.  The clubs have two Premier League meetings with both still serious contenders for league champions.  There is also still a chance Arsenal and Chelsea meet in the Champions League and you can bet Arsenal would love to return the favor.

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