Chelsea started the game well enough, but Arsenal struck first, and quickly, scoring from a corner with barely five minutes on the clock. Arsenal scoring from a set piece? Inconceivable.
That said, the goal had as much to do with weak defending on our part than anything special from the Gunners: Robert Sanchez flapped horribly, Joao Pedro got shoved out of the way far too easily, and Ben White couldn’t possibly miss. Viktor Gyokeres was in the vicinity of the shot and could’ve been called for offside, but the VAR gods did not favor us.
To our credit, we responded well enough to going behind so early, but we were not quite able to create consistent threat in the final third. We did test Kepa from range a few times, but we barely made him move. At the other end, Arsenal were happy enough to settle for set pieces, and why wouldn’t they.
Unfortunately, they wouldn’t even need set pieces to increase their lead, as Sanchez this time flapped at a low cross just minutes into a half, allowing it to trickle through to Gyokeres, who was left with a simple tap-in.
There were still 40 minutes to go and things could’ve gotten a lot uglier from there, but as in the first half, Chelsea’s response was admirable. And more importantly, it were the Blues who would score next, with Alejandro Garnacho, fresh off the bench, converting a Pedro Neto cross at the far post.
Chelsea piled on the pressure as the momentum shifted but we could not find a quick second. And then Arsenal made some changes as well, and settled in to see out the result.
Alas, they would do more than just that, with Martin Zubimendi, of all people, making absolute fools of our defenders and restoring Arsenal’s two-goal lead on 71 minutes. Soon after, Sanchez then made up for one of his errors with a ridiculous save to keep the deficit at the just three.
Just when you thought you knew how this game would end, Garnacho scored again to give us some hope for the second leg!
