Chelsea

Arsenal face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-final. The last meeting between these side came in November, where it ended 1-1. Moises Caicedo was shown a red card before half-time, but Chelsea hit the front early in the second period through Trevoh Chalobah. Arsenal equalised before the hour mark through Mikel Merino but couldn’t find a winner against 10-man Chelsea. Arsenal’s recent record against Chelsea is impressive. Mikel Arteta’s men have not lost to Chelsea in their last 8 meetings, the last time Chelsea won a match in this fixture came back in August 2021. Chelsea come into this fixture off the back of a 5-1 win against English Championship outfit Charlton in Liam Rosenior’s first game in charge of Chelsea. However, Chelsea haven’t beaten Premier League opposition in their last 5 attempts, drawing 3 and losing 2. Arsenal come into this fixture off the back of a 4-1 win against Championship outfit Portsmouth. Since losing to Aston Villa in early December, The Gunners have gone on an unbeaten run, winning 6 and drawing 2, with one of those draws coming against Crystal Palace in the EFL Cup, where they won on penalties. The hosts kicked off their EFL Cup campaign with a 2-1 win in Lincoln. Tyrique George and Facundo Buonanotte got the goals. In the following round, Chelsea beat Wolves 4-3. Andrey Santos, Tyrique George, Estevao and Jamie Gittens all got on the scoresheet. In the quarter final, The Blues beat English League One outfit Cardiff City 3-1. Alejandro Garnacho scared a brace and Pedro Neto also scored. Mikel Arteta’s side kicked off their EFL Cup campaign with a 2-0 win against Port Vale. Eberechi Eze and Leandro Trossard got the goals. In the following round, Arsenal beat Brighton 2-0 in North London. Ethan Nwaneri and Bukayo Saka got the goals. And in the quarter-final, Arsenal beat Crystal Palace 8-7 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Ecuador midfielder Moises Caicedo will miss the first leg of this semi-final through suspension. Chelsea may also be without Cole Palmer. The 23-year-old is reportedly likely to miss the first leg due to a chronic groin injury. Arsenal ITK Hand of Arsenal confirmed that both Leandro Trossard and William Saliba were both rested against Portsmouth and defender Cristhian Mosquera is closing in on a return. Liam Rosenior on Arsenal: “Arsenal are good at everything. They’re a good team. You have to manage your 1% to be as good a team as you can, to win in as many different ways as possible. “I respect them, and I think they’ll respect us because we’re a good team as well. They’re a team who are very good without the ball. “They have a really, really clear idea of the way they want to play with the ball. And on top of that, they’re very well-organised with good deliveries on set-plays. That’s what you want to be if you want to be successful.” Mikel Arteta on Arsenal’s win against Portsmouth: “It’s always tough to go into these places, especially in the manner that we started the game, conceding the early goal, but we managed to turn things around, so I’m very happy. “[Making changes] is always tricky. You lack that cohesion; certain players as well haven’t played that many minutes, but a lot of positives to take from the game, apart from the win.”