Match report – – –
Morning all.
Arsenal are through to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup after some late drama in the shape of a penalty shoot-out saw us beat Crystal Palace last night. As expected, there was little scope for Mikel Arteta to rotate at the back, Piero Hincapie’s absence added to the complication there, but Myles Lewis-Skelly came in at left-back as Riccardo Calafiori shifted into the centre.
Further forward though, there were starts for Christian Norgaard, Eberechi Eze, Mikel Merino, Noni Madueke, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus. It might have been an unfamiliar blend, but I thought it worked well in the first half, and we really ought to have been ahead at the break. I think the best chance came early on when Martinelli played Madueke through, but his shot was tame and straight at the keeper.
The Brazilian was nigh on scintillating in the opening 45 minutes, time and again beating his man out wide and delivering quality balls into the box. There was probably a good shout for a penalty on Madueke when he had his shirt pulled just before he took a close range shot, and Martinelli delivered for Jesus but his header was well saved by Walter Benitez. There was another chance for Madueke at the back post, but he shot straight at the Palace keeper, and just before the break Martinelli clashed knees with someone and needed treatment.
He came out for the second half but clearly was not the same, and it’s fair to say neither were Arsenal. Or Palace for that matter. They certainly improved but without being overly threatening. Mikel Arteta sent on Leandro Trossard for Martinelli, then Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka for Eze and Madueke. The captain’s cross saw Jesus head not far wide, but the breakthrough didn’t come until the 80th minute.
Up the other end, Palace had a real chance to score, Jean Philippe Mateta blocking an effort from his own man from close range, but we came forward and got a corner. Saka took it, Calafiori’s big leap saw him have a header blocked and as the ball bounced around Maxcene Lacroix stuck a foot out and the ball went bounced beyond defenders on the line and into the back of the net. It reminded me of one of those slow motion videos of a dog trying, and failing, to catch a ball that’s thrown to them.
At that stage, it probably should have been enough to win it, but we’ve developed an unfortunate recent habit of conceding late goals. Saliba conceded a free kick in our half that he probably didn’t need to, he called it a ‘mistake’ afterwards, and when Palace delivered they won the first ball and Marc Guehi was there to poke it between Kepa’s legs in the 5th of 9 added minutes.
With no extra-time, we went straight to penalties and both teams were impeccable from the spot. We got to 8-7 with successful takes from Odegaard, Rice, Saka, Merino, Trossard, Saliba, Timber, and Calafiori, before the unfortunate Lacroix stepped up to take his. He must have been confident, having seen Kepa get nowhere near any of them, but this time the Arsenal keeper went the right way (did he go the same way for all of them?!), and pulled off the save to see us through.
A penalty shoot-out is always kinda fun when you win it, the players were certainly enthusiastic as they celebrated, and the reward for that is the semi-final showdown with Chelsea next year. Was it a classic? Far from it, but cup football is a distinct thing really, and regardless of what anyone else thinks about this competition, it’s one the manager absolutely wants to win.
Afterwards, he spoke about the need to be more clinical with the chances we had, saying:
We generated a lot and the margin should have been much bigger after 94 minutes. It wasn’t, and when that happens the other teams have the quality to hurt you in any set-piece, and we conceded the goal. That was emotionally tough to accept after the way the game went. But I think we stayed calm, we showed great composure and quality in the penalty shootout and I’m very happy as well for Kepa, that at the end he made the last save and we are through.
Arsenal generated almost 4xG in this game, so it might be a worry that yet again we didn’t convert enough of those opportunities into actual real goals that count. Maybe it’s a quirk of this Arsenal team that around this time of the year we go through a little spell where goals are hard to come by, and in previous seasons that has been quite costly. This time around though, we’re winning while it happens, so perhaps that could be your glass half full outlook this morning.
What’s clear though is that against Brighton at the weekend and then Aston Villa next week, we’re going to have to find our shooting boots to win those games. Extra finishing drills in training? New boots for Christmas? Some extra vitamins in the gravy? Whatever it takes, let’s hope we can find it, because I think this OG lad might not be able to take up the slack for much longer. Anyway, it’s always easier to work this stuff out when you’re winning, and I don’t think it needs hyper-analysis this morning. The job was done, and now we turn our attention to Brighton on Saturday.
So, I’ll leave it there for now. Obviously tomorrow is a day off, so to speak. I’d just like to wish all of you who celebrate a very merry Christmas, and to everyone out there, wherever you are in the world, peace, love, health, and happiness over the festive period. Be with your family and friends, look after each other, and we’ll talk again after.
If you need something to listen to later, we’ll have a festive edition of Waffle available to our Patreon members around lunchtime today. Have a good one folks.
❤️
