Arsenal reach Carabao Cup final as Kai Havertz returns to haunt Chelsea

Arsenal reach Carabao Cup final as Kai Havertz returns to haunt Chelsea - 5 talking points

ARSENAL 1-0 CHELSEA (4-2 agg.): Arsenal's dramatic win in West London was enough to get them over the line and seal a spot in this season's Carabao Cup final

Arsenal have been confirmed as this year's first Carabao Cup finalists after Kai Havertz downed former club Chelsea. After a thrilling 3-2 win at Stamford Bridge, the Gunners just about did enough to see off their near neighbours in the second leg.

Mikel Arteta's men might have rubber-stamped their win from the penalty spot but Gabriel Martinelli saw his appeals turned down, while Gabriel Magalhaes had the best chance from open play.

As Chelsea pushed late on, the Gunners took full advantage as former blue Kai Havertz rounded Robert Sanchez to secure victory. Arsenal will now turn their attention to tomorrow's other semi-final between Manchester City and Newcastle to find out their Wembley opponents.

Here are all of the talking points from the Emirates Stadium:

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Injuries continue to stack up

Even before the game, Mikel Arteta was given a couple of headaches. England star Bukayo Saka was predictably not with the rest of his teammates following his injury at Leeds and was replaced by Noni Madueke.

Another notable absentee was captain Martin Odegaard. Given he was missing two of his most creative players, it wasn't too much of a surprise to see the Gunners struggle in attack.

With games in both the Premier League and FA Cup to come, Arteta will certainly hope to have the duo to call upon sooner rather than later.

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Chelsea take novel corner approach

Every club in the Premier League has been mulling over ways to blunt Arsenal's threat from corners and not many have succeeded. And Chelsea took a somewhat unconventional approach to their attempts at defending them; simply don't.

From Arsenal's early corner kicks, three Chelsea players left the penalty area, leaving Arsenal susceptible to the counter-attack. To combat that, Arsenal were forced to leave their own players out of the box and to praise Chelsea, it worked, with the Gunners failing to find the net from their usually productive set pieces.

Arsenal do the job

It was far from a vintage performance from Arsenal but given that they've secured their spot in the final and are now just 90 minutes away from a piece of major silveware, Arteta will not mind one bit.

The Gunners did what they needed to to get over the line. They kept Chelsea at arms' length throughout the 90 minutes. The game - and performance - will of course be forgotten but it will have been worth it should they go all the way and lift the trophy.

Penalty appeals

If a goal was going to come from anywhere, it looked likely to come from the penalty spot. Both sides had genuine calls for spot-kicks during the second half.

Chelsea's came from a couple of handball shouts, albeit they were eventually rightly cleared. Meanwhile, the Emirates loudly appealed for Trevoh Chalobah's challenge on Gabriel Martinelli but that too was deemed a legal tackle, which was probably the right decision.

Havertz seals victory

Wouldn't you just know it? Kai Havertz is the man to seal Arsenal's spot at Wembley.

The former Chelsea man was introduced as a late substitute at the Emirates and lit up what was frankly a dismal game.

In acres of space as the visitors pushed for an equaliser, he was picked out perfectly by Declan Rice, rounded Sanchez and tucked into the unguarded net. Following his injury woes and difficult spell at Stamford Bridge, there will certainly not be a more popular goalscorer.

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