Chelsea's Quest for Trophies Continues as They Defeat Arsenal 2-1

It was a good sunny afternoon at the newly-rebuild legendary stadium of Wembley. Mixed feelings of anticipation, excitement, and hopes for long sought silverware were in the air. This was the road to them, for both teams.

The two teams that reached the semifinal of the FA Cup, Arsenal and Chelsea, were no strangers to each other.

The statistics were in favor of Arsenal, tilting the scales towards their side with 11 wins over the four of Chelsea. However, in their last 13 competitive matches against Chelsea in all competitions, the Gunners have only managed to win two.

But it was not about statistics today. After their memorable eight-goal thriller against Liverpool in the Champions League, Chelsea was somehow expected to be drained of energy.

That was not the case though, as they started the game well, giving Arsenal a strong resistance from the start.

An early mistake by Almunia’s replacement, Lukasz Fabianski, as the keeper rushed out recklessly which allowed Didier Drogba to head the ball over him, sending it spinning towards the goal.

Luckily for Fabianski, Kieran Gibbs corrected his mistake by clearing the ball into corner just before it would roll in.

Both teams struggled to build their game, rarely connecting more than three passes. The quality of the game remained relatively low until the 18th minute.

It was exactly then, when Emmanuel Adebayor demonstrated great vision from the left side to set Gibbs free of the defenders, with a cutting pass. Gibbs ran up to the goal line and crossed the ball towards the far post.

English international Theo Walcott was there to meet the ball, his volley bouncing slightly off Ashley Cole’s hand to find its place into the net behind Peter Cech.

1-0 to Arsenal. The ball was in Chelsea’s court now.

They reacted and improved their passing game. They increased the pressure in the midfield which led to some mistakes from Arsenal’s midfield players, Abou Diaby in particular.

Frank Lampard started to look more dangerous, succeeding to intercept some balls which helped Chelsea organize a few attacks.

The pressure brought a result in the 34th minute, when Malouda received another splendid long ball from on-fire Lampard in the box, beautifully brought it down to his feet and deceiving his marker, Toure, placed a shot just out of the reach of Arsenal’s keeper. 1-1.

Three minutes later, clearly Arsenal was still in panic, when Abou Diaby lost the ball on the edge of the box which allowed Anelka to fire at the goal. Luckily for him, the ball bounced off the right post.

Pressure piled on Arsenal and they were glad to hear the end of the first half.

A notable battle during it was the one between Theo Walcott and Ashley Cole, bringing some excitement with their pace and tenacity.

The second half started and soon after Emmanuel Adebayor found himself in space inside Chelsea’s box. His volleyed shot, though, went above the goal of Peter Cech.

Walcott continued to be nuisance on the right, tormenting the Chelsea defense with his speed.

In one of those attacks, that involved him, Adebayor did a neat pass towards Walcott who dashed a few yards before crossing the ball. The ball whistled only a few inches away from the foot of rushing in Van Persie.

Chelsea still looked dangerous and Frank Lampard was beginning to become a serious nuisance for Arsenal with his gut-splitting passes and good defensive work. Hiddink’s long ball tactics were also working well.

It was a question of who would contribute more—Lampard or Walcott.

Hoping to change the direction of the game, Arsene Wenger substituted Robin van Persie with Russian Andrey Arshavin in the 76th minute.

Guus Hiddink responded with a substitution of his own, bringing Salomon Kalou in for Nicolas Anelka. Two minutes later, Adebayor also made way for Nicholas Bendtner.

It came as a bit ironic to see the repeat of 2007 scenario in the Carling Cup final.

In the 84th minute, another long ball by Lampard sent Drogba flying toward the Arsenal goal, setting free from Silvestre who should have done more. Fabianski rushed out again but this time Drogba was not so forgiving.

He rounded the keeper and put Chelsea ahead with only six minutes to go until the end.

Arsene Wenger tried one last trick, bringing Samir Nasri on for Denilson. But it was not to be. Chelsea’s late goal was enough for them to proceed to the final.

As for ambitious Arsenal, they were once again bitterly disappointed to see one more trophy being snatched away them.

Still, there is one left. The biggest one. The Champions League.