One of the great — or, in some instances, not-great — things about soccer is that every game is different: the same two teams can meet just seven days apart, and everything about those games can — and likely will — be completely different, from the victors, to the final score, to the flow and tale of the game.
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Take, for instance, Wednesday’s League Cup semifinal first-leg meeting between Chelsea and Arsenal. On Jan. 3, the two sids played to a thrilling 2-2 draw that went down as an instant Premier League classic. Tuesday’s encounter at Stamford Bridge, which finished 0-0, was… very different.
Arsene Wenger watched this one from the stands, as the Gunners boss continues to serve his three-game touchline ban for poor behavior inside the referees’ locker room. He won’t have been impressed by much of anything he saw over 90 minutes.
Alexandre Lacazette got in behind the Chelsea defense for the game’s first real scoring chance, in the 22nd minute, but the Frenchman skied his right-footed blast from the edge of the penalty area roughly 15 rows into the stands.
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Victor Moses proved Chelsea’s truest threat from start to finish, as the Nigerian international forced David Ospina to make a pair of tough saves — first in the 24th minute, when Moses cut inside from the right wing and unleashed a powerful, dipping shot with his left foot; and, again four minutes later, when the Nigerian international ran circles around Ainsley Maitland-Niles before attempting another left-footed strike from a tough angle.
Moses and Maitland-Niles were involved in a controversial moment seven minutes before halftime, as the former appeared to make the slightest bit of contact with the latter inside the penalty area. Maitland-Niles went down after it became clear the ball was going to run out of bounds, but referee Martin Atkinson was unmoved and opted not to use video review — which was available for this game — to assess the incident.
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Moses again threatened to break the deadlock in the 66th minute, but a last-second block by Shkodran Mustafi bailed out Ospina who appeared to be beaten. After Cesc Fabregas’ free kick was headed away, Marcos Alonso put the ball back into the box and it eventually fell to Moses near the top of the box. His shot was struck hard and low, but Mustafi intervened at the far post.
Jack Wilshere left the game in the 57th minute with an(other) apparent ankle injury, and Alexis Sanchez — amid continuous rumors that he’ll leave for Manchester City this month — came off the bench in the 66th minute.
The second and decisive leg will be played at the Emirates Stadium in two weeks’ time, Wednesday, Jan. 24.