Arsenal Vs Chelsea: 5 things we learned – Welcome to Wembley

Arsenal overcame Chelsea in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final on Wednesday night. Here are five things we learned from the 2-1 victory.

Arsenal squeezed past Chelsea on Wednesday night in a strange, swerving, unpredictable game that saw the pendulum swing one way and then the other without ever being pushed by quality and more by the polar opposites of complacency and grit. They did not perhaps deserve the win, not that Chelsea did, and both goals were somewhat fortunate. But the Gunners now prepare to go to Wembley for their fourth domestic final in the last three years. That is very impressive indeed.

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Here are five things we learned from the 2-1 victory.

5. Granit Xhaka is still rubbish

Granit Xhaka scored the winning goal. As Alexandre Lacazette twisted and turned his way into a yard of space on the wide edge of the penalty area, Xhaka drifted into the penalty area, only to be stood in the opportune position to prod home the Frenchman’s deflected cut-back. But don’t think that meant that he played well. He was not; he was thoroughly rubbish.

In the first half, his positioning was the most notable and obvious shortcoming. Chelsea were afforded far too much space in the centre of the park, able to saunter through the pitch utterly unattended. Xhaka was caught ahead of the ball on far too many occasions, ill-disciplined in his picking up of Tiemoue Bakayoko, abandoning Jack Wilshere and Mohamed Elneny who had too much ground to cover.

And then, as the game unfolded, his passing became increasingly wayward — he completed just 85% of his passes. Elneny and Wilshere, for example, had pass completion rates of 91 and 93% respectively. For a midfielder who is tasked to control the game through his distribution, quite simply, his distribution is not good enough. Xhaka was extremely poor. He needs to be replaced, and quickly.