Chelsea frustrated in tedious stalemate

Blues are unable to take advantage of Wilshere injury as semi-final first leg fails to catch fire

A MATCH where Arsene Wenger had to sit in the press box due to his touchline ban and, beyond Jack Wilshere’s unfortunate injury, he would have very little to report.

This effective VAR experiment of a 0-0 draw between Chelsea and Arsenal was almost more an argument as to why the anachronism of two-legged League Cup semi-finals in such a congested calendar should be abolished.

This game just had no real consequence for the second leg, other than to potentially rob Wilshere from that return in two weeks’ time.

Even the pre-match headline news that Alexis Sanchez had been dropped was diluted by the fact he was brought on.

Like everything else in this game, though, it was to little effect. You could even say that of VAR itself, given the two penalty calls it was used for were innocuous enough.

The game didn’t even indicate too much. Chelsea were the better team, though Arsenal will probably have better feelings about the result. No one, ultimately, has the better

of the tie. It was so inferior a match to last week’s 2-2 thriller in the Premier League.

Some of that might have been down to the fact a different team was playing for Arsenal. With Mesut Ozil injured and Sanchez on the bench, Wenger’s side were shorn of attacking thrust, and it was much more like September’s dull 0-0 draw here — which also saw those two sit out.

For all the talk that this was a weakened Arsenal side, it might well be among their strongest in a few months’ time. That meant that Chelsea weren’t as stretched on the break, and were more willing to bring the game to David Ospina’s goal.

Cesc Fabregas looked to test the lie of the land with a few searching arched balls early on,

but Shkodran Mustafi cleared.

When Fabregas found himself on the receiving end of a Cesar Azpilicueta ball, he could only head straight at Ospina.

Chelsea were having much more joy on the wings, especially any time Victor Moses took on the out-of-position Ainsley Maitland-Niles. One run led to a shot that Ospina just about held, another a dangerous ball across the box.

That was one area Arsenal’s starting XI did at least look some way strong in, however, and look like they could produce something. Wilshere did just that on 21 minutes with a divine ball over the top for Alexandre Lacazette but the forward could not finish.

Alex Iwobi at least tested Thibaut Courtois with a shot, but that was batted away, and referee Martin Atkinson waved away complaints after consulting the VAR for a challenge from Moses moments later.

The system was used in the first half to some confusion in the crowd given they receive no indication of what’s happening, but not quite the same extent of confusion as in the Arsenal defence when a cross was deflected towards Andreas Christensen just after the break. He headed over.

Chelsea were beginning to gain control, something only aided when Wilshere had to go off with an injury. It didn’t feel a coincidence that Wenger then brought on Sanchez.

Wilshere’s absence saw Eden Hazard burst through, the move ultimately seeing Alvaro Morata drive a shot at Ospina.

The striker wasn’t having much luck, and neither did Chelsea in front of goal. Moses had a wicked shot deflected away by Calum Chambers.

Arsenal had barely got out of their own half in the second period. When they did, through an Iwobi run, he could only poke towards Courtois.

Whatever about VAR, there won’t be too many rewatches of this.