FA CUP SPECIAL
Chilean leads destruction of the champions as Wenger’s seventh FA Cup gives him a chance to gloat at his critics
HE SAVED the best for last, Arsene Wenger. Or, at least, his team saved their very best performance of the season for their last game.
And if this were to be Wenger’s finale after 21 years, if Tuesday’s board meeting were to result in something cataclysmic in football terms, he will always have this on which to reflect in his dotage.
A mesmerising Arsenal side outplayed the Premier League champions; they should have won by a far greater margin, hitting the woodwork three times; they played like a Wenger side, but one from 12 years ago. They had panache, obduracy, commitment and zeal.
Forget for the moment that Chelsea failed to show. You could almost forgive them that after their enormous achievement of winning the league. This was Arsenal’s day and Wenger’s moment. All year he has endured the abuse; in recent months he has been pilloried; and it has hurt his pride.
Yet here he is, with his third FA Cup in four years, surpassing Aston Villa’s George Ramsay, who won his first in 1887, as the most successful of all time in this competition. And he has guided his team to being the most successful club of all time in this competition — with 13 triumphs. Not bad for a man on his way out. It’s a specialism in failure many would love to master.
Does it rescue the season? To some extent. The bigger question was where was this team, this spirit and this strength when it was required in February and March? Yesterday they summoned the spirit of a former age and played like a Wenger team should.
This was a side transformed, more akin to the real Barcelona than the lightweight version Arsenal usually resemble. The back three, a work in progress, suddenly afforded them space and angles hitherto unimagined.
Per Mertesacker, on the back of those 37 minutes played this season, was almost bullying Diego Costa in the opening exchanges; Rob Holding looked comfortable on the ball; Hector Bellerin was exposing Marcos Alonso at will.
Chiefly though, it was about Alexis Sanchez, ably assisted by Mesut Ozil. The Chilean was everywhere: at left back to tidy up; at centre forward to press the goalkeeper; at inside left, where he was actually meant to be, giving Cesar Azpilicueta and Gary Cahill a hard time.
And yes, with his hands up punching the ball on to assist his own goal. He was lucky that wasn’t spotted. But still, with the bit between his teeth he is some player. And that opening goal was conceived and delivered by him alone, with a nod to Diego Maradona.
Aaron Ramsey had harried Chelsea to win back possession. But Sanchez it was who chipped it into the box. David Luiz headed away and up leapt Sanchez, pushing it into the box towards Ramsey, who had strayed offside.
But he was moving away from goal and as Chelsea hesitated, Sanchez, a bundle of energy, kept on running, chasing down his own deflected chip. Then he pushed the Welshman aside and struck deftly past Thibaut Courtois.
The flag was raised by the assistant referee but Anthony Taylor seemed less convinced. He insisted on speaking with his assistant, waving away the delegations of players. It was the offside, not the unseen handball, they were discussing and on that basis he awarded the goal. Having waited a minute or so, Sanchez was not to be denied his moment. He gestured his team-mates back to celebrate properly near where he scored.
The only anxiety for Arsenal was the fact that they would only score the one goal in the first half, so plentiful were their chances. On 16 minutes, a flowing move saw Ozil find Sanchez, who delivered just as exquisite a pass back to Ozil. Through on goal, he lifted the chip over Courtois and Luiz, but a deflection slowed the ball just enough for Cahill to scramble it clear.
On 19 minutes, Ozil’s corner was wonderfully met by the head of Danny Welbeck. Courtois was beaten, the ball headed goalwards yet it bounced off the post. Even then it rebounded to Ramsey, who, shocked, couldn’t adapt his body shape and saw the ball bounce off his chest on to the post and out.
Cahill had to hoist another ball off the line and then Granit Xhaka’s 30-yard strike tested Courtois. Chelsea looked what they were: a team who had achieved their season’s goal two weeks ago. When they did get forward, Mertesacker was leading the line, refusing to be bamboozled by Eden Hazard despite the Belgian being half his height and twice his speed. And Holding and Nacho Monreal were throwing themselves into blocks.
The one time in that opening period when Arsenal faltered was the delightful long ball played in to Costa on 29 minutes. He bullied Holding off the ball, got his shot away but saw his strike smothered by the onrushing David Ospina.
It couldn’t last. Naturally, Antonio Conte would not allow his Chelsea side, Premier League champions, to be so slack come the second half. N’Golo Kante gave early warning with his 48th-minute strike that took a deflection off Xhaka and required Ospina to save smartly. On 52 minutes, Victor Moses raced clear of Monreal and struck cleanly, though Ospina saved well and Mertesacker cleaned up.
But Arsenal continued to have their moments. Sanchez as ever was the instigator in chief and on 55 minutes he set Bellerin clear with a sublime pass. With teammates free in the penalty area, Bellerin only had to deliver the pass but saw his cross deflected to Courtois. On 65 minutes Wellbeck pulled the ball across goal and Bellerin lined up a shot from outside the box which Courtois was forced to save.
Chelsea became the authors of their own misfortune on 68 minutes. Moses, already booked, grew desperate. In the Arsenal box, he sensed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain closing in and fell to ground, anticipating a challenge. But the Arsenal player had made none; in fact he had stubbed his toe into the ground rather than made any contact.
Unfortunately for Moses, referee Taylor was standing in direct sight. A yellow card was inevitable, as was the red that followed. Chelsea’s task had become tougher still.
A man down, a goal down and 22 minutes to play in a game in which they had barely shown. Yet predictably it was Costa who dragged
them back into the game. After a crisp passing sequence, Willian lofted a ball towards Costa. Pushing aside Holding, he took it down, struck it into the ground and saw it bounce via a slight deflection into the corner past Ospina.
The respective mental strengths of these sides appeared to be revealing themselves at last. Arsenal’s fragility and Chelsea’s solidity were finally forthcoming. And yet, having established a foothold in the game, Chelsea reverted to their limp, slack defending again.
Almost from the kick-off Arsenal worked the ball down the left to substitute Olivier Giroud, who pulled the ball back and Chelsea neglected to pick up Ramsey in the middle, who headed home.
The Welshman won the final in 2014; this looked a similar moment. Two minutes and nine seconds had elapsed since Costa had equalised. You sensed a fatal blow.