Arsenal 0-2 Chelsea: Jose Mourinho beats Arsene Wenger again to reach Capital One Cup quarters
Arsenal 0-2 Chelsea: Jose Mourinho beats Arsene Wenger again to reach Capital One Cup quarters
Azpilicueta and Mata goals ensure Gunners boss still hasn't beaten the Special One - and extend his wait for a trophy
Same old story: Wenger went down again against Mourinho
Kent Gavin
The long wait goes on for Arsene Wenger.
Now nine years without a win over Jose Mourinho. Nine games too.
And you start to wonder if he will ever get one over his nemesis.
Here, as the Emirates began to empty from the moment Juan Mata’s right
foot sealed a victory that got easier the longer the game went on, that
elusive first win over the Portuguese looked further away than ever.
Yes,
Mourinho was able to make 10 changes and still field a side that cost
nearly £140million to put together, with another £120m-worth on the
bench.
But
it was Wenger who chose to leave Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud on the
sidelines for more than an hour, doing nothing as the gulf in class was
exposed.
Arsenal remain top
of the Premier League.
Wenger, who insisted he had “no regrets”,
cares little about this competition - although he had reached the last
eight for 10 straight seasons.
Yet on a night that saw the 9,000
travelling fans revel in their mastery, and that of the Special One, the
Gunners’ campaign to date was put in perspective.
Suddenly it is back to back home defeats, and their next three games are against Liverpool, Dortmund and Manchester United.
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Jamie McDonald
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Arsenal v Chelsea - 29/10/13
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Real
tests, with no Mathieu Flamini, and no back-up for Giroud.
And with the knowledge that, from first kick to last, as Ramires and David Luiz whistled over the bar, they were second best.
What
will
have made it worse, even if the killer blow was struck by Mata - and
agent of their destruction before but now playing for a role in
Mourinho’s thinking - was that the vital wound was so entirely
self-inflicted.
In the past, of course, it was Didier Drogba who took advantage of their defensive deficiencies.
Cesar Azpilicueta is a more unlikely assassin,with just one previous goal in his career, during his spell at Marseilles.
But
when
Carl Jenkinson suffered his own personal Matija Nastasic moment,
panicking as he wondered whether he or Jack Wilshere would deal with a
ball that looped into the air and selling Lukasz Fabianski horribly
short, the Spaniard nipped in to poke home.
It
was the sort of goal, a lightning counter-attack from an opposition
corner, that Arsenal scored in their Thierry Henry-inspired pomp, before
Mourinho arrived to upset the established order. Chelsea's Cesar Azpilicueta (C) celebrates scoring with Willian (L) and Kevin De Bruyne
Reuters
Thereafter,
while Nacho Monreal was a foot wide almost straightaway and Aaron Ramsey
had two close efforts at the start of the second half, Arsenal never
looked like breaking through, Mata relishing in his preferred No 10
role, pulling the strings, making his point.
The
home fans were turning on Nicklas Bendtner, whose mood will not have
been helped by Wenger’s response to a question about the Dane: “I will
not go into an individual assessment of players in a press conference. I
keep that between myself and the players.”
But just two minutes after Ozil’s arrival, Arsenal’s Capital One Cup goose was cooked.
Samuel
Eto’o,
always available, hooked back, Willian flicked on and after one touch
with his left foot, Mata smashed into the top corner with his right.
Giroud, belatedly on for Bendtner, did force the lone save out of Mark Schwarzer.
Chelsea,
though,
finished far stronger, only Laurent Koscielny’s goalline clearance
denying substitute Ramires after he scampered past Thomas Vermaelen,
before the Brazilian and his compatriot Luiz went close in added time.
At the close, Wenger and Mourinho shook, with a smile, although the Frenchman chose not to declare their feud over.
It felt like game, set and match to the Portuguese.
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