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Arsenal 1 – 2 Chelsea

Unfortunately, Arsenal lost the semi-final of the FA cup, which means Chelsea go through.This also means that this game resulted in Arsenal’s first loss under Cesc’s captaincy.The Blues came back from 1-0 down to beat Arsenal 2-1. In the eighteenth minute Arsenal went ahead with Walcott scoring- the ball deviated from the hand of Ashley Cole to go into the back of the net. Chelsea equalized in the 33rd minute with a goal from Malouda, and won the match with Drogba scoring in the 84th minute. Changes of Arshavin for Van Persie, Bendtner for Adebayor and Nasri for Denilson were not enough to get Arsenal to equalise.
Full match report here

I have put up 17 pictures of Cesc at the match. Check out the photos in the latest photos section.

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  • I’m just so gutted. I don’t understand why Wenger didn’t start Arshavin. Diaby was awful and should have been substituted even before half-time. Fabianski – well, he saved our bacon a few times so far but the second goal, he shouldn’t have left his post. ;’(

    Tuty

    April 20, 2009

  • I’m disappointed. Lately we have been playing well, but yesterday we just weren’t there. We need our defence back asap. And I don’t understand why Arshavin was not playing from the start. He didn’t have to play midweekand he wasn’t injured. He’s been playing well for us recently. It didn’t make any sense to me whatsoever.

    And Denilson. Why did he push the ref? I swear I was having a seizure then. I thought he was going to get sent off. That was a really stupid thing to do.

    Fabianski didn’t really have a good day did he? It was his birthday as well.

    SY. I agree. It was our best chance of getting a trophey.And to an extent, I can see why people are blaming Wenger for his selection. I understand that players need resting, and Nasri was still recovering. But I still don’t understand leaving Arshavin out.And why was he subbed on so late?

    I really hope we don’t crush under Liverpool. And I hope Fabianski’s confidence improves- he has to play in goal against Man United in the semis of the CL.

    Hi Diana. Yep. I was hoping all that after I found out we lost. Barcelona normally score quite a lot of goals in each match.:)

    I couldn’t watch the second half, but when I was putting the pictures up in the gallery, I noticed it looked like Cesc was wiping his face/eyes. Did he cry or was it just the angle?

    Plu

    April 19, 2009

  • Wenger’s comments on the game:

    On the goals that were conceded…
    “The disappointment of the day is that we gave two cheap goals away, and in a game of that level it has a bad outcome, especially with seven minutes to go. It was a big blow. The two teams looked jaded physically, maybe us a bit more than them.

    “We missed a few opportunities on crosses in the second half, and were unlucky in the last minute. They had one or two chances, but it looked like it would go to extra time, until we gave a goal away that you should not at this level.”

    On the pitch…
    “I believe for Chelsea it was tough as well. It is not a pitch you should have in a stadium that cost this amount of money. It is laughable. The quality of the pitch is a disaster.”

    On rotating his squad…
    “Alex Song has played many games and I believe when you do that you need rest. I am not sure he would have stopped the ball in the air on the second goal, but it is difficult. We know they are dangerous on set-pieces and we are a bit short. Plus they have some tall boys who make it physical in midfield and we needed a player like Diaby to be capable of fighting against them.

    “As well I wanted to rotate it a bit because Nasri was sick last week and he looked a bit tired. We played with three strikers – Theo, Robin and Adebayor – and I couldn’t play with four when they had three in midfield.

    “I believe we are team with eight games in 24 days and you cannot imagine to play every game with exactly the same players.”

    On making late substitutions…
    “You must consider you could go to extra time and we had one or two players who were short – Silvestre and Gibbs at half-time – so if you make the change earlier you could have played with 10 men.”

    On Didier Drogba…
    “He is a winner, and he scores in big games. I feel we made it a little easier for him, but he never stops, he is always focussed. Look at the amount of goals he scores in big games, you can only say he is a great player. He dives sometimes a little bit too much but he is a winner.”

    On Fabianski’s performance…
    “It will damage his confidence because he will feel a little bit guilty, but you cannot blame any individual. You want the whole team to focus and respond quickly against Liverpool; we have them, Middlesbrough and the Champions League Semi-Final. We have to respond very quickly.

    “I believe that he is still a great goalkeeper, although perhaps it was not his best of games today.”

    On the midfield battle…
    “I feel in midfield it was more physical today and we didn’t have our usual fluency. They made it physical and the pitch slowed it down. Cesc tried very hard but overall it was a scrappy game.”

    On Van Persie’s substitution…
    “Yes it was a groin problem. I don’t know if he will be out for Tuesday because I haven’t spoken to the medical team.”

    On Walcott’s performance…
    “Theo was always a threat today and he always gave you hope he could give you something special. He is developing very well as a player. Now he gets in front of full-backs and gets goals, which is a very good sign as he is still very young.”

    On moving forward…
    “We have a bigger target now in front of us, which is the Champions League, and of course the Championship – we want to come back as close as possible, and stay fourth. We have big targets.”

    Plu

    April 19, 2009

  • What a terrible game why was Arshavin on the bench and Nasri on the bench no song.
    Andrey had not played for a week so he would have been a lot fresher to play up against those Chavs.
    We gave it to them yesterday they think they are going to win the treble.
    I really hope Manchester United beat Everton today as they have more of a chance of beating Chelsea in the final .
    Also I hope Barcelona beat their arses…….

    Diane

    April 19, 2009

  • this is really bad because the FA cup was our best chance of winning a trophy!

    people are saying it’s all wenger’s fault that we gave the game away to chelsea, for not starting arshavin, nasri and song.

    gosh i hope arsenal bounces back and beats liverpool next tuesday, if not the losses will crush our confidence (it is already fragile enough!)

    SY

    April 19, 2009

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