Plenty of English sides were involved in FA Cup third round action at the weekend and this week brings the two semi-final fixtures of the Carabao Cup. The second of the two brings one of the country’s biggest rivalries as Arsenal take the trip to South London to face Chelsea. Both teams struggled in the FA Cup, Arsenal were dumped out by Nottingham Forest while Chelsea were held to a goalless draw by Norwich City.

STATS

• Chelsea aren’t in the form they would have liked to be in at this stage of the season despite being unbeaten in their last eight matches across all competitions. They haven’t been particularly great in this season’s Carabao Cup and had to rely on a 91^st-minute winner from Alvaro Morata in the last round against Bournemouth after scoring another injury-time winner against Everton in the round before. It was much easier for them in the third round as they won 5-0 against Nottingham Forest.
• Arsenal are struggling in the Premier League, sitting 6^th, and are out of the FA Cup, which they are the current holders of. Other than the Europa League, the Carabao Cup is their only source of silverware that is left. All three of their games in the competition so far have been won by a single goal: 1-0 vs Doncaster, 2-1 vs Norwich and 1-0 vs West Ham. They will need to show more cutting edge against Chelsea.
• Michy Batshuayi scored a hat-trick in the third round and he is Chelsea’s leading scorer while Willian has scored in both of the last two rounds, showing his worth in the competition.
• Eddie Nketiah showed his potential in Arsenal’s win over Norwich after he came off the bench, his brace against the Canaries makes him their Carabao Cup top scorer.

HEAD TO HEAD

As they always have been, Chelsea and Arsenal have been incredibly hard to separate in their meetings in recent years. All three of the last three fixtures have ended in stalemate. In the four before those, both sides shared two wins apiece, highlighting just how close their meetings are. Their most recent match-up came a week ago and it was a classic, the game finished 2-2 after Hector Bellerin pulled his team level in the second minute of added time.

Head to head matches: Chelsea FC - Arsenal FC

03.01.2018

Prem

Arsenal FC

Chelsea FC

2:2

CHELSEA NEWS

Chelsea need to take advantage of their first-leg home tie and need to take a lead of some sort into the second-leg at the Emirates. Their star man so far this term, Eden Hazard, is a doubt for the match while their new signing, Ross Barkley, is short of match fitness but might make the bench.

Latest matches: Chelsea FC

06.01.2018	FA C	Norwich City	Chelsea FC	0:0	D
03.01.2018	Prem	Arsenal FC	Chelsea FC	2:2	D
30.12.2017	Prem	Chelsea FC	Stoke City	5:0	W
26.12.2017	Prem	Chelsea FC	Brighton & Hove Albion FC	2:0	W
23.12.2017	Prem	Everton FC	Chelsea FC	0:0	D

ARSENAL NEWS

The visitors need to go into the second-leg at their place with a chance of progression and if they can avoid defeat at Stamford Bridge, they could well make the final. Although, they have lots of problems with injuries as Shkodran Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny face late fitness tests ahead of the match along with Granit Xhaka. Both their left-backs, Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac, are injured as are Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazorla. They might struggle.

Latest matches: Arsenal FC

07.01.2018	FA C	Nottingham Forest	Arsenal FC	4:2	L
03.01.2018	Prem	Arsenal FC	Chelsea FC	2:2	D
31.12.2017	Prem	West Bromwich Albion	Arsenal FC	1:1	D
28.12.2017	Prem	Crystal Palace	Arsenal FC	2:3	W
22.12.2017	Prem	Arsenal FC	Liverpool FC	3:3	D

SUMMARY

With their home crowd behind them, Chelsea should take a decent lead into the second-leg but they need to play a strong team instead of a weakened team we have become accustomed to. Arsenal need to be strong at the back or they could be on the end of a hammering.