Liam Rosenior’s first match at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea head coach ended in disappointment as Arsenal claimed a pulsating 3-2 victory in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg.
Mikel Arteta’s side appeared to have one foot at Wembley after Ben White and Viktor Gyökeres struck either side of the interval to open up a two-goal cushion early in the second half.
Facing his first major test in the dugout, Rosenior turned to the bench and was immediately rewarded. Alejandro Garnacho was introduced and wasted little time making an impact, pulling one back to reignite Chelsea’s hopes.
However, Arsenal restored their two-goal advantage when Martín Zubimendi struck with a moment of quality, before Garnacho again intervened late on to ensure the tie remains finely balanced heading into the return leg in three weeks.
The visitors made a fast start and were ahead inside seven minutes through another set-piece success, their 24th of the season. Declan Rice’s corner found White unchallenged in the six-yard box, with João Pedro slow to react.
The defender nodded home with Robert Sánchez poorly positioned to intervene.
Chelsea grew into the contest and went close midway through the first half when Estêvão cut inside and unleashed a fierce drive that Kepa Arrizabalaga did well to repel. The Brazilian winger was Chelsea’s brightest outlet before the break.
Arsenal nearly doubled their lead before half-time after Chelsea’s defence afforded William Saliba too much space, but his curling effort flew just onto the roof of the net.
Despite Chelsea’s competitive display, their task became far more difficult moments after the restart following a costly goalkeeping mistake. Bukayo Saka released White down the right and his low delivery should have been comfortably dealt with, but Sánchez spilled the ball into the path of Gyökeres, who tapped into an empty net.
Rosenior reacted swiftly, replacing Marc Guiu with Garnacho, a decision that paid off almost instantly. Pedro Neto’s cross evaded both White and Enzo Fernández, allowing Garnacho to control at the far post and fire through Arrizabalaga’s legs.
Chelsea’s momentum was short-lived, though, as Arsenal showcased their cutting edge once again. Gyökeres opted against shooting and instead squared for Zubimendi, who cleverly deceived Wesley Fofana before drilling a precise finish into the corner.
Sánchez later produced a fine save to deny Mikel Merino a fourth, a miss Arsenal would soon regret.
Garnacho struck again from a corner, pouncing after Arrizabalaga failed to deal with the delivery, calmly volleying into an unguarded net to keep Chelsea firmly in contention ahead of the second leg.
