Chelsea Use Unusual Tactic No Other Club Has Tried to Stop Arsenal Corners

Chelsea adopted a courageous and unprecedented tactic to try to prevent Arsenal from scoring from a corner in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final.

The Blues lost 4-2 on aggregate over the two games, with Kai Havertz finding the net in the 97th minute against his former employers in the 1-0 second leg victory at the Emirates.

Liam Rosenior’s approach, which involved playing with five defenders and leaving Cole Palmer as a substitute while Liam Delap and Enzo Fernandez played as wingers, was widely criticized by pundits who felt the west London side should have gone ahead and attacked the Gunners.

However, when it came to defending the huge threat of Arsenal, Chelsea came up with a brilliant strategy.

In the Premier League, Arsenal have scored 17 goals from corners this season and 53 from set pieces in all competitions since the start of last season.

The quality of their set plays was too much for the teams to handle, but Monaco and Crystal Palace countered the threat by leaving players high up the pitch, which reduced the number of Arsenal men crashing into the box.

Chelsea have come up with a new tactic to deal with Arsenal corners. Image: Getty

However, Chelsea went further with their plan. The Blues essentially did the same thing by leaving three people facing the Arsenal defenders, but their approach differed as they quickly sent players out of the box as soon as the kick was about to be taken.

Malo Gusto and Liam Delap initially marked the players, but they quickly passed outside the area. As a result, Arsenal became wary of the possibility of a counter-attack and so some players had to retreat.

The idea was mentioned by Shay Given on BBC Match of the Day, who called for a team to “try something different” after Arsenal scored twice from corners in the 4-0 hammering of Leeds.

On Sky Sports, Jamie Redknapp said he admired the plan but still thought there was a huge problem as Gabriel Magalhaes, Arsenal’s strongest header, was being marked by Enzo Fernandez.

“Chelsea are trying to avoid there being too much traffic in the area, with which Arsenal are trying to cause chaos,” he said.

“They obviously have a plan but if Arsenal have the right performance, Enzo Fernandez has no chance.”

Kai Havertz scored the winner for Arsenal. Image: Getty

Chelsea did not concede from a free-kick, but their defense was broken at the death when Arsenal countered and Havertz headed home to book a place at Wembley for the Carabao Cup.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the defeat, Rosenior said he was “sure Arsenal would have known today that they were in for a really tough game” and claimed that “not many teams come here and achieve the level of performance that we have tonight”.

Arsenal will face Manchester City or Newcastle in the final on Sunday March 22. City lead 2-0 from the first leg ahead of the second leg at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday evening.