1 day ago
5
Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
Preamble
Increasingly, success in football is measured, not in anachronisms like trophies won, but by proximity to the biggest two available. However you slice it, though, this contest is absolutely gigantic, taking in both aspects and multiplying them by hatred2.
Mikel Arteta has done a fine job as Arsenal manager, inheriting a mess and meticulously redeeming it with an exhausting, oppressive intensity that delivers the most suffocating out-of-possession work in the game. But after having near enough two full XIs bought for him, he now needs what the Talmud calls “tachlis” – the kind of essential substance that is not satisfied by three consecutive second-place finishes and no silverware other than a Covid FA Cup nearly six years ago.
But there’s more to it than that. Were Arsenal to cede a 3-2 aggregate lead, at home, to a despised rival, the accordant, exhibition shame and anguish – shanguish as no kids are calling it – might affect what feels like a fragile equilibrium, a downside of the aforementioned intensity that could hinder their pursuit of a first league title in 22 years. Similarly, if they move on tonight and win at Wembley, the relief and joy might inspire them to achieve who knows what between now and the end of the season.
And for Chelsea, there’s also more riding on this match than just this match. So far, their record under Liam Rosenior is good and much better than their performances, the uplifting comeback that beat West Ham a primer if ever there was one. Should they turn this around then go on to win the final, along with a shiny pot to dance about with it’ll earn their new leader valuable political capital – the kind of political capital on which empires are built.
Kick-off: 8pm GMT
English (US)