Arsene Wenger will have the chance to claim the last domestic honour missing from his trophy collection after Arsenal overcame an early deficit to defeat Chelsea 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium.
A relentless start to the contest saw Eden Hazard hand the Blues a sixth-minute lead only for Antonio Rudiger’s own goal to draw the Gunners level soon after.
Granit Xhaka secured a 3-2 aggregate victory in the second half as the Gunners booked their place in the EFL Cup Final, where they will face Manchester City.
Maybe it’s something in the Emirates water that causes defenders to lose their most basic faculties, apparent as early as the fifth minute when Shkodran Mustafi passed straight to Tiemoue Bakayoko. The resulting move saw Pedro head home but from an offside position.
Arsenal was not so lucky a minute later when Mustafi was caught in no man’s land and N’Golo Kante and Pedro combined to slip Hazard in to open the scoring.
Chelsea though was no better in defence. Nacho Monreal was left unmarked at a corner, his header deflecting off first Marcos Alonso and then Rudiger on its way past Willy Caballero.
That neither side added to the scoreline before half-time was not due to any particular improvement from the two defences but an inability to create more than a chance each.
Moments before half-time Arsenal were denied the lead as Mesut Ozil’s low drive sliced off Andreas Christensen and inches wide of goal.
Wenger has spent much of the season prevaricating between a back three and four and this time made a switch midway through the game, dropping Mohamed Elneny alongside Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny, at least when Arsenal were out of possession.
The change of formation did not immediately provide any additional security, Hazard bursting in behind only to trip himself up.
Further forward Arsenal was showing worrying positional discipline, deep-lying playmaker Xhaka often among the hosts’ most advanced players in the first half. Often the Swiss international’s forays forward leave the Gunners with a soft underbelly but this time it paid dividends.
Lacazette’s cross from the right deflected off Rudiger and Xhaka was on hand to poke out a left boot and divert the ball beyond Caballero, handing Arsenal the lead with half an hour to play.
Alex Iwobi could have doubled their lead but after a flowing move began by Elneny winning possession in midfield he shot straight at Caballero’s legs.
