Key events
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Chelsea v Arsenal in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final. In the spirit of open journalism and definitely not a device designed to disguise the laziest preamble of the 2025-26 season, we’d like to invite you to Choose Your Own Narrative™.
Liam Rosenior’s first home game as Chelsea head coach.
Liam Rosenior’s first proper/elite/really tough game as Chelsea head coach.
The world champions v arguably the best team in the world right now.
The latest instalment of a match that has become London’s biggest derby in the 21st century, during which time the teams have met one another in a Champions League quarter-final, a Europa League final, three FA Cup finals, a League Cup final and umpteen title race-impacting games.
Arsenal’s chance to reach their first final since 2020, when a team including David Luiz, Nicolas Pepe and Emi Martinez beat Chelsea to win the FA Cup.
Chelsea’s chance to beat Arsenal at home for the first since 2018, when a team including David Luiz, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Ross Barkley won 3-2 in the Premier League.
The ballad of 3-2-4-1 v 4-2-3-1.
The latest obstacle to Arsenal doing the quadruple.
A chance to resume hostilities after a spiteful Premier League game at the end of November.
A fight to the death – or at least the final whistle, or maybe an early red card – between Moises Caicedo and Declan Rice to decide who is the best central midfielder in the world although let’s be honest we haven’t actually watched every midfielder in the world so really we mean English football and we’re just assuming there’s nobody better in another league because we got the money.
A temporary distraction from planet earth in 2026.
The second leg is at the Emirates on 3 February, with the winners facing either Newcastle or, more likely, Manchester City in the final. Plenty of narratives to choose from there too.
Kick off 8pm.
