It was the latest display of Arsenal’s power and aggression, their remorselessness. And when it was over, this Carabao Cup semi-final felt firmly within their grip. But for a late goal from the Chelsea substitute, Alejandro Garnacho, his second of an eventful cameo, it would surely have been over.

Even so, it was difficult on this evidence to predict anything other than Arsenal progressing into the final; moving closer to a rare piece of silverware under Mikel Arteta – one to pave the way for others this season.

Arsenal brought the physical fight. There were times when they seemed to bully Chelsea, when they made Liam Rosenior fret on his first home game as the Chelsea manager. They scored the opening goal from a set-piece, of course, Ben White converting from a Declan Rice corner – Arsenal’s 24th from a set-piece this season. And they got a second from Viktor Gyökeres, the Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sánchez dreadfully at fault as he was for the opener.

Still want more? Good, because the Afcon semi-final between Nigeria and the hosts Morocco has gone to extra-time. Billy Munday is on duty that for tht game.

Arsenal are in charge of their Carabao Cup semi-final after an impressive victory at Stamford Bridge. They led from the seventh minute onwards, wit Ben White, Viktor Gyokeres and Martin Zubimendi scoring the goals.

An under-strength Chelsea fought hard, with the substitute Alejandro Garnacho scoring twice to keep their hopes alive, but Arsenal had a measure of control throughout.

90+4 min Gabriel Jesus is wiped out by Hato in the area, a clear penalty… except the flag then goes up against Jesus. He started his run too early and it was a pretty simple decision.

90+3 min Chelsea should have most of their big players back for the second leg. It’s still a tough ask to beat Arsenal at the Emirates – nobody has done so this season - but Garnacho’s second goal has given them a soupçon of hope.

90+1 min Five added minutes your honour.

90 min Arsenal keep the ball for a bit until a frustrated Andrey Santos fouls Saka. Pedro Neto is booked for complaining about the decision.

88 min Neto teases the corner under the crossbar, where Tosin Adarabioyo is penalised for a foul on Arrizabalaga just before he heads over the bar from about two yards. It would have been a big chance but for the foul.

87 min Neto runs at Gabriel to win a corner for Chelsea, who have been given a new lease of life by Garnacho’s second goal.

85 min Estevao flashes a shot just wide from the edge of the area, though he was offside so it wouldn’t have counted.

84 min “Brian McClair was a crap goal specialist, as evidenced by your previous clip,” says Mike Morris, “but the 1990 FA Cup semi final has that perfect ratio of occasion:crapness.

“Danny Wallace unaccountably ignores Bryan Robson, runs down a blind alley, blindly smacks in a cross which deflects off Nick Henry and trundles to a completely unmarked McClair on the back post to poke home from two yards. It’s a strange kind of poetry.”

Pedro Neto’s corner from the right was half cleared towards Garnacho, lurking with intent 15 yards from goal. The ball bounced awkwardly but Garnacho twisted his body to slam the ball into the ground and through the crowd of players. Arrizabalaga had come for the corner and was out of the game.

82 min: Double substitution for Arsenal Kai Havertz, booed onto the field, and Gabriel Jesus replace Declan Rice and Viktor Gyokeres.

81 min: Double substitution for Chelsea Shumaira Mheuka, 18, and Tosin Adarabioyo replace Marc Cucurella and Joao Pedro.

78 min Merino is booked for a brazen tactical foul on Joao Pedro.

77 min The resulting corner leads to an excellent chance for Gabriel, whose header from six yards bounces up and over the bar.

76 min: Fine save by Sanchez! Arrizabalaga’s long punt is held up excellently by Gyokeres, which precipitates a big scramble for possession in the Chelsea area. Eventually the ball loops invitingly for Merino, who smashes a right-foot volley across goal from eight yards. Sanchez, his right leg at full stretch as the rest of his body is moving in the opposite direction, deflects the ball past the post.

76 min Arrizabalaga is booked for timewasting.

75 min: Chelsea substitution Jorrel Hato replaces Wesley Fofana.

74 min “Call me a spoilsport, but I don’t really get Arsenal fans ragging on Gyokeres,” says Chris Lambert. “He’s an honest pro, working hard, making an impact. He’s still our top scorer this season and a return of one in three in his first six months moving from a league no one knows the name of, to the top of the most watched league on the planet, is really not that shabby.”

72 min That was the goal of a No9, not a No6. His blood ran cold as he ignored the challenges of Santos and Fofana, and the finish was emphatic.

Merino fed the ball into Gyokeres, who touched it off to Zubimendi just inside the area. He walked away from Andrey Santos and then Fofana – who sold himself a bit too easily – and rammed a left-foot shot past Sanchez.

68 min: Arsenal substitutions Mikel Merino and Gabriel Martinelli replace Leandro Trossard and Martin Odegaard.

67 min Rice, whose first free-kick against Real Madrid last season was from a not dissimilar position, curls this one over the bar.

67 min We’re still waiting for Arsenal to take that free-kick. Odegaard and Rice are over it.

66 min “Pleased to see Swansea legend Gyokeres get his goal,” writes Matt Dony. “(Loan spell; 11 games, 0 goals.)”

65 min Arsenal have a decent spell of possession until Saka is wiped out from behind by Badiashile. He’s booked and Arsenal have a free-kick 22 yards from goal.

63 min “Both Charlie Nicholas goals, which ended Ian Rush’s invincible-record-whenever-he-scored in the Cocamilkelows Cup final of 1987, were abysmal,” writes Ian Rush Paul Griffin. “The first was the footballing equivalent of watching a man in a beige tracksuit retrieving a small number of plastic spoons he has dropped on a shopping precinct table. The second had the panache of the disclaimer at the back of a Flemish maintenance manual for a discontinued caravan tow-bar. YouTube should not allow them to be uploaded.”

60 min Estevao crackles infiueld from the right and whips a Saka-like curler towards the far corner. Gabriel takes no chances and heads behind for a corner. This is Chelsea’s best spell of the game.

59 min Saka’s corner is punched away by Sanchez at the near post. The ball bounces up towards Odegaard, just inside the area, but he can’t control a shot that swerves well wide.

Chelsea are back in it. Pedro Neto’s chipped cross from the right side of the area cleared everyone in the six-yard box and reached the substitute Garnacho beyond the far post. He took a touch and swished a shot through the legs of the outrushing Kepa. A nice finish and a crucial goal.

57 min Arsenal could put this tie to bed, with a hot water bottle and an appropriate dose of Zopiclone, in the next 10 minutes.

56 min There are unconfirmed reports that Charles Antaki (50 min) has found a late-night provider and is having VG tattoed on his forehead.

55 min Arsenal v Manchester City would be a mouthwatering final, eh.

54 min Odegaard hits a sweet strike from 25 yards that is punched away to his left by Sanchez. A comfortable save.

53 min: Chelsea substitutions Alejandro Garnacho and Benoit Badiashile replace Josh Acheampong and Marc Guiu. Achemapong played pretty well but Guiu got lost in the aura of Saliba and Gabriel. No shame in that.

Joao Pedro will move up front with Pedro Neto (I think) playing as the No10. Badiashile has gone to centre-back with Wesley Fofana switching to the right.

52 min That’s a really nice moment for Gyokeres, his eighth goal for Arsenal and the most important to date.

50 min “He always had my complete confidence,” writes Charles Antaki, who as we speak is buying up www.viktorgyokeresfanclub.com.

Saka ran at Cucurella, waited for White’s overlapping run and played a perfectly weighted pass down the line. White slid a low cross that went through the hands of the diving Sanchez and was swept into the net from three yards by Gyokeres. That’s another bad mistake from Sanchez I’m afraid.

48 min Enzo Fernandez clips a nice pass towards Neto, making a good run infield from the left. Arrizabalaga charges towards the edge of the area but Gabriel takes no chances by lumping the ball out of play.

46 min Chelsea begin the second half. No changes on either side yet.

Martin Widdicks has nominated another naff goal involving Arsenal in the League Cup.

“Thanks to Nick Hornby for immortalizing this beauty from Danny Wilson. It’s at 6:27 in this clip and had me singing Mary’s Prayer in my head.”

Half-time reading

44 min In a shocking development, Cucurella has been booked for a foul on Saka. The half-time break will come at a good time for Chelsea, who are struggling to lay a glove on Arsenal in an attacking sense.

42 min Trossard fouls the raiding Acheampong and is booked – as is Estevao for waving an imaginary card.

41 min “My judgment may be influenced by the grandness of the occasion, and the greatness of the players involved, but the opening goal in Barcelona’s 2-0 victory in Pep Guardiola’s first Clásico was memorably crap,” writes Kári Tulinius. “Xavi sends in an okay corner, Puyol rises high and heads the ball into Samuel Eto’o, who basically just gets hit by it. Luckily for him, Casillas jumps out of the way for some reason and since none of the Real Madrid defenders react quickly enough, the ball bounces in slow motion over the line. Mind you, the second goal was more of what you think of when you think of the greatest club side of recent decades (possibly).”

40 min I’d love to know how many times Chelsea have lost the ball in their defensive third tonight. Love it. It has just happened again, leading to a long throw from Rice that is hoofed clear at the near post.

Arsenal regain possession and Saliba, still upfield, curls a fine effort from the edge of the area that ripples the roof of the net.

36 min Estevao runs at Trossard and thinks he has won a corner. The assistant referee does not concur.

34 min Trossard, in the D, turns and hooks a bouncing ball over the bar.

33 min Arsenal have a degree of control, though it’s still a fairly even game and a Chelsea equaliser wouldn’t exactly be the shock of the century.

That said, Chelsea are really missing James, Palmer, Gusto and Caicedo in particular.

31 min: Good save by Kepa Estevao, playing on the right now, is found in a bit of spave by Fernandez. He cuts inside and blasts an early shot through the lags of Timber from a tight angle. Arrizabalaga falls to his left and pushes it round the post.

29 min Trossard exchanges passes with Timber on the edge of the area, skips past Chalobah and is about to shoot when Enzo Fernandez makes a vital challenge. Corner to Arsenal…

28 min A patient move from Chelsea ends with Enzo Fernandez flicking a pass into the area for Joao Pedro, whose inviting cross-shot on the turn ruolls along the six-yard box and behind for a goalkick.

26 min Acheampong’s rising drive is pushed over by Arrizabalaga, though he was offside anyway.

24 min Odegaard’s free-kick from the left breaks for Zubimendi, who swishes over from 15 yards. A tough chance because the ball bounced at chest height.

22 min “White’s goal is, without doubt, the crappest I have ever seen,” says Joshua Keeling. “Any other contenders anyone?”

Case closed.

18 min Arsenal can smell the nervousness around Stamford Bridge. Set pieces aside, they look most dangerous when Chelsea try to play out from the back.

Incidentally there was a VAR check on the White goal. Gyokeres was in an offside position, on the goalline, but he didn’t realistically affect Guiu’s ability to clear the ball off the line.

16 min Saka’s corner is fumbled by Sanchez, though this time the referee gives a free-kick against Saliba for his challenge on Sanchez.

15 min Gyokeres turns smartly in the area and hits a shot that deflects wide of the far post. That means another corner for Arsenal…

13 min Neto’s shot from 25 yards is blocked by Saliba.

13 min Chelsea look nervous at the back and are being pressed very aggressively by Arsenal.

12 min Enzo Fernandez, captaining Chelsea in the absence of Reece James, swerves a shot from distance that is comfortably held by Arrizabalaga.

9 min Arsenal’s record when scoring first this season brooks little argument: P22 W22 D0 L0.

8 min That’s a bit of a howler from Robert Sanchez, who misjudged the flight of the ball and completely missed his attempted punch.

That was so simple. Rice curled a big inswinging corner from the left, Sanchez flapped at fresh air and White headed into the net from four yards.

5 min Nothing to report early on. It’s been a physical start, if not as aggressive as the league game in November.

2 min Chelsea have started with Estevao on the left wing and Pedro Neto on the right. It’s usually the other way round, or rather it was under Enzo Maresca.

1 min Declan Rice, 27 today, gets the match under way with Arsenal kicking from left to right as we watch.

Liam Rosenior’s pre-match thoughts

I’ve been lucky enough to be with the lads for six days now. We’ve been very strong on what expect as a staff, what we expect as a group, and I hope to see that come out.

[On the various injuries] Reece James took a knock on his hip and he’s not quite ready. Cole [Palmer] should he available for Saturday, Liam [Delap] and Jamie Gittens are ill, Malo [Gusto] will hopefully be fit for Saturday.

We’ve been through the wars but I still think we’re good enough to be competitive and hopefully win this game.

Mikel Arteta’s pre-match thoughts

[On the relevance of last year’s semi-final defeats to Newcastle and PSG] There are a lot of learnings from that journey. Every competition is different. Today we are in a different place to where we were a year ago. We are away from home; last year we started at home. We’re very excited, very motivated and willing to start again.

[On coming up against Liam Rosenior] Every manager has his fingerprints. The players remain the same and they will have certain habits and qualities that they want to exploit on the pitch. They are a very strong team who we respect.

“Looks like you have Chelsea starting with only ten players, which, given how things have been going, seems like a sensible assumption of how the match will unfold,” writes Oliver Pattenden.

Urgh, sorry, I’ve fixed it now. Trevoh Chalobah was the invisible man.

“Arsenal arguably the best team in the world right now??!!” sniffs Justin Kavanagh. “That’s not very respectful to Macclesfield.”

Liam Rosenior will hold talks with Raheem Sterling and Axel Disasi before deciding whether the pair have a future at Chelsea.

The head coach, who wants to assess his new squad before con­cluding whether signings are required this month, has been focusing on preparations for the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at home against Arsenal and has not had a chance to look at whether Sterling and Disasi should be brought back in from the cold.

The duo have not played this season and been up for sale since last summer but buyers have been in short supply. Disasi, the former Monaco centre-back, has been in limbo and the issue with Sterling is that the former England winger has 18 months on a contract worth about £325,000 a week. Chelsea’s preference would be to move players on this month but Rosenior wants to speak to them to work out the best way forward.

“Tonight is more of a dilemma than a narrative for me,” writes Onno Giller. “I can either sit through the stress, as a lifelong Arsenal fan, of what promises to be another cagey boxing match between Arsenal and Chelsea… or follow my obsession with African football having spent a considerable time on the sub Saharan part of the continent and watch the Afcon match between Nigeria and Morocco, with considerably less stress. Might just have to toss a coin.”

Why not follow both games? At the Guardian we believe in polybloggery.

Mikel Arteta has acknowledged that Arsenal must overcome their injury problems in defence if they are to maintain their challenge in four competitions. Arteta spoke after ­revealing that William Saliba is a doubt for the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Chelsea on Wednesday.

Saliba and Leandro Trossard did not feature in the FA Cup victory against Portsmouth on Sunday. It was widely thought both had been rested. However, Arteta confirmed on Tuesday that the France defender could miss the game at Stamford Bridge because of an unspecified injury, while ­Trossard is also a doubt.

Piero Hincapié and Riccardo ­Calafiori both remain out with groin and muscular injuries respectively, while Cristhian Mosquera continues to make progress on an ankle injury and is not expected to return until next month.

“I look forward,” writes Charles Antaki, “to seeing what you make of Chelsea 1 (Palmer), Arsenal 1 (Jover).”