Brilliant result.................

Good solid performance . A relief and a surprise. Still got the attacking threat of a powderpuff but at least we didn’t look as clueless in defence.

As I said, no way will this be a tight game.

Fair play to the team today. With our best creative players not playing we struggled to create chances, but we defended well and fought for the entire 95 minutes. Not a bad result in a difficult away game.

VAR gets a thumbs up from me. Gives the ref more reason not to favour one side or the other as evry decision he now makes could be looked at.

Atkinson coped very well.

Holding, Mustafi, Chambers and Xhaka really good today. They've been rightfully criticised a lot this season, so they deserve to be recognized when they play well.

0-0 FT
At least we’re still in the tie at half time, that was my biggest fear before the game.
It wasn’t a great game to watch, credit to the players and wenger for restricting Chelsea to mostly pot shots from range. Even first half but Chelsea dominated the second.
The players got behind the ball, tracked runners, tackled and generally did the things we cause them of not doing. The consequence was that we completely stifled our own creative attacking play.

This was an arsenal team without Kos, Monreal, Kolasinac, Ramsey, Özil and Giroud. Lost Wilshere through injury and had Sanchez on the bench. If only we had this sort of discipline in more of our prem away games against the big teams. Chelsea at full strength and we got a battling 0-0 away from Home.

Need to get these injured players back and start adding to the squad. For once can we not scrabble around on jan 31. It is so amatuer

Agree with all of that. Seemed to take the heat of of potential situations and stopped the haranguing by a melee of players.

Can't wait for Monreal or Kolasinac to come back. Give Ainsley a chance to show what he can do in a midfield role.

Still in with a chance of the final so overall a good result. Neither side seemed that urgent in their approach.

It's ours to lose..............

Yes I can see some real potential in this player.

Usually the way Niall , lot of my pearls of wisdom go unheralded ....well spotted

Plenty of movement upfront , quick diagonal balls balls unhinge our defence

I thought Chelsea fell into the trap of playing a slightly improved version of our type of play .

On this showing you have to wonder why Nottingham Forest aren't third in the Premier League .

Glad we didn't buy Morata . Don't think it's major advantage to us to go back to the Emirates with a 0 - 0 ... we can still quite easily cock it up at home

Would've liked to say Iwobi was really good as well because I thought he did a lot of positive things, but his final ball is just shockingly bad. Both when finishing and trying to pass it. Most important thing to improve if he wants to make it at this level.

Excellent result with so many players missing. We lacked any real quality but battled well. Mustafi sums that up really, a real trier who is aggressive and committed but makes too many rash challenges and basic errors to be considered top class.

Why do we get so many injuries, are our players made of balsa wood?

The more I see of Lacazette the less convinced I am by him. Not much service but he really struggles to get into games. You can see why so many big teams haven't been able to make up their minds about signing him.

In my opinion to have a hope of top four we need at least two big first eleven signings and to keep either Özil or Sanchez. I'd say a CB and a central midfielder (especially if Coq goes) at the very least and probably a wideman too but I won't be holding my breath.

Wenger has confirmed that Coquelin is going to Valencia

Yeh, his dribbling and energy are really good but his final ball and decision-making are just so erratic.

Great to come away with a result from the Bridge and to still be in the tie in a fortnight.

Have to shout out Holding's brilliant block on Hazard when Mustafi dived in yet again and went to ground during a dangerous Chelsea attack. Whilst he did some things well, the German was a bit reckless for my liking tonight in certain situations.

Arsenal's MOM for me tonight was Granit Xhaka who passed the ball solidly and looked to get it forward when possible. Would most likely have been Wilshere of course but for his unfortunate injury. Shout out to Elneny who stepped in well and was tidy on the ball when he came on.

I thought Rambo was only supposed to be out a couple of weeks.

Going forward Xhaka was good, although his set piece deliveries were shocking. I thought defensively, though, he was awful as usual due to his lack of mobility and could have easily been sent off.

Regarding Lacazette I also share some concerns. When we purchased him I recall that a female on one of the podcasts I listen to had watched him a lot. She said he had been prone to really struggling when not scoring. However she indicated that in the last 2 years he had been a lot better and did not suffer from the problem. However I am starting to see a player whose head drops when he misses a chance and especially when he is subbed off around the 65-70 minute. The other day I saw the first moment of real doubt in a game when he took too long to shoot. He was second guessing himself. He is starting to look like Chamakh rather than Henry.

Yeah I mentioned his set pieces at HT. I don't think he was poor defensively tbh and he got his yellow for a cracking foul that Arsenal players should commit more often. Ok, he got caught for 2 fouls in quick succession after but neither were worthy of a yellow. All in all, a good game from the Swiss in my book.

Yet to be convinced myself though I don't think he's had the chances you would have expected him to receive this season. I don't recall many glaring misses from him. He was poor tonight though - didn't make enough runs into the channels; poor effort in the first half and he deserved to be subbed by the manager.

I agree with all your points. The Giroud injury might cause us some concern as he scored so many late goals.

This was one of those games that shows how hard it is to assess players in this current Arsenal setup. Most have given up on Chambers and Holding (I'd like to see Holding get one more season) but today they showed why they were considered such promising players at one point. There's clearly plenty of talent there. They were composed, made the right decision at pretty much every opportunity, strong in challenge and worked well as a unit with Mustafi. Can't help but wonder how much of their lack of progress is because of them and how much is because our lack of defensive structure.

To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if a new manager who is good at setting up a defense could sign only one defender in the summer - a replacement for Mertesacker - and build a good defense from that.

Good news, as he wasn't really good enough for Arsenal despite some good games and a decent spell alongside Santi. Admire his liking for a good, well timed, aggressive tackle. Hopefully it will work out well for him, great club to join in Valencia.

It's far too early to discard Holding. Young players have off days and they deserve a chance to come back.

Read on twitter that Lacazette was ill today but played through it - no idea if true but would explain his performance. Difficult game in any case, not much support today.

Good move for the player and the club. West Ham might have offered him higher wages but as you say Valencia is a great club to join and looking good for champions league places this season.
Coq was a solid if not good enough pro for us, seemed to give his all and never complained about being out of the side. Good luck to him

Any idea what the fee is? I’d heard around £10-12m which while it would have been nice to take advantage of an inflated market coquelin to Spain wasn’t ever likely to be that transfer. So with the Greek lads signing and coq off we must be in close to £20m profit for the season? Stan will be pleased

0-0 is a good result to take into the home leg. Another cup final coming up?

Missed the game, and from the comments, seems little to get excited about. Good to hear the defenders put in a good shift. They need the confidence. Best to hear Jack made Captain.

I concur with the posts that praise the result. I'd have preferred a scoring draw but leaving a cup semi final at the Bridge with a draw can't be overstated enough as a good result. Especially given who we had out there. We may end up losing the tie on a scoring draw but for now, its good.

I like Iwobi's skill with the ball, very good technical ability but he needs to raise his game up a level. Decision making, scoring. Also, holding on to the ball a bit too long. He's fairly young so hopefully he'll learn soon enough.

Nil nil is a decent result considering the circumstances but isn't it away goals ? Surely it's unlikely we we will keep another clean sheet

Away goals only count after extra time.

Its a tall order for City to win the CL. Not with Barca in the competition as well as PSG and others but I think its not just possible but probable they will win all 3 domestic trophies and I believe that's never been done in the same season. I believe I asked that before a few years back and was told it has never been the case.

In fact, its possible they have the best domestic season ever by any side. Unbeaten in the league and the FAC and League cup trophies. Doable. Possible? Only speculation and Ladbrokes can determine that possibility but were I a City fan I would fancy 10 quid on that possibility. I'd love to see the odds.

I'd hate it and the possibility scares me but this season they don't look beatable and have a second XI that can beat almost any domestic side in the cups.

Like his drugs test ?

Wenger names Coquelin replacement........

"The best way to replace Coquelin is to get Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Özil back"

He's just doing it on purpose now isn't he....

Reassuring that. Leadership comes from the top.

West Ham make Javier Hernandez avaiable, worth a punt?

Yes, I think there is some hidden talent there.

Not even a small one.

Some rumours going around about Malcom from Brazil (playing for Bordeaux) and Cristian Pavon of Boca Juniors. Not yet gone further than the whisper stage, but I like the rumours. Like others have commented, I think Wenger’s time as manager is coming to an end quickly and a new manager with a couple of South American super talents would definitely make it more interesting following Arsenal.

Morning Rich. I accept your point about new signings offering excitement to fans. They also offer hope that they will bring improvement. But I'm perhaps being over-cynical, but regardless of that I simply can't stop myself from viewing new signings with suspicion.

First, might not Wenger be able to use new signings that he is improving things, at least potentially? Moreover, could he use that to convince Kroenke he should get another contract so he can work towards the realisation of his changed side's potential? I honestly think Wenger is selfish enough to use the pontential of new players (the new signings) to do that.

Secondly, any new signings will eat into the transfer budget available to a new manager if we're lucky enough for Wenger to go. Do we really want that? A budget which, with the money to be lost over Sanchez and Özil, might not be particularly generous. Surely a new manger wouldn't want to have his transfer budget spent by Wenger, nor would he want the new signings chosen by Wenger?