Chelsea 2 - 1 Arsenal

Late stupidity mars an otherwise great game of football, as the young guns fell to the rubles of Chelski 2-1 in the Carling Cup Final.

It all started so well. The boys came out of the blocks firing on all cylinders, dominating in all areas of the pitch. The pressure paid off, when, after twelve minutes, a beautiful one-two between Abou Diaby and Theo Walcott found the 17-year old England international in space - enough that he sent a perfectly placed curling shot past a diving Peter Crouch to put the Gunners up 1-0. It was Theo’s first goal for Arsenal since signing from Southampton just over a year ago, and he celebrated in kind. So did Thierry Henry, who, like many of the other Arsenal veterans, stepped aside and sat this one out in favor of the youngsters who had done the heavy lifting on the way to final, including a 6-3 demolition of Liverpool at Anfield, and a two-legged victory over the Tottenham scum.

Arsenal had several more chances to increase their lead in the next few minutes, but failed to convert them. This gave Chelsea the window they needed, and thanks to a missed offsides call, Didier Drogba pulled the Russians level after 21 minutes.

That’s how the sides went into the dressing rooms at half time, and it seemed that the next goal would prove to be the winner. That’s how well the Arsenal team (average age something like 23) was doing against the two-time reigning Premiership champions (average age something like 28). Then, eleven minutes into the second half, came the moment that changed the match.

When attempting to clear a ball that had been floated into the penalty area, Diaby punted John Terry in the head - knocking the England captain out cold for nearly seven minutes.

Thankfully, Terry came to, and as it turns out, he was able to join his teammates in celebration later that night. Diaby wasn’t so lucky. He injured himself when his foot connected with Terry’s head instead of the ball. Like I said, that was the turning point. Arsene Wenger was forced to pull Diaby off in favor of Alex Hleb, while Jeremy Aliadiere was sacrificed for Emmanuel Adebayor. Emmanuel Eboue returned from injury to make an appearance, taking over for Armand Traore, who himself had filled in for late scratch Gael Clichy.

Those changes seemed to slow down the Arsenal attack, and disorganize the back. That ultimately led to Arjen Robben finding the room to send a perfect cross onto which Drogba outjumped Phil Senderos and headed past a helpless Manuel Almunia.

That was the match, done and dusted. Or so everyone thought. Due to the time it took to tend to the unconscious Terry, there were seven minutes of stoppage time added to the 90. After three minutes, all hell broke loose.

After taking the lead, Chelsea were doing what any team in their position would do - a bit of time wasting. Arsenal had won a free kick, which Kolo Toure, who was captain of the young Arsenal side, was attempting to take quickly. Obi Makel grabbed at Toure’s jersey to slow him down, which the Ivorian took offense to. Shoving turned to punches, turned to a near brawl. Both managers rushed onto the pitch to break up the melee. Cesc Fabregas, who was brilliant all match, got Frank Lampard into a headlock. Adebayor tried to break it all up, but in the end, he got red-carded - incorrectly blamed for Eboue’s punch that landed squarely in Wayne Bridge’s face. Makel and Toure were all sent off, while Fabregas and Lampard both saw yellow.

That was pretty much that. Once Arsenal were down to nine men, there was never really any chance of them sending the match to extra time. The final whistle blew, and the great run was over.

My immediate reaction after the match was that I was angrier about the Toure and Adebayor red cards than I was about the loss. There are several big games coming up, including an FA Cup replay at Blackburn on Wednesday. While I’m still upset about the impending three game suspensions, now that some time has passed, I can’t help but feel nothing but proud and extremely optimistic.

The Arsenal “B” team as it were pushed Chelsea to the brink. There were chances that came to these players, that with a bit more experience, they would have converted. When I think about the future of this club, I can’t help but be excited.