Chelsea Use Unusual Tactic No Other Club Has Tried to Stop Arsenal Corners

Chelsea brought in a brave and unprecedented tactic in a bid to stop Arsenal scoring from corners in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg.

The Blues lost 4-2 on aggregate across the two games, with Kai Havertz finding the net in the 97th minute against his former employers in the 1-0 second leg win at the Emirates.

The approach from Liam Rosenior, which included playing with five defenders and leaving Cole Palmer as a substitute while Liam Delap and Enzo Fernandez played as wingers, was widely criticised by pundits who felt the west London side ought to have gone for it and attacked the Gunners.

However, when it came to defending Arsenal's huge corner threat, Chelsea came up with a genius strategy.

In the Premier League, Arsenal have scored 17 goals from corners this season and 53 from set-pieces in all competitions since the start of last season.

The quality of their set plays have been too much for sides to handle but both Monaco and Crystal Palace countered the threat by leaving players high up the pitch so it reduced the amount of Arsenal men crashing the box.

However, Chelsea went a step further with their plan. The Blues essentially did the same thing by leaving three people up against Arsenal's defenders but their approach differed as they quickly sent players out of the box as soon as the kick was about to be taken.

Malo Gusto and Liam Delap were initially marking players but they swiftly switched to darting out the box. As a result, this made Arsenal wary about the possibility of a counter attack and so a few players had to retreat.

That's one way to deal with Arsenal's set pieces 👀#ITVFootball | @Carabao_Cup pic.twitter.com/DwVVBq3JkV

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) February 3, 2026

The idea was mentioned by Shay Given on BBC Match of the Day, who called for a team to "try something different" after Arsenal scored twice from corners in the 4-0 hammering of Leeds.

On Sky Sports, Jamie Redknapp said he admired the plan but still believes there was a huge problem as Gabriel Magalhaes, Arsenal's strongest header of the ball, was being marked by Enzo Fernandez.

"Chelsea are trying to negate there being too much traffic in the area, which Arsenal try to cause chaos with," he said.

"They obviously have a plan but if Arsenal have the right delivery, Enzo Fernandez has no chance."

Chelsea didn't concede from a set-piece but their defence was breached at the death when Arsenal countered and Havertz slotted home to book a place at Wembley for the Carabao Cup.

Speaking post-match to Sky Sports after the loss, Rosenior said he was "sure Arsenal would have known today that they were in for a real tough game" and claimed "not many teams come here and put on the level of performance that we have tonight".

Arsenal will take on either Manchester City or Newcastle in the final on Sunday 22 March. City lead 2-0 from the first leg going into the second outing at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night.