Arsenal 0 - Chelsea 2: Carl Jenkinson gifts it to the Blues

IT was Groundhog Day for Chelsea last night, this time with Arsenal’s Carl Jenkinson the culprit.

PICK THAT JUAN OUT: Mata scores his wonder goal

“This was the Mourinho motivational magic working again!”

Two days after a defensive mix-up gifted Fernando Torres the 90th-minute winner against Manchester City, something ­similar happened at the Emirates.

A Torres goal in the league is something of a collector’s item. Sunday’s was only his second this year.
But one from another Spaniard, Cesar Azpilicueta, is even rarer. Before last night he had only scored once in 213 games, for Marseille in May 2012.

Still, the right-back decided to go for it in the 25th minute as Chelsea broke at speed from an Arsenal corner.
Samuel Eto’o passed to Michael Essien, who continued bursting forward. Aaron Ramsey challenged and the ball spun up and high towards the home goal as ­Jenkinson and Jack Wilshere ran back.

There seemed uncertainty between the pair but England right-back Jenkinson opted to head towards keeper Lukasz ­Fabianski, just as Matija Nastasic had with Joe Hart at Stamford Bridge.

But unlike Hart, Fabianski did not dash out of his box and Azpilicueta gambled, nipping in to volley just inside the keeper’s left post.

Not too many punters would have had the 24-year-old down for first scorer and on this occasion Jose Mourinho’s celebrations were muted, unlike his dash across the City bench to get into the crowd on Sunday.
He had singled out Azpilicueta for praise – something he rarely does – in his programme notes, for coming in to play left-back against Schalke in the Champions League.

Maybe this was the Mourinho motivational magic working again!

Before last night, Mourinho had some sort of hex over Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, although the pair shook hands in a warm manner before kick-off.

In his first spell at Chelsea, the Portuguese coach did not lose any of their eight encounters, winning four and drawing four.
Their one meeting before in this compet-ition came in the final of the Carling Cup in 2007, which the Blues won 2-1.

Both bosses sent out strong teams for this fourth-round tie, Chelsea’s marginally the more impressive. For the Gunners it was a big night for striker Nicklas Bendtner.
But the pony-tailed Dane, who surprised just about everyone by not leaving the club in the transfer window, started poorly, ­giving the ball away on two of the first three occasions he touched it.

AZ GOOD AS GOLD: Azpilicueta storms toward the Arsenal goal [GETTY] 
 

Kevin De Bruyne was one Chelsea player with his own point to prove after not impressing Mourinho in his last game, the Capital One Cup win at Swindon. He managed a shot on target early on but it was never going to trouble Fabianski.

After the Chelsea goal, Azpilcueta almost undid all his good work, giving the ball to Nacho Monreal as he tried to find De Bruyne. The Spanish left-back was not far off sneaking his low shot inside the far post
.
Mourinho seemed to recognise the importance of winning a trophy straight away for Chelsea when he first arrived in 2004, conquering the League Cup.

Since then he has landed 13 other ­trophies, while Wenger has just the 2005 FA Cup to show in the same period.

The Blues started after the break brighter, with Eto’s sending a shot a couple of feet wide in the 50th minute.
Santi Cazorla was a bit wider with his effort soon after but it was not struck with too much conviction.
A Ramsey effort looked more dangerous, but deflected for a corner off David Luiz.

Bendter tried to tee up Ramsey when a more confident striker might have turned to try and shoot, considering he was in the box with some room behind him.

Ramsey flashed a shot narrowly wide in the 64th minute and seconds later Wenger opted to send on £42.5m Mesut Ozil for Ryo Miyaichi, with Mourinho knowing well the qualities of the German playmaker from their time together at Real Madrid.

But it was Chelsea’s creative genius, Juan Mata, who struck even before Ozil had had his first sprint.
Ryan Bertrand’s 66th-minute throw-in was flicked on by Eto’o, with Willian then getting his head to the ball to find Mata.
He took a deft touch with his left and then struck a sublime angled shot with the outside of his right boot into the far corner to settle this Capital One Cup ­encounter.