Claudio Ranieri has warned Arsenal they will need all of their killer instinct to end Chelsea’s Champions League dream in a fortnight’s time.
A 1-1 draw in Wednesday’s first leg of the all-London quarterfinal left Arsenal as narrow favourites to advance to the last four of the tournament for the first time in the club’s history and a potential meeting with Real Madrid.
But Ranieri, who now appears resigned this week to being replaced at the end of this season, was upbeat after watching his side finally avoid defeat against Arsenal at the fourth attempt this season.
”I know Arsenal is Arsenal. This season they have been in another world. We are behind them.
”In the Champions League, in every competition they score a lot of goals. Maybe they could score at Highbury but Chelsea away is strong and I believe it is not finished yet.
”They are hypothetical champions in the league, maybe also in the Champions League. But before they must kill us off.”
Chelsea have now failed to beat their north London rivals in their past 17 matches, but they came very close to ending that run after Eidur Gudjohnsen’s opportunism earned them a well-deserved 53rd-minute lead.
A rare header from Robert Pires levelled the scores six minutes later and ensured Arsenal will kick off at Highbury as favourites, although Pires himself insisted there would be no complacency in the Gunners’ camp.
”We will take nothing for granted. We have not done so all season and we are not going to start now.
”We can’t forget that Chelsea are always capable of scoring, even though, psychologically the away goal gives us a little advantage.”
Ranieri paid tribute to the way Iceland striker Gudjohnsen, started in preference to Hernan Crespo, had spotted a moment’s hesitation from Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann before charging down a clearance and hooking the loose ball into the net from a tight angle.
”The Gudjohnsen goal was for his determination,” Ranieri said. ”He believed he would get the ball, he did get the ball and he scored.
”After the goal we had 10 fantastic minutes. We took our confidence and played good football without anxiety, with a free mind and maybe we deserved to score the second goal.”
Ranieri was clearly touched by the warmth of the reception he received from the Chelsea fans after a few days in which the Chelsea board’s refusal to respond to his appeal to end the uncertainty over his future has effectively confirmed his fate.
”I would like to say thank you to everyone for their support but I would like to see support only for Chelsea and my players.
”The manager and the chairman may change but Chelsea remains and that is what’s important.”
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger paid tribute to Chelsea’s performance and admitted his side had had to dig deep after Gudjohnsen’s goal.
”Certainly it gives you a psychological edge when you are 1-0 up and the opponent comes back to 1-1. It was a big blow for Chelsea and I thought in the last 20 minutes I felt we could win it.”
Arsenal now know a 0-0 will be enough to put them into the last four but Wenger insisted he would not play that ”dangerous game”, and said Arsenal would not adopt Chelsea’s approach to their home leg.
”They played not to concede a goal, tried to suck us in and then get a break and score. It was a very European style of match.
”We had a lot of possession but did not create many opportunities and we made it difficult for ourselves by conceding the goal.
”We needed to show a lot of character to survive for the next 10 minutes but to come back and score after going a goal down is a good result for us.”
Chelsea will travel without the reassuring presence of Marcel Desailly, who was sent off seven minutes from time after a late tackle on his former France teammate Patrick Vieira, having already been booked for knocking the ball out of Lehmann’s hands.
Chelsea always looked the more determined of the two sides but that could not prevent Arsenal from creating the better early chances.
Dennis Bergkamp’s curling shot brought a good save from Marco Ambrosio and the Dutchman’s inswinging free-kick saw Sol Campbell’s back-post header fly narrowly wide.
Gradually, however, the home side began to dominate. Scott Parker was denied from close range by Lehmann, Gudjohnsen had a volley blocked by Lauren and, shortly after the restart, a Frank Lampard shot spun off Campbell and into the side netting.
But Arsenal’s luck did not last and a lack of communication between Lehmann and Campbell allowed Chelsea to take the lead .
There appeared little danger as Lampard swept a loose ball forward through the inside-left channel. But Campbell’s decision to allow Gudjohnsen to chase the ball unhindered and Lehmann’s failure to come out of his box decisively transformed the situation.
The Icelandic striker was able to block Lehmann’s attempted clearance before hooking the loose ball into the empty net from a tight angle.
Fired up by the goal, Chelsea might easily have snatched a second when Lehmann failed to hold another attempt from Lampard, the rebound just defeating Duff.
Instead, it was Arsenal who grabbed both an equalisier and a precious away goal with a swift counter-attack that generated the space for Cole to pick out Pires, who got in front of John Terry to head past Ambrosio from eight yards.
The Frenchman served his team equally well at the other end, getting his body in the way of another goalbound volley from Gudjohnsen and preserve Arsenal’s narrow advantage. — Sapa-AFP