Sheffield Wednesday 3 Arsenal 0
Yes, this Capital One Cup fixture was an inconvenience.
But what you saw on Sky Sports last night was a farce.
And what you were told before and after the match was a sham.
Arsenal’s biggest defeat against lower league opposition since 1959!
The team lost Oxlade to a hamstring in 5 minutes, bought on Walcott, he went off with a calf strain after not warming up enough.
Sheffield Wednesday, highly organised and purposeful, scored a fine opener when Daniel Pudil cut back a superb low cross into the box and Ross Wallace placed his first-time shot beautifully for 1-0.
After a short corner on the left, Wallace crossed perfectly for 22-year-old Portuguese striker Lucas Joao to make it 2-0 with a booming header that gave Petr Cech no chance.
When the clumsy Chambers pulled down his man , Barry Bannan took a diagonal free-kick that was neatly volleyed back across the goalmouth by Tom Lees, allowing Sam Hutchinson to score again at far post.
In 55, Joao missed a sitter for 4-0.
This Arsenal performance was a shambles.
Sheffield Wednesday are 9th in the Championship, just below Reading and Cardiff.
But they had shape, discipline, belief and thrust, qualities Arsenal conspicuously lacked.
The Hillsborough crowd was over 35,000.
Let’s hope Wednesday get a home draw in the quarter-final draw tonight.
Quote of the Month from Lord Wenger: I couldn’t bring on Gabriel or Monreal in case they got injured.
He admitted that his three debutants were not ready.
VERDICT : The squad is packed with kids who aren’t ready and injury-prone old lags like Arteta and Rosicky.
Matchday headline in Evening Standard was Forgotten man Campbell gets rare chance.
It’s long been clear that Wenger doesn’t rate Joel Campbell.
Must be sheer hell for any young footballer to spend week after week not playing football.
Garry Monk’s Swansea is next for Arsenal.
Swansea had a thin time before winning 2-1 at Aston Villa last weekend.
They are 12th and have the same number of points as Everton (10).