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With a spot at Wembley on the line, Arsenal welcome London rivals Chelsea to Emirates Stadium for the second leg of their Carabao Cup semifinal matchup on Tuesday holding a 3-2 aggregate lead.

The Gunners prevailed by a goal in the first leg a few weeks back to establish their advantage at the midway point, although the lead could have been greater had Chelsea not clawed back from deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 at various points of the match.

The League Cup will be the first of many trophies Arsenal are eyeing over the second half of this campaign. They also lead the Premier League table by six points through 24 matches, and they finished top of the league phase in Champions League play as well.

Chelsea also have plenty to play for and will place an added importance on this particular competition thanks to being out of contention for the league title as they sit 13 points adrift in fifth. The Blues also finished amongst the top eight places in the European standings to earn passage to the Round of 16, and they remain alive in the FA Cup, the fourth round of which takes place next week.

The Sporting News is following the Arsenal vs. Chelsea match live, providing score updates, commentary, and analysis.

Arsenal vs. Chelsea live score

Location: Emirates Stadium (London, England)
Referee: Peter Bankes

Starting lineups:

Arsenal (4-3-3, right to left): 13. Kepa (GK) — 12. Timber, 2. Saliba, 6. Gabriel, 5. Hincapie — 10. Eze, 36. Zubimendi, 41. Rice — 20. Madueke, 14. Gyokeres, 11. Martinelli

Chelsea (3-4-1-2, right to left): 1. Sanchez (GK) — 29. Fofana, 23. Chalobah, 21. Hato — 27. Gusto, 25. Caicedo, 17. Santos, 3. Cucurella — 8. Fernandez — 9. Delap, 20. Joao Pedro

Arsenal vs. Chelsea live updates, highlights from Carabao Cup second leg

23rd min: It’s been all Arsenal the last 10 minutes, but finally Chelsea get on the ball and William Saliba gets away with a shirt pull as Peter Banks only blows his whistle for a common foul and decides not to go to his pocket. The Arsenal defender is lucky.

17th min: Chance, Arsenal! Arsenal are always dangerous on corner kicks, and that remains true here as Noni Madueke finds Piero Hincapie who out-jumps Jorrel Hato to get his head to the ball, but Hato blocks it with his body and concedes another.

The second delivery is extremely dangerous too, but Robert Sanchez punches it away. On the third bite of the cherry, Hincapie takes a fabulous curling effort from around 16 yards out, and forces a massive diving save from the Chelsea goalkeeper! What a wonderful, full-stretch stop!

13th min: Neither team has really gotten going yet. Arsenal have not been able to dominate possession as they often like to, but they’ve also defended extremely well against Chelsea’s run-and-gun attacking style that has targeted the full-backs to little effect so far.

5th min: Chelsea are definitely in a back three. Malo Gusto and Marc Cucurella are pushing as high as the front attacking line when in possession, and then tracking all the way back to make the defensive line five when they give away the ball. That’s a lot of running to do!

Kickoff: They’re under way at the Emirates! Who will be playing at Wembley next month for the first trophy of the 2025/26 season?

How about the wild lights show they put on at the stadium before kickoff?

Not really my place to make such judgments pic.twitter.com/nWfIcOm0ck

— James Benge (@jamesbenge) February 3, 2026

Arsenal vs. Chelsea: Pre-match commentary, analysis, more

15 mins to kickoff: Arsenal’s top scorer across all competitions this season is Viktor Gyokeres, whose 11 goals puts him one ahead of Gabriel Martinelli after the Swede bagged a goal and assist in the first leg of this semifinal matchup. One mysterious “player” who has racked up quite the count is Owen Goal — yes, that’s own goal.

The Gunners have benefitted from six such opposition gaffes across all competitions this season, including five in the Premier League, with all of those coming since the start of December. Can the Blues keep from becoming the latest side to give Arsenal an additional boost on the scoresheet?

Kickoff is just around the corner!

40 mins to kickoff: Rosenior has come into the Chelsea managerial position and ridden a new manager bounce wave. He has won six of his first seven matches in charge of the club, with the first leg defeat to Arsenal the only blemish on an otherwise perfect record.

They haven’t all been pretty, however. While they have kept clean sheets against Brentford and Pafos, the Blues have conceded at least once in five of those seven games under Rosenior’s watch, and they needed a three-goal comeback last time out against a relegation-threatened West Ham to overturn a 2-0 deficit and walk away as 3-2 winners.

Many of Rosenior’s substitutions made an impact on the final scoreline in that latest victory, but should that go down as credit to the manager? It was his rotated squad, after all, that dug an early deficit…

Liam Rosenior delivered a BRILLIANT tactical and coaching display against West Ham!

Brought on Cucurella
Cucurella GOALSCORER

Brought on João Pedro
João Pedro GOALSCORER

Brought on Wesley Fofana
Wesley Fofana ASSIST

Brought on Pedro Neto … pic.twitter.com/kJzJBfFun7

— Football Tweet  (@Footballtweet) January 31, 2026

1 hour 10 mins to kickoff: Team news is IN! Arsenal make three chances from the weekend win at Leeds: cup goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga comes in for David Raya, Eberechi Eze starts in place of Kai Havertz, and Gabriel Martinelli gets the nod over Leandro Trossard.

🔴 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 ⚪️

🧤 Arrizabalaga in goal
🔟 Eze the creative spark
⚡️ Martinelli our threat down the left

Let’s do this, Gunners 😤

Presented by @deel 🤝

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 3, 2026

Liam Rosenior looks to be going with a back five at the Emirates. Wesley Fofana comes in to complete the back three, with Marc Cucurella and Malo Gusto as wing-backs. Liam Delap and Joao Pedro both start in attack. Captain Reece James is not in the squad.

Our XI versus Arsenal! ✊#CFC |#CarabaoCup pic.twitter.com/FUWDZa5jzS

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 3, 2026

1 hour 30 mins to kickoff: Kai Havertz has finally returned to the pitch for Arsenal after a long injury layoff, and the club’s caution with his recovery has seemingly paid off. The 26-year-old German has hit the ground running, finding the back of the net in both of his appearances since becoming available, including one start and one off the bench.

The former Chelsea star had a largely miserable time at Stamford Bridge and would love to put his old club to the sword. Since joining Arsenal, he’s managed two goals in four appearances against Chelsea, both coming in the same match when Arsenal trounced the Blues 5-0 back in an April, 2024 Premier League victory. If he sees the field today, he could be motivated to see out his old club and book a spot at Wembley.

Kai Havertz with a goal and assist 16 minutes into his first Arsenal start in 357 days pic.twitter.com/YfIabDktqy

— B/R Football (@brfootball) January 28, 2026

1 hour 45 mins to kick: Kai Havertz has finally returned to the pitch for Arsenal after a long injury layoff, and the club’s caution with his recovery has seemingly paid off. The 26-year-old German has hit the ground running, finding the back of the net in both of his appearances since becoming available, including one start and one off the bench.

The former Chelsea star had a truly miserable time at Stamford Bridge, and would love to put his old club to the sword. Since joining Arsenal, he’s managed two goals in four appearances against Chelsea, both coming in the same match when Arsenal trounced the Blues 5-0 back in an April, 2024 Premier League victory. If he sees the field today, he could be motivated to see out his old club and book a spot at Wembley.

Kai Havertz with a goal and assist 16 minutes into his first Arsenal start in 357 days pic.twitter.com/YfIabDktqy

— B/R Football (@brfootball) January 28, 2026

2 hours to kickoff: Welcome to coverage from The Sporting News of Arsenal vs. Chelsea in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semifinal matchup!

The January transfer window closed quietly yesterday, and both of these teams remained silent, happy to press on with the current makeup of their squad.

Arsenal did suffer a late blow with the loss of Mikel Merino to a broken foot, but they decided not to pursue any knee-jerk reaction to that news. Chelsea, meanwhile, sport their traditional bloated squad to help them paper over a litany of injury absences, although they did recall defender Mamadou Sarr from his loan at sister club Strasbourg to help with injuries at the back.

Mamadou Sarr has returned to Chelsea from his loan spell at Strasbourg.

Welcome back, Mamadou! 💙

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 2, 2026

Arsenal vs. Chelsea kick off time

This Carabao Cup semifinal second leg kicks off from Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, February 3 at 8 p.m. local time in London, England. Here’s how that time translates across some of the major territories around the globe:

Arsenal vs. Chelsea lineups, team news

The Gunners will be without Mikel Merino for a significant period of time after he underwent surgery to repair a broken foot.

Mikel Arteta said that the injury to Bukayo Saka “doesn’t look like something too serious,” and even suggested he could be available for this game, but Noni Madueke keeps his place as Saka sits out the match completely.

Neither Kai Havertz nor Martin Odegaard start. Instead, Eberechi Eze gets the chance to impress, while Gabriel Martinelli comes in for Leandro Trossard.

Arsenal starting lineup (4-3-3, right to left): Kepa (GK) — Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie — Eze, Zubimendi, Rice — Madueke, Gyokeres, Martinelli.

Arsenal subs: Raya (GK), Mosquera, White, Lewis-Skelly, Calafiori, Norgaard, Trossard, Havertz, Jesus.

Club captain Reece James is not in the squad for this fixture, but winger Estevao has returned from compassionate leave and is on the bench.

Rosenior looks to be going with a back three and wingbacks, with both Joao Pedro and Liam Delap starting in attack.

Jamie Gittens has a hamstring injury, while Tosin Adarabioyo is absent due to a thigh problem of his own. Dario Essugo and Romeo Lavia are also on the mend and not expected back for another few weeks.

Mamadou Sarr has returned from his loan at Strasbourg early, but even given the fact that his new manager Rosenior was essentially also his old manager, he was never likely to be chucked straight into the XI. Levi Colwill is a long-term absentee after tearing his ACL early in the season.

Chelsea starting lineup (3-4-1-2, right to left): Sanchez (GK) — Fofana, Chalobah, Hato — Gusto, Caicedo, Santos, Cucurella — Fernandez — Delap, Joao Pedro.

Chelsea subs: Sharman-Lowe (GK), Acheampong, Badiashile, Holland, Palmer, Estevao, Garnacho, Guiu, Mheuka.

Arsenal vs. Chelsea live stream, TV channel

Here is how to watch the match in some of the world’s major regions: