Arsenal’s route to the Carabao Cup final

Arsenal saw off London rivals and reigning Premier League champions Chelsea to book their place in the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City.

Here, FP looks at the route the Gunners navigated to reach their first League Cup final in seven years.

Third round – Arsenal 1 Doncaster 0

Theo Walcott (left) hit the only goal of the game as Arsenal edged past League One Doncaster. (Adam Davy/Empics)

In front of a then-lowest ever attendance at the Emirates Stadium of just under 45,000, an Arsenal team showing 11 changes but still boasting eight full internationals made heavy weather of beating their third-tier visitors.

Alexis Sanchez was a surprise inclusion for the Gunners but it was Theo Walcott, with his first goal of the season, who settled the tie in favour of the home side.

Fourth round – Arsenal 2 Norwich 1 (after extra-time)

Dream come true to score 2 goals on my home debut, God is great! ⚽🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/bhBmaPkFch

— Eddie Nketiah (@EddieNketiah9) October 24, 2017

Remember the name, Eddie Nketiah.

With another home tie, Wenger again opted to shuffle his pack, only this time it looked to have backfired as Josh Murphy’s fine first-half goal had Norwich heading through with five minutes remaining.

Nketiah, 18, came off the bench for his home debut and equalised within 15 seconds to take the game into extra-time where he again provided the heroics to score his second of the game to see Arsenal into the last eight.

Quarter-final – Arsenal 1 West Ham 0

Danny Welbeck's scrappy goal was enough to see off West Ham. (Adam Davy/PA) — Danny Welbeck’s scrappy goal was enough to see off West Ham. (Adam Davy/PA)

After a dismal Premier League stalemate at the London Stadium just a week before, this was another wholly-forgettable 90 minutes.

Danny Welbeck bundled home his first goal in over three months to send Arsenal through as Wenger again relied on his squad to keep up the charge.

Semi-final, first leg – Chelsea 0 Arsenal 0

Wenger was forced to watch the first-leg of the semi-final from the Stamford Bridge press box. (Matt McGeehan/PA)

Unlike in earlier rounds, Arsenal were at near-full strength for a tricky trip across London to face rivals Chelsea.

An enthralling draw between the pair at the Emirates Stadium earlier in January was not followed up with another classic here but, as a suspended Wenger watched from the press box, the goalless stalemate did set up a grandstand second leg in north London.

Semi-final, second leg – Arsenal 2 Chelsea 1

🎶 We’re the famous Arsenal and we’re going BACK to Wembley 🎶

We’re into the @Carabao_Cup final! pic.twitter.com/W2IpgxR2Nt

— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) January 24, 2018

Arsenal looked to have it all to do to reach Wembley when Eden Hazard gave Chelsea deserved early lead.

But the Gunners responded well and levelled through a fortuitous Antonio Rudiger own goal before Granit Xhaka struck after the interval to turn the tie around and send Wenger’s men into a fourth domestic cup final in five years.