Capital One Cup - Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 Arsenal: 5 Talking Points

An in-form Arsenal team was beaten by Championship side Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 in the fourth round of the Capital One Cup on Tuesday night. The Gunners hoped to continue their winning run in all competitions, but it was not to be. In recent years, Arsenal have failed to advance in the competition, getting knocked out early on and the same happened on Tuesday night after Arsene Wenger took a second string side to Hillsborough Stadium.After beating Arsenal, The Owls have now been unbeaten in nine consecutive games in all competitions – a side who only had a "10% chance" of beating Arsenal, according to head coach Carlos Carvalhal. Goals from Ross Wallace, Eduardo Lucas Joao and Sam Hutchinson was enough to ruin the night for Arsenal who themselves lost Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to injury early on in the first half.We look at the five talking points from the Gunners' loss at Sheffield Wednesday.

#1 A night to forget for Arsenal

The result may have been far from ideal, but the long-term implications of Arsenal's defeat at Sheffield Wednesday could be more damaging. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was taken off with a tight hamstring just five minutes in. Then his replacement, Theo Walcott, had to come off 14 minutes later with a calf problem.

At half-time, Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson branded the injuries a "nightmare" for the Gunners, particularly the loss of Walcott: “He's a massive part of this team, and if they're going to go on and win the Premier League he's going to be a big part of it.”

With several Arsenal midfielders already on the sidelines, it could prove to have been a costly night for Arsene Wenger's men, especially with a trip to Bayern Munich and the north London derby both to come in early November.

Wenger has never won this tournament, so it is to his credit that he smiled warmly as he congratulated his opposite number Carlos Carvalhal. Wednesday, deserved winners on the night, move on to the quarter-finals. They are the last team from outside the top flight to win this competition back in 1991. On this evidence, as poor as a disorganised and inexperienced Arsenal were, anything is possible! Therefore, it will be interesting to see if the Owls can continue on a run.

As for Arsenal, the night was a huge disappointment. The Gunners lost their two crucial players to injury, whereas even after enjoying more than 70% possession, Wenger’s men could not produce anything to match the hosts. The defence looked out of sorts with Calum Chambers and Per Mertesacker playing. Mathieu Debuchy did not impress and the midfield was too inexperienced.

#2 Youngsters struggle to shine

Glen Kamara (L) was handed his Arsenal debut

In the game against Wednesday, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger gave starts to four teenagers. In naming debutants Alex Iwobi and Glen Kamara in his starting line-up, Wenger has now used more than 200 different players since he took charge at Arsenal.

The Gunners boss has long employed a policy of bringing through younger talent in the cup competitions – Ismael Bennacer and Krystian Bielik were also given their first senior appearances from the bench. But they were humbled by one of the Championship's form teams at Hillsborough.

Sheffield Wednesday hadn't lost in eight games prior to Tuesday night's clash, and they made it difficult for the young Gunners to have an impact on the game, resulting in a damning assessment from Wenger who, after the game, said they were “not ready to play at this level”.

Barring substitute Bielik, none of the youngsters could impress and will be ruing the missed opportunity. It is Arsenal after all, and it is very difficult to get into the first team, as Joel Campbell has found out. He was also in the starting eleven but failed to deliver.

Wenger will be hugely worried as to which players he can carry on developing and which players do not have it in them.

#3 Petr Cech\'s worst outing so far for Arsenal

Wenger made eight changes to his side but still named the likes of Petr Cech, Mathieu Debuchy, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Olivier Giroud in his starting XI, the most noticeable of which was the presence of the Czech goalkeeper. Cech was named in the side following David Ospina’s inability to play due to an injury.

The Czech Republic international would have hoped to continue his form and keep a clean sheet. But that wasn’t to be as Arsenal were knocked out with three goals from Wednesday. Before the game, Cech had said he was hoping to keep the run going as the Gunners looked forward to advancing to the quarter-finals. But goals from Ross Wallace, Eduardo Lucas Joao and Sam Hutchinson ensured that wasn’t to be.

Cech, previously, had never conceded more than two goals in an Arsenal shirt. He had conceded two goals at the Emirates on the opening day of the season against West Ham United. Conceding three will surely be a huge disappointment for the 33-year-old. Even though he cannot be solely to blame for the goals, he will be hoping to keep the record clean and make up for the loss by performing well at the weekend against Swansea and then Bayern Munich.

#4 Sheffield continue their run!

Under manager Carlos Carvalhal, nine games unbeaten is Wednesday’s best run so far. Wednesday were well worth their victory at Hillsborough, as they gained revenge for the 1993 League Cup final defeat to the Gunners at Wembley.

The Gunners were not able to cope with the dynamic nature of the Owls' display and boss Carvalhal knew his side were too good on the night. After the injuries to Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott, Wednesday grew into the game and took the lead when Ross Wallace fired home after arriving late in the box. Lucas Joao made it two with an excellent, though unmarked, header.

In the second half, the home side took less than 10 minutes for Sam Hutchinson to slide in at the back post for Wednesday's third. Joao had another chance with an unmarked header, but sent his effort just wide.

Arsenal struggled for rhythm and could not muster a serious fight-back, with Wednesday in control from the moment they had their second. Wednesday will be delighted that their good form continues and after the victory, Carvalhal said, "I am very happy about the victory, I think we deserved it. Everything belongs to the players, they were fantastic, we put a plan together and they did it 100 per cent. I am very happy about the players and for the club, it is an important victory for the club.

“It was a full stadium, with a new generation of fans. We deserved what we got. When you play against a club that beats Bayern Munich, they have a squad full of internationals, they are near the top of English football, there is a big gap.

“There is still a big gap. We know they are nine times better than us as a minimum, On the pitch we were better than Arsenal tonight, but we are not better than them."

He will be hoping his side can continue their unbeaten run as they progress to the quarterfinals of the Capital One Cup.

#5 Injury crisis for Arsenal?

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain lasted only five minutes

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was left to count the cost of a damaging night in the Capital One Cup as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott will be sent for scans on injuries picked up in the 3-0 defeat. Both England internationals hobbled off in the opening 20 minutes at Hillsborough – Oxlade-Chamberlain with a hamstring problem and his replacement Walcott due to a calf problem – and the extent of the injuries will not be determined until they have a scan within the next 48 hours.

Wenger, referring to the risk he took of fielding a good side, said: “The injuries are two muscular injuries, how big the damage is I don't know. We have to make scans and we have to wait 48 hours for the scan. It's was a bad night at the office for us. We lost the two players and after that we were not good enough. I have to manage the workload of the players and at the end of the day I still think I maybe brought too many experienced players here.

Theo Walcott came on as a substitute and had to be taken off soon after

“We lost two players and after that I had Gabriel (Paulista) and (Nacho) Monreal on the bench but I couldn't bring them on because I couldn't afford to lose any more players. I am concerned, we have a big game on Saturday (against Swansea), we have Bayern in the Champions League coming up, already now we are short.

“To lose two players tonight is damaging for us, two offensive players. Ideally we would have loved to win, but with the squad we have got now, we cannot keep in all the competitions.”

Neither Walcott nor Oxlade-Chamberlain have carried the side like Alexis Sanchez has, but their presence fills out the squad with the kind of quality that Sanchez and Mesut Ozil need to flourish. If both of them are out for a long period of time, Arsenal's squad could rapidly become stretched especially with Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Mikel Arteta and Danny Welbeck already sidelined.