Calum Chambers has talked up Arsenal’s resilience and character, as the pendulum swung back in their favour with Wednesday’s 2-1 Capital One Cup win at Tottenham Hotspur and, rather abruptly, everything felt a whole lot better for them.
Arsène Wenger had made Chambers one of 10 changes to the team that had lost at Chelsea last Saturday and it was lost on no one that the previous time he had rotated heavily – at Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League last Wednesday, when he made six – they had lost.
Chambers was generally solid, in only his third appearance of the season, but he blotted his copybook with the 56th-minute own goal that gave Tottenham their equaliser. At that point, Tottenham looked the better bet for victory and the thought occurred that Arsenal could travel to in-form Leicester City on Saturday on the back of three straight losses for the first time since 2010.
Yet they toughed out a victory against a Tottenham team that also featured wholesale changes, with Mathieu Flamini scoring a stunning late volleyed winner for his second goal of the evening.
“We were resilient,” Chambers said. “At times, we got a lot of pressure but we were compact and together as a team. We knew our jobs. We defended well at those points. The second half said a lot about the character and belief of the lads.
“At 1-1, we showed a lot of character to keep our faith, keep our composure, keep playing and get a goal to get the win. You want to get the results, to build up momentum. Hopefully, we can take this into the next game.”
Wenger made the throwaway comment after the game that “it showed what can happen when we have 11 men” – a barbed reference to the sendings-off that Arsenal had suffered against Dinamo and Chelsea. Wenger argued that Olivier Giroud’s dismissal in Zagreb was “very harsh”; that of Gabriel Paulista at Chelsea has been rescinded. Santi Cazorla’s exit for two yellow cards against Chelsea was less contentious.
The victory at Tottenham was a shot in the arm for Arsenal on many levels and one of its benefits was that it fortified the notion of their strength in depth. “It would be nice to get a few games under my belt,” Chambers said. “But I have been training hard and any opportunity I am given, I can give my best performance, to show why I feel I want to be playing. When I get the opportunity, I will give it my best shot.”
