Stoke City v Chelsea

Managers Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho, are not the best of friends, but on Tuesday night were united in shared melancholy after their teams were bundled out of Capital One Cup.

Both managers  are still lamenting their club losses.

Wenger and Mourinho: shared sadness

Arsenal went down 0-3 to Sheffield Wednesday and  to worsen the anguish, they lost two key players, Oxlade Chamberlain  and Theo Walcott to injuries.

Chelsea, the defending champions were beaten on penalties by fellow premier league team, Stoke City after Chelsea had forced extra time on the dead of time. And to compound Chelsea and Mourinho’s problems, the team lost Diego Costa, their star striker as well to injuries.

Mourinho: another painful loss

The morning after Mourinho still felt Chelsea  didn’t get what they deserved after a performance full of what he described as attacking quality in the Potteries.

Mourinho said: “We created plenty of opportunities in the Capital One Cup fourth round tie at Stoke, especially before half-time, then showed character to come back having undeservedly gone behind early in the second period.

“More chances followed in extra-time but we couldn’t find a way past Stoke keeper Jack Butland, who then saved from Eden Hazard in the penalty shoot-out to send the holders out. Despite exiting a competition he has always placed much significance on, Mourinho said he and his players could take confidence from another spirited display…

‘We played very well,’ the manager added.

Meanwhile, Diego Costa  who went off injured before half-time is still in hospital.

‘He’s in the hospital. I don’t know how he is. It was his ribs.’ Mourinho  was then asked how the striker sustained the injury ‘I think he punched himself.’

Arsene Wenger: a bad Tuesday night

Arsene Wenger who has never paid enough premium on the League Cup did the unusual on Tuesday night, fielding Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Oxlade Chamberlain up front. He even fielded Petr Cech in goal post, signalling he meant business this time.

But he is living to regret his action after Oxlade first limped out, followed by substitute Theo Walcott. Walcott is a calf injury and Oxlade-Chamberlain  a hamstring.

“The injuries are two muscular injuries and the injury damage I do not know. You have to wait 48 hours for the scans to see how big the damage is. It was a bad night at the office, we lost two players and after that we were not good enough, but on top of that you have to congratulate Sheffield Wednesday. They put in a great performance, very resolute, very dynamic and so they deserve their win tonight”, Wenger said of the match.

No way for Giroud at Sheffield Wednesday

Wenger after watching two key players ruled out by injury kept two other on the bench: Gabriel  and Monreal , because he  could not afford to lose any more players.

On how Arsenal, joint Premier League leaders  lost to Sheffield Wednesday, a team lying 9th in the League Championship, Wenger said:

“I think we had a lot of the ball, we just didn’t make a lot with the ball because we did not create anything. We were too short in midfield especially tonight and then it was down to not conceding anything from set-pieces [or] on on the counter-attack and unfortunately we did that because we lost balls in situations where we should not have lost the ball.”

Wenger is now worried about the upcoming matches: “I’m concerned because our next game is a big game on Saturday, we have the Champions League against Bayern Munich coming up. Already we are now short. To lose two players tonight, two offensive players, is damaging for us.”