Gary Neville has warned Arsenal that Chelsea will go into their Carabao Cup semi-final second leg ‘so confident’ after comeback wins over West Ham and Napoli.
Liam Rosenior’s side trailed Antonio Conte’s Napoli in the Champions League on Wednesday night before staging a second-half comeback.
The 3-2 comeback win sent Serie A champions Napoli crashing out of the competition and Chelsea straight into the knockout stages, avoiding a dreaded play-off.
Chelsea looked to be heading to a shock defeat to relegation-battlers West Ham on Saturday, trailing the Hammers 2-0 thanks to first-half goals from Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville.
But the Blues showed their battling spirit once more, coming from two goals down to win with Joao Pedro, Marc Cucurella and Enzo Fernandez all scoring to leave West Ham devastated.
It was the first time in Premier League history that Chelsea have won a match in which they have trailed by two goals or more at the half-time interval.
Chelsea will need to mount another comeback to reach the Carabao Cup final after losing the first leg to Premier League leader Arsenal 3-2.
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Neville says ‘confidence’ will not be an issue for Chelsea given their recent comeback wins, though he suggested the team’s inconsistency could be their undoing.
‘What a great comeback for Chelsea, creating their own history having never done it before – coming back from two goals down,’ Neville said on Sky Sports.
‘Devastation for West Ham, they contributed enormously to the game. But Chelsea, you can watch them in the same game and think two completely different things.
‘They looked like kids and babies for large parts of the game and then all off a sudden they come to life and they are a real force.
‘They go into the top four and they’ll into that game against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-final on Tuesday so confident having come back in the last two games against Napoli and West Ham.
‘West Ham, keep your heads up. If you play like that, you’ve got a great chance of staying up.’
While confidence in the Chelsea camp should be high ahead of their trip to north London, the same can be said for an Arsenal side following wins in the Premier League and Champions League.
Mikel Arteta’s side beat Kairat during the week to complete a flawless Champions League group campaign before thumping Leeds United 4-0 on Saturday.
Arsenal were heavy favourites ahead of their trip to Elland Road but would have been wary of more dropped points following three successive league games without a win.
Gunners star Noni Madueke said: ‘It’s massive. Obviously, our last couple of performances in the Premier League haven’t been the greatest in terms of results, but today was a real statement.
‘We’re going to watch what [City and Villa] do and focus on our game as well on Tuesday. That’s most important for us.
‘Adding confidence after a performance like this, not only just the win, but a really dominant performance.
‘We’re going into that game on Tuesday knowing what’s at stake and knowing what we need to do.’
Arsenal or Chelsea will face either Manchester City or holders Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final on March 22.
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