Arsenal 5 Chelsea 0
With Man City not playing until later in the week, The Gunners had a huge chance to extend their lead at the top in this London derby. Chelsea were the visitors and as with the Pochettino era in general, it was anybody’s guess what kind of performance we would see from The Blues.
Pochettino’s side could not have made a worse start. Rice ran towards the box and fed the ball into the overlapping Trossard. From a tight angle he got a shot off and managed to beat Petrovic at his near post to open the scoring after only four minutes.
Arsenal were definitely more up for this game and seemed first to the ball all of the time. Tomiyasu got to a loose ball before Jackson could get there and was left in a heap. The replay showed the Chelsea striker caught him on the ankle with a nasty challenge.
This is where you wonder what the point of VAR is. They reviewed the incident and saw nothing needing action. This tackle warranted a red card by the letter of the law but they continue to take the three monkeys approach……….see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
Credit: @Arsenal
The Blues continued to give the ball away in dangerous areas. Firstly Havertz shot inside the box but the Chelsea keeper got down well in the bottom corner to keep it out. Then Trossard shot, it deflected off the defender and again Petrovic made a great reaction save to deny Arsenal.
Chelsea had a rare period of attacking play. Gallagher had a shot inside the box but his side-footed effort went narrowly wide. Then he turned provider but Raya got down well to save Jackson’s header. A goal at this stage could have changed the game drastically.
Into the second half and Pochettino’s side continued to keep giving the ball away. Petrovic made another save to deny Havertz at the near post. From the resulting corner Rice got a shot away, which was blocked, but it ricocheted to White who swept the ball home to make it two-nil.
Odegaard then played a superb pass in behind the defence for Havertz to run onto. He held off the defender well before drilling it into the roof of the net as the keeper came out to try and deny him. The Emirates was bouncing as they kept their title dreams alive.
It was all too easy for The Gunners and they continued to carve open the visitors. Saka found Havertz in the box, drilling a shot into the near post, wrong-footing Petrovic in the Chelsea goal. This was beginning to get embarrassing for The Blues.
Saka teased Cucurella once again before laying it off to Odegaard. He chipped a ball over the defence to White who looked to square the ball on the volley. He got it all wrong and it looped into the top corner to get a fifth goal for the hosts.
Credit: @Arsenal
Mikel Arteta’s side held on for an emphatic win which puts all the pressure back on their title rivals. They are now four points clear of Man City, although Guardiola’s side have two games in hand. Unlike last season, Arsenal seem to be in this title race for the long haul, much to the delight of their fans.
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