Arsenal have moved back to top of English Premier League after defeating Chelsea 3-1 in a London derby played on Tuesday evening at Emirates Stadium.
Coming into this game, the gunners had been leapfrogged by Man City, but two first-half goals from Martin Odegaard and one from Gabriel Jesus were enough to take them back.
Youngster Noni Madueke scored Chelsea’s consolation midway the closing half.
Arsenal were so dominant in the opening half as they spent more time attacking Chelsea’s half than defending.
They had their first attempt as early as the second minute when Granit Xhaka capitalized on Cesar Azpilicueta’s poor header back Kepa, but the Chelsea goalkeeper made a vital block to deny the Arsenal midfielder
The Gunners got denied again by Kepa on the quarter-hour as he palmed away Bukayo Saka’s header
After pressing Chelsea for several minutes, Arsenal got their goal in the 18 minutes after Odegaard met Xhaka’s pass at the edge of the box to powerfully shoot over Kepa and give the Gunners the lead.
After conceding, Chelsea almost levelled matters through leftback Ben Chilwell, only to be denied by Aaron Ramsdale who flew into the air to parry away the flying defender.
On the other end, a few minutes later, Arsenal got their second of the game in somehow similar fashion as the first as Xhaka sent in a low cross to an unmarked Odegaard, who calmly sent his effort into the low corner.
Four minutes later, it was 3-0 for Arsenal as Jesus fired in from point-blank range through Kepa’s legs. Initially the Brazilian forward had been denied by combined blocks by Thiago Silva and Cesar Azpilicueta, but the ball bounced back to him to rebound.
Just after the break, Arsenal almost got another but Silva calmly made a goal line clearance to deny Gabriel’s header.
With 65 minutes into the game, Chelsea pulled a goal back through Madueke, who ran behind Arsenal backline to meet Matteo Kovacic long ball and finished past Ramsdale.
After that Madueke’s goal, the game turned into being cagey as Arsenal sat back to protect their lead while Chelsea failed to get control of the ball.
With the victory, Arsenal reclaim their top spot from Man City as they are now on 78 points in 34 games. They are now two points above the Citizens who have played two games less.
For Chelsea, they remain 12th on the log with 39 points in 33 games. They are now six games winless under Frank Lampard.
