Arsenal’s only options are to win, apply more pressure, and pose a challenge to Manchester City, the reigning Premier League winners, who still have some degree of control over the exciting title fight this season. However, Mikel Arteta’s squad prevailed here, and the lesson it taught was crystal evident. Arsenal will be there to take advantage if City falters.https://alphasportnews.com/wp-admin/post-new.php
A youthful Chelsea supporter contributed one of the night’s photos by holding up a cardboard sign at the conclusion. “Your shirt is not mine to have. It said, “I want you to fight for ours.” It hurt to hear. On the other hand, Chelsea’s players had let the stadium down.
From the very beginning, Arsenal’s intensity was impressive, and they didn’t let up for the first half-hour. They made a strong threat to overwhelm Chelsea before faltering a little and leading by just 1-0 at the interval. They continued as Arteta had instructed, sending his players out early in the second half, and this time they left Chelsea for dead.
In the eighth minute of stoppage time, Chelsea’s exhausted goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic denied Arsenal substitute Gabriel Martinelli a one-on-one opportunity. That might have ended in a 6-0 score, matching Chelsea’s worst Premier League loss ever—the 6-0 loss to City in 2019.
Nobody in blue had any solace or somewhere to hide; instead, they were just embarrassed by their most severe loss to Arsenal—a loss that was worse than their 5-1 loss to Herbert Chapman’s club in 1930.
Leandro Trossard, who had scored the first goal, and the formidable Declan Rice provided strong assistance for Kai Havertz, the Chelsea team’s 2021 Champions League winning goalscorer, who scored two goals during the burst following the break. Ben White emerged among the other two, followed by Martin Ødegaard, who was arguably the greatest of the lot. For the captain, a few assists seemed insignificant on a night when his vision and accuracy of passing propelled the team.
The Arsenal supporters cheered after a brief stretch of possession in the last moments, but it was completely satirical and came from Chelsea. At full time, the visiting enclosure was essentially empty as no one associated with the club could quickly leave. Arsenal’s focus now shifts to Wednesday’s trip by second-place Liverpool to Everton, followed on Thursday by City’s trip to Brighton.
Due to Cole Palmer’s illness, Mauricio Pochettino was without his lucky charm. He had stated his modest wish that Chelsea would demonstrate they weren’t the “Cole Palmer football club.” The remark was not very timeless.
With Rice bursting up the inside left following a deft passing move to play in the overlapping Trossard, who beat Petrovic at the near post, Arsenal scored early and it was too easy.
Within thirty seconds, Havertz had a free run at goal when Pochettino saw White open up his back four; however, the center forward had erred just enough. By the tenth minute, the Chelsea manager had taken an aggressive posture, lashing out at his players’ efforts, and was on the warpath. Just a short while ago, Havertz had brilliantly put himself inside the area to take pictures, but he was unable to locate Rice. Havertz merely failed to complete the pass even though it was there.
God knows how the Chelsea defense must have endured the disorienting spell that Arsenal had just before the half-hour mark. They managed to survive somehow. After a brilliant spin away from Enzo Fernández, Rice hammered one shot high as Havertz extended Petrovic. Additionally, Havertz’s shot struck Petrovic in the face after deflecting off Axel Disasi.
To be fair, Chelsea had some opportunities in the first half. After a corner, Benoît Badiashile flicked on a ball that Disasi nearly touched; Nicolas Jackson charged up the left, only to see his cut-back strike Gabriel Magalhães and kiss the post.
With his blistering pace, Jackson raised a few suspicions, but it would be best to keep his final output a secret. At 42 minutes, Jackson appeared to handle the header, but he made such a mess of it when Conor Gallagher crossed. Shortly before, White had stopped Marc Cucurella’s shot, and Fernández mishandled the rebound.
After Arteta was booked at the conclusion of the first half for criticizing Trossard’s challenge on Cucurella with a yellow card, his teammates used their frustrations to their advantage after the break, with Ødegaard leading the charge that overpowered Chelsea.
After a fantastic ball from Ødegaard, Havertz was denied by the goalkeeper, and Rice fired too near to Petrovic. Arsenal, though, did not panic. They were aware that victory was their fate.
After a brief corner, which was played between Ødegaard and Bukayo Saka, Rice’s shot struck Gallagher, and White skillfully headed the breaking ball into the far corner. Let’s get Havertz started. Ødegaard released Havertz after he swept aside Cucurella to slam home despite Chelsea’s justifiable accusations that Gabriel had fouled Noni Madueke.
Chelsea seemed to give up at that time. Arsenal continued. Shortly after Jackson had missed from close range, Havertz languidly rolled home the fourth with no opposition. Even though White’s 5-0 goal appeared to be a cross for the far corner rather than a goal with a lot of luck, Arsenal deserved it.