Gunners thrash Chelsea to move clear

Arsenal thrashed London rivals Chelsea by five goals to nil at the Emirates Stadium and move themselves three points clear of Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table. 

LINEUPS

ARS XI: David Raya; White, Saliba, Tomiyasu; Odegaard*, Partey, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Trossard

ARS SUBS: Ramsdale, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Vieira, Smith Rowe, Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus, Nketiah

CHE XI: Petrovic; Gilchrist, Disasi, Badiashile, Cucurella; Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Madueke, Gallagher*, Mudryk; Jackson

CHE SUBS: Bettinelli, Thiago Silva, Chalobah, Tauriainen, Dyer, Casadei, Chukwuemeka, Sterling, Deivid Washington

Action: As was to be expected in the middle of a title race, Arsenal started aggressively and on the front foot at the Emirates Stadium, opening the scoring within five minutes.

A typical Declan Rice burst into the box was followed by the Englishman then laying off to Leandro Trossard with the Belgium international forward taking the ball onto his left foot and then driving low and hard through the legs of Djordje Petrovic.

A moment of controversy then followed when Nicolas Jackson appeared to land very high on the ankle of Takehiro Tomiyasu with studs showing but the VAR adjudged it not to be a red card offence.

Chelsea continued to show some signs of life with the occasional energetic counter-attack and Nicolas Jackson going close on a couple of occasions, including an effort whereby he hit the outside of the post.

However, it was a dominant and confident display from the Gunners and they really should have gone in by more than one ahead at half-time but the likes of Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz had efforts well saved by Petrovic.

Petrovic then continued to be essential in keeping the score down for the Blues in the second-half, too, when Rice burst through again but had a shot saved before Kai Havertz got in behind and had a deft attempt saved by the Serb, too.

It didn’t take too long for Arsenal to double their lead, though, after that. A short corner routine from the hosts found Declan Rice on the edge of the box. His effort eventually bundled its way to Ben White who simply smashed into an empty net.

It was soon 3-0, too, when Kai Havertz latched onto Martin Odegaard’s through ball, from some excellent work by Gabriel, and the German international managed to fire high into the net.

Kai Havertz puts the icing on the cake against his former club 🔥

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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 23, 2024

Havertz then notched a brace when some excellent work from Bukayo Saka down the right saw the Englishman drift into the box before laying off Havertz. The former Leverkusen man then unleashed a very precise effort in off the post to make it four.

Arsenal were not done there, though, as Martin Odegaard clipped a ball over the top for Ben White and the former Brighton defender went to put in a cross but a mis-kick from the Englishman saw the ball sail into the top corner past a stranded Petrovic.

There were a few more chances for the Gunners before full-time from the likes of Declan Rice and Gabriel Martinelli but the home team had to settle for a five-star performance. 

The big picture: Arsenal have seemingly overcome a bad run of form to re-establish themselves in the title race. Manchester City do have two games in hand but they are four points clear of the Cityzens after defeating Wolves by two goals to nil at Molineux before this evening’s victory. Chelsea are still in the hunt for a top seven finish and potential UEFA Europa Conference League qualification but the Blues’ loss tonight means they have now conceded 57 goals in the Premier League.

Man of the match: Declan Rice. The former West Ham United captain was simply everywhere in defence and attack as he controlled Arsenal’s derby day annihilation of Chelsea.

Expected goals: Arsenal (3.60) 5-0 (1.60) Chelsea

EVENTS

Kick-off

‘5 | GOAL: Trossard (1-0)

Half-time

’52 | GOAL: White (2-0)

’57 | GOAL: Havertz (3-0)

’65 | GOAL: Havertz (4-0)

’70 | GOAL: White (5-0)

Full-time