The stage was set and Arsenal knew that nothing less than three points against an impressive Chelsea side on the rise would be unacceptable. The Blues were still reeling from their narrow FA Cup semifinals loss to Manchester City, but it was the Gunners that took the initiative with a quickfire early goal from Leandro Trossard. After some good combination play between Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Thomas Partey, Declan Rice made a surging run and found Trossard on the edge fot he box, whose one-timed shot beat Petrovic on his near post. The Chelsea goalie may be culpable got conceding from such a tight angle, but the power and precision of the shot was second to none.
Chelsea almost got an equalizer when Mykhailo Mudryk’s corner was flicked to the far post by Beniot Badiashile. Axel Disasi had a gaping goal to aim for but he inexplicably missed the ball. Arsenal continued their onslaught and almost made it two when Saka’s shot deflected off Marc Cucurella but Petrovic made an impressive save, even though it seemed like he wasn’t aware of the shot, but he did what all goalies do, get in the way of the shot.
Arsenal missed a host of chances and it was actually surprising to see Mikel Arteta’s men go into the break with a solitary lead and it never looked comfortable, as it was too slender.
Arsenal came off the blocks with their feet firmly on the drivers seat and got the goal their play deserved. After a neat one-two between Saka and Martin Odegaard, the Starboy found Rice whose shot was deflected but the ball fell kindly to Ben White that finished with aplomb. The kind of finished that missed him against Bayern Munich.
Two became three when Gabriel fed Odegaard from the back who sent a delicious pass to Havertz at the edge of the area. The German schemer quelled off the threat of Cucurella before smashing it to the roof of Petrovic’s net. And yes, there was a celebration against his former side, as that was a beautiful goal from initiation to execution.
Chelsea had a glorious chance to pull one back when Noni Madueke robbed Takehiro Tomiyasu off the ball, skipped past Gabriel, and sent Nicolas Jackson clean through on goal. With only David Raya to beat, Jackson sent the ball to the side netting. What an astonishing miss!
On the other end, Havertz showed Jackson how it was done, when he latched onto Saka’s pass at the end of the box and fired it past Pateovix to make it four. The Gunners were still basking in the euphoria of the fourth goal when White added some icing to the well baked cake, latching onto Odegaard sinked pass and attempted a shot, or maybe a cross? that crept into the net with Petrovic rooted to the spot. Maybe White wanted to find a teammate, but he found to the goal. Arteta’s reaction to it in the touch line was gold
5-0 up and Arteta summoned Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jorginho into the fray. See the kind of quality coming onto the pitch to join the party. Saka was shunted away for Fabio Vieira, that wasted no time in fashion ING a chance for himself that hit the side netting.
Martinelli had a great chance to make it six, but he fired his effort straight at Petrovic, but it didn’t matter, as Arsenal ran out as 5-0 winners against Chelsea, with the North London Derby coming up next.
This victory puts Arsenal on 77 points, with a good goal difference of +56, which is miles ahead of what Liverpool can muster, with a very tough Merseyside Derby against an Everton side fighting for their Premier League survival. Manchester City visit Brighton on Thursday night, but it fun watching from this vantage point as a neutral, hoping for them to drop points, and drop they shall.
This was a 5-star performance that provided complete annihilation to the billion dollar bottle jobbers.
It was rather enjoyable to say the least. Trossard was bought after Arsenal missed out on Mudryk, and Jorginho, as well as Rice, were signed after Arsenal missed out on Caicedo. They also said Arsenal sent 65 million quid down the drain when they sold us Havertz. It’s fair to say who got the better deals here.
Sayonara.
