Gunners bombard woeful Blues

ARSENAL gave manager Arsène Wenger a 20th anniversary to remember as Alexis Sánchez, Theo Walcott and Mesut Özil scored in a slick 3-0 victory over Chelsea yesterday.

This week marked 20 years since Wenger’s appointment and whereas Chelsea had spoilt his 1 000th game at the Arsenal helm with a 6-0 win in March 2014, this milestone was memorable for the right reasons.

The Gunners exploited lackadaisical Chelsea defending to score three times in the first half as they claimed a first league victory over their London rivals since a 5-3 triumph in October 2011.

It was Arsenal’s biggest Premier League win over Chelsea since April 1997 and their most handsome home victory against the west London club in 26 years.

Arsenal climbed to third place in the Premier League table, five points below leaders Manchester City, after registering four successive league wins for the first time in over a year.

Antonio Conte’s Chelsea, whose side have now gone three league games without a win, slid to eighth, the optimism engendered by their three opening victories now almost a distant memory.

Arsenal went in front in the 11th minute courtesy of an embarrassing error by Gary Cahill that left him hiding his face in his hands.

About 40m from goal, the England centreback allowed himself to be robbed by Sánchez, who surged into the box before clipping a lovely finish over goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois for his fourth goal in three matches.

It was Arsenal’s first Premier League goal against Chelsea in seven matches and within three minutes, they had another. A slick passing combination culminated in Alex Iwobi intelligently picking out Hector Bellerin on the right-hand side of the box and the Spaniard’s low cross was swept home by Walcott.

With the visitors pushing forward, Arsenal hit them with a clinical counterattack five minutes before half time.

Özil threaded a pass wide to Sánchez and then hared into the box to meet the Chilean’s lofted cross with a volley that skidded off the deck and looped over Courtois into the net.

Cesc Fabregas had returned to the Chelsea starting XI after his midweek League Cup brace at Leicester City, but the former Arsenal skipper was withdrawn nine minutes into the second half. — AFP Other English Premier League scores yesterday: Bournemouth 1 Everton 0; Tottenham Hotspur 2 Middlesbrough 1; Stoke City 1 West Bromwich Albion 1; Sunderland 2 Crystal Palace 3