A HIGH FIVE
Arteta’s men crush Blues in a warning to title rivals
just steamrollered Chelsea with a performance to put them in the mood for Sunday’s north London derby at Tottenham and they now only have four games left.
Fight
Arsenal are not going away and are determined to fight until the end as they never looked back after taking a fourthminute lead against Chelsea.
Declan Rice was playing in a more advanced role in midfield with Thomas Partey restored to the starting line-up.
Rice drove forward from midfield, laid it off to Leandro Trossard
and his low shot embarrassed Chelsea keeper Djordje Petrovic at his near post.
Jackson was lucky not to see red after an awful challenge on Takehiro Tomiyasu, while Arsenal did not take their chances as Havertz passed rather than shot and then saw another effort saved by Petrovic.
Chelsea were very much in the game at half-time but Arsenal came out refreshed after the break. They got a second after 52 minutes as some sloppy defending was horribly exposed. Rice’s shot was blocked but it fell perfectly for White to fire home.
Five minutes later, Arsenal were 3-0 up. Gabriel looked to have fouled Noni Madueke but nothing was given and Martin Odegaard’s pass released Havertz who raced through, held off Marc Cucurella and then fired past Petrovic.
Volley
It was 4-0 after 65 minutes. Bukayo Saka set up Havertz who turned beautifully in the box, opened up his body and then fired in his second of the night and 11th in all competitions this season. That is some return.
White got the fifth after 70 minutes when Odegaard played in the Gunners’ rightback
ON A ROLL: Ben White’s cross drops into the top corner and (below) Havertz celebrates with Declan Rice who finished brilliantly with a delicious side-foot volley.
It was a victory to get Arsenal back to full confidence and a defeat which is arguably Chelsea’s lowest point of a turbulent season and their heaviest since a 6-0 thrashing at Manchester City in 2019.
Arsenal defender White told BBC: “The first goal I was just in the right place at the right time. The second one was a bad touch and it went in.”
On Kai Havertz’s performance: “Amazing. He deserves it. He’s been outstanding since he’s come in. You don’t realise how good he is until you play with him.
“Amazing performances from all of us. It’s important to keep going and play our best.”
Raya ................................................... 7 White .................................... 7 Saliba ................................................. 7 Gabriel ............................................... 6 Tomiyasu ............................................ 6 Odegaard ........................................... 7 Rice .................................................... 7 Partey ................................................ 6 Saka .................................................... 7 Havertz .............................................. 8 Trossard ................................ 7
Jesus (Havertz 71) ............................ 7 Martinelli (Trossard 72) ..................... 6 Jorginho (Partey 72) ......................... 6 Zinchenko (Tomiyasu 72) .................. 6 Vieira (Saka 81)
KAI HAVERTZ
ENZO FERNANDEZ