Arsenal’s rout of Chelsea exposes chasm between the clubs

There is still a say for Arsenal in what could yet be the best Premier League title race in years and that it was built upon the ruins of what was supposed to be the new Chelsea will only sharpen the appetite of Mikel Arteta’s players.

These are the late stages of the season, when every goal in the title race matters and every win is freighted with anxiety, yet this night turned into the kind of parade for the home side normally reserved for teams with the big prize already assured.

Arsenal luxuriated in goals, and they showed up every imperfection in this strange Chelsea conflagration of club record signings and club record embarrassment.

It cost Chelsea’s new owners, helmed by those two American investors Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly, £747.8 million in transfer fees in less than two years, to be this bad. For Arsenal it might not be enough to force Manchester City into the error that blows the title race open again, although in terms of the bigger picture the progress will give them momentum for next season.

They are now 30 points ahead of the London rivals who wrested away their preeminence two decades ago.

There were two goals for the former Chelsea attacker Kai Havertz, a key £65m sale in the Chelsea profit and sustainability trade-off last summer, although not quite as effective on the balance sheet as the two Stamford Bridge hotels the club recently sold.

Certainly, there were times in this game when the thought occurred that Chelsea would have got better value keeping the hotels and passing on some of their bigticket signings.

For Mauricio Pochettino, this was a dismal night which fell apart in the early stages of the second half after a chaotic first 45 minutes had mystifyingly ended with Arsenal only one goal ahead.

The gains of recent weeks melted away under the high wattage of Arsenal’s second-half attack. Eight games undefeated for Chelsea in the Premier League, a respectable FA Cup semifinal defeat to City at the weekend and now this result changes the mood anew.

Pochettino tried to defend a squad that he said was still inexperienced and consistently injury struck, although he did admit “when we have bad days, we are so bad”.

Cole Palmer missed the game with illness, and three of the four defenders from Sunday’s tie changed. What ensued was a record 5-0 defeat for any Chelsea team against Arsenal and a gap between the clubs of eight League places and 30 points.

There would be two goals for Arsenal’s fullback Ben White, the second of which even he seemed incredulous had found the net. Leandro Trossard scored the first after three minutes. By the end of the night Arsenal were back at the top of the Premier League and how long they might stay there was briefly immaterial – this was just too enjoyable for the home fans.

Ten years ago Chelsea had done something similar to Arsenal at Stamford Bridge, although the away team that day, featuring Arteta, had played all but 15 minutes with 10 men, as late-era Arsène Wenger curdled badly.

That 6-0 defeat for Arsenal signalled a club a long way from the title-winning side Jose Mourinho was building in his second Chelsea spell.

Pochettino appealed to the understanding of the volatility of his young side’s form, although nights like these have a habit of erasing any sense of progress.