Result: Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea
Competition: Premier League
Date: 2 May 2023
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Arenal returned to the top pf the table with a 3-1 win over Chelsea at the Emirates on Tuesday night. Two goals from Ødegaard and one from Jesus made sure of all three points. Although, truth be told the scoreline flattered the visitors, as the Gunners could easily have scored double that amount.
Of course, Man City still have two games in hand, but it was a statement from Arteta’s men that they wont simply lie down in the latter stages of this title race.
Pre-Game
Mikel Arteta made three changes to the starting eleven, following a four game winless run that culminated in the devastating loss at Manchester City last week.
Leandro Trossard, Jorginho and Jakub Kiwior came in for Gabriel Martinelli, Thomas Partey and Rob Holding respectively. The hope being that some fresh faces and fresh legs could help rejuvenate Arsenal against a struggling Chelsea side.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made only his second start of the season, with his first also coming in against Arsenal – in the Gunners win at Stamford Bridge in November.
First Half
A frenetic start full of running and pressure from both teams, saw the game’s first chance fall to Arsenal as Xhaka nearly pounced on a mistake from Azpilicueta, but Kepa saved.
During the opening fifteen minutes, Arsenal were unrelenting in their turnovers – keeping the action firmly in Chelsea’s half. A Saka header had Kepa back-peddling as the game reached the quarter hour mark.
Then on 18 minutes, Arsenal broke the deadlock through the man with the armband. Some lovely play from Trossard opened up space for Xhaka to slot a ball across to his captain and Ødegaard dispatched a strike with some style, hitting the crossbar on the way in. 1-0 to The Arsenal.
Aaron Ramsdale had almost nothing to do until the 25th minute when Chilwell got behind the defence and drove a mean left-footed effort across goal, but the Gunners’ number one made a fantastic, strong-wristed stop.
Only five minutes later and Arsenal doubled their lead. And again it was the leader by example – Ødegaard. Almost a carbon copy of the first goal, except a lower finish into the opposite side of the net from slightly closer range. 2-0.
And no less than four minutes after 2-0, the Gunners made it 3! Jesus teed up Xhaka, whose deflected effort found its way back to Jesus who rifled home from a tight angle. Chelsea in disarray, Arsenal in cruise control. 3-0.
Second Half
Chelsea made one change at half-time, bringing off Aubameyang for Kai Havertz. Incidentally, the former Arsenal player also went off early in the reverse fixture.
Arsenal had four chances to make it four, four minutes before the hour mark… A Trossard corner met Gabriel’s head, but the ball was cleared off the line by Silva. Moments later, Xhaka had an effort pushed behind for a corner. That corner found Jesus at the back post, but his volley went wide. Then minutes later, Saka found a way through but his effort from the angle was saved by Kepa.
Just shy of the hour, Trossard was replaced by Martinelli. Not what Chelsea’s defence, who had been hanging by a thread, needed to see.
Two thirds of the way through, Chelsea managed to pull one back through Madueke. Zinchenko lost his man and Ramsdale was powerless to prevent a scuffed finish from chipping him and ruining yet another home clean sheet. 3-1.
Arsenal made a double change on 72 minutes, with Tierney and Nelson replacing Zinchenko and Saka.
Ødegaard had a chance for a hat-trick in the last ten minutes, but his tame finish was saved. Shortly after, Arsenal made two more subs: Partey and Holding replaced Jorginho and Gabriel. The latter needed treatment a few times, so will be worth keeping an eye on fitness-wise.
A less convincing second half saw Arsenal take their foot off the gas and let Chelsea have half a sniff, but as the full time whistle went, Arteta could be proud that his team showed a reaction to their recent run of poor form. Attention now turns to Man City, who play West Ham on Wednesday.
Good win but depressing that we let Chelsea score probably the only goal they’ll score for the remainder of the season
If we actually played a defender at full-back then it wouldn’t have happened.
He switched off massively for their goal, but the lack of pressure on the ball was a fucking joke. Can’t allow an opposition player time and space in your half to clip a ball over the back 4 like that.
Really disappointed with that second half performance. Chelsea were there for an absolute shoeing and we hugely let them off the hook. If we went to Stamford Bridge 13th in the league with a caretaker manager in charge who’d lost his last 10 games… we would lose that match 5 nil.
Could’ve massively chipped away at the goal difference tonight.
Boring…Pathetic…
Big, big win today to restore some much needed confidence for this team. Gives us something to push on from for our away fixture at Newcastle. Well done lads!
As for the muppets with the lasers at the Emirates – I hope you get banned from the stadium. No place for that at this club. Disgraceful behaviour.
No depression in the end. Top of the table, 2 points clear with 4 games to go.
We are winning the league this season and it will shock most people
I like how the second line of your comment reads like a clickbait ad
I didn’t feel like it after the Southampton draw but strangely started feeling like we’d win it after the city loss. I am not naive, watched football all my life but I don’t know where I got this feeling we are winning it. Never done click bait, I just feel we will be champions this season
I hope that this comment rang true by the end of the season.
If Fabianski can give the performance of his life and keep a clean sheet tomorrow, then hope will be kept alive…
Chelsea still have to go to the Etihad, so they better score again this season. If Mudryk wants to score in that match, all is forgiven.
I’m in doubt. Do I want Chelsea to hire Pochettino now to have a better chance of beating City, or do I want them to keep Frank with the possibility of them still going down?
Surely the title comes first? Chelsea won’t go down – much as we’d all love them to.
If Poch can get a draw or a win against City, that’ll do me.
We need our new boy Declan to do us a big favour in the WHU v City game. A glimpse of next season.
Would love to see him nut Grealish. 😂
Rob came on and calmed it all down.
ESR can’t get 5 minutes at the end of that game? Are Villa still interested?
Enjoy an emphatic Arsenal win without being worked up your favourite didn’t play. Remember the agenda Arteta hated Martinelli last season? The coaching staff see these guys day in day out, something we don’t
Kiwior looking pretty good. Hopefully Gabriel is not injured.
Nice to be reminded how entertaining we’ve been all season.
Chelsea are shite but defence looked much better with kiwior and Gabriel.
I like rob but thought Kiwior’s passing was just better paced and precise.
Kiwior also broke a speed record in training apparently. He’s fast
Be good for him to get some more game time before the end of the season and get him ready for next.
Seems to be what we need. Fast, good on the ball, big unit.
Which must mean he is faster than Thierry and Theo. That’s fucking fast.
Lovely 1st half, woeful 2nd. Arteta won’t be happy with that: he surely didn’t look like it at the end of the game.
Great to be back to winning ways though, 3 points on board.
We struggled to get the next goal when we really should have done, and then we lost momentum basically until the end. Seems to have been a running theme these last few weeks. Definitely something Arteta needs to sort out prior to our remaining games this season.
We started the second half well, could have easily scored a couple. But when Zinchenko switched off for their goal and they made their subs, we really started to struggle
Wish we had tried Kiwior 3 games ago. Wins his duels and passes the ball calmly. Brings stability at the back that allows us to play our game.
People will downcote you if you utter a single word against the you know who.
Holding on #Holdinho
To be fair, when he came on at Liverpool he looked way out of his depth. Of course the whole team was on the ropes that day, but those few minutes didnt have me thinking we was the answer to our issues.
I do think Zinchenko has been culpible for a number of goals in recent weeks. He brings a lot, but KT in my mind is still a better deffender and when the defence is already weakened maybe he should have been getting more minutes.
Very professional performance. Some jitters but that’s okay given what has happened in the last 4 games.
On a side note, the kind of players Chelsea were bringing on in the second half, with a decent manager they will hurt some teams. I hope they get relegated! Cunts.
You could see that Mudryk is (eventually) going to hurt a lot of teams in this league – provided Chelsea stay up! 😂
Kiwior….you wonder what could have been different in the last 4 matches… certainly no Saliba but I never felt as insecure as when I watch holding
..
Where was this performance against Southampton?
Too little, too late.
For all the talk of bottling a d lack of character, if we’d only beat the worst team in the league at home like should have, we’d be 4 points clear now with a lot of pressure on Nan City to keep winning. Oh well.
It will be gutting to let the title slip knowing we dropped points against 2 teams likely to be relegated (Southampton and Everton). But it’s football and it happens. We pretty much blew the WSL last year with one loss against the worst team in the league… at least we have a strong club cluture… 😉
Dude, I’m sure you’ve been a “supporter” longer than me, so good for you. You are fucking exhausting, though.
I’ve been sitting on this for weeks (actually years), but you’re clear need for attention is boring and pathetic.
That is hilarious, one of my favourite comments. Fatgooner, sit down (as if you wasn’t already) and shut the f*CK up you miserable c*nt…😂
Just be incredibly proud of this team ( how they responded tonight) and a club ( with the right values)!!!
Zinchenko doesn’t even try to defend. I understand he’s a special player, and a key part to the offense but I’m struggling to recall a former Arsenal player who was this disinterested in getting between the ball and goal..
Yeah, I wonder if he’d be better as a mid-fielder…
Then play Jorginho
He’s a midfielder most of the time. But even full time midfielders have to defend.
That’s basically the role he’s being asked to play which is why the team is
exposed on the Left.
Obviously not as Arteta doesn’t trust him to play as a midfielder. The only way he gets into the team is as a hybrid midfielder/defender because, to be honest, he’s not the best option in either position.
Yeah, that was pretty dreadful. And not the first incident in the recent run of games. Nor is it clear to me he’s adding that much on the attacking front at this point either. Tierney needs to be starting, particularly away at Newcastle.
It’s not even the recent run of games. He has been consistently giving away chances for months now….it’s just most people glossed over it when we were winning.
Makes no odds really though, we all know KT won’t start on Sunday.
Every good pass is eulogised and every poor one is forgotten about.
Andre Santos
Good!
Fuck Chelsea!
No Holding, no problems! Up the arse!
Thank God we finally got to play a Lampard team, it was about time.
Isn’t that St Totteringham’s then? 4 games to play and we’re 14 points clear…
That was last week!
Doh. Manna from heaven either way. Balance restored in the universe.
Not even the woes of that circus from across town have been able to cure my depression from dropping those 6 points before the Man City game.
Funny how quiet the media have been about it, considering the song and dance they made this time last year.
Like Arseblog says but I give you a thumbs up for reminding me of us achieving St Totteringhams Day anyway.
Also fun to remember when they thought they nicked a point against Liverpool and conceded 90 seconds later
Look them up in the dictionary and you’ll find a match report of that Liverpool game.
We’re 24 points clear. I feel much better as well about the gap to Newcastle getting back up to 13 (albeit with Newcastle having a game in hand). Hopefully that opens up to 16 on Sunday. Fuck Magpies forever, whatever the weather.
We need a new Magpies song from James from Gunnerblog on the Arsecast Extra! 😊
Reasons to be cheerful, we’re top of the league and we just finished Chelsea’s chances of European football next season.
And we’ve scored 50 more goals
50 more goals!!! That’s a mad stat!
When you think of the money they’ve spent too – a £600 million squad and none of them know what fucking day of the week it is.
Keep it going Fat Frankie my son!! 😂
Cheers! 😊 🥂🍾
Great first half; slightly disappointing second.
We should have scored Six and smashed them to pieces. Instead, we made it respectable for the worst Chelsea team I’ve seen this century.
At 3-0 why didn’t Tierney come on? Zinchenko was pathetic for their goal. He can’t defend.
Who cares, anyway? The title’s gone.
Fuckin hell fatz, back to your old doom and gloom. It’s not over yet dude. Would you not have taken secind at the start of the season?
Stop moaning so much, it’s boring.
The title may be gone but there’s still a chance. Remote as it may be.
The rest i agree with. We owe them a bloody nose for many reasons and we should have destroyed them today. They were there for the taking.
The title is gone if we don’t won at Newcastle. If we do…..there’s still a chance imo
If we beat Newcastle – and we can – City will start looking over their shoulders; a massive psychological battle will ensue.
Dude, I’m sure you’ve been a “supporter” longer than me, so good for you. You are fucking exhausting, though.
I’ve been sitting on this for weeks (actually years), but you’re clear need for attention is boring and pathetic.
Great team performance tonight. Really important victory to restore some much needed confidence to the squad. Now to prepare as well as we can for Newcastle – I would stick with tonight’s starting XI; they looked fresher, no doubt about it. We’ve done our bit tonight – now let’s hope West Ham and/or Leeds can at least hold those utter cunts to a draw. For the time being, a good solid win, some lovely taken Odegaard goals – and three precious points. Now sitting down with Mrs Q in one of our favourite North London Indian restaurants to celebrate her… Read more »
Just wanted to add my commiserations to the ladies team for their gallant efforts the other day – and to thank the lovely Leah Williamson for her pint in the Tollington!
She was eventually ‘rescued’ by my daughter, who made Leah laugh when she said “Has my daddy been trying to chat you up?”
Back at our space where we were drinking, a laughing Mrs Q declared “Honestly, you were all over her like an infatuated schoolboy”
I think it’s going to be sometime before I live this one down Chez Q – my kids think its hilarious….
Happy birthday Mrs Q!
Cheers Chris! 😊👍🍺
She was a bit tipsy, but enjoyed her evening. Luckily I had the cab (I’m a London Black taxi Cabbie) with me!!
Running gag in our house;
ME: What do you think I am? A taxi driver?
OUR CHILDREN: Yes!!
Thanks again. 😊🍺
Should have won by more and yet again we let a sloppy goal in at home. ZInchenko at fault and the number of times he gives the ball away! We did what we had to and played well now there’s less pressure on us. Still pressure but less. City got West Ham and Leeds before we play again, not much hope! And get the twat with the laser and ban him
Is Nelson as slow as he looked or is Chilwell very fast?