Arsenal 5 - Chelsea 0: double, double Chelsea’s trouble

A four goal, second half outburst from Arsenal sent Chelsea back across London thoroughly chastised and empty-handed. The 5-0 win extends the Gunners’ lead at the top of the table to four points and puts the ball in Manchester City’s court to win their two matches in hand. The gaudy scoreline was the fifth time this calendar year Arsenal have scored 5+ goals while also keeping a clean sheet. It was a pummeling.

The Gunners jumped out to an early lead when Leandro Trossard, rotated into the starting lineup for the match, absolutely leathered a ball beyond Djordje Petrovic at the near post. The tally was set up by one of Declan Rice’s trademark marauding runs through the midfield. His long, powerful strides take him past defenders who somehow still haven’t figured out how fast he’s moving on the ball. It looked effortless for Rice to glide into the box and slide the ball to his left for the goal.

The match could have gone even worse for Chelsea. Minutes after Arsenal scored, Nicolas Jackson stretched wildly for a ball that Takehiro Tomiyasu had touched past him. As a result, the Brazilian’s studs-up challenge went into the Arsenal man’s ankle. Somehow Jackson escaped even a yellow card for a challenge that Tim Howard, Robbie Earle, and Rio Ferdinand all thought should have seen red.

Like the challenge on Kai Havertz by Max Kilman at the weekend, Jackson’s wasn’t reviewed by VAR beyond the normal check that is done for all tough challenges. What is the point of having the technology available if we don’t use it? In consecutive matches, Arsenal players have been on the receiving end of high, studs-up challenges that could have caused serious injury.

Arsenal blew the doors off Chelsea in the second half, but not before a nervy closing 10-15 minutes of the first. The Blues had shown threat on the counter / break all match, and Arsenal looked a bit more exposed than usual. It looked as if the visitors had found a foothold and might put up a fight. Petrovic had made some excellent saves to keep the match at 1-0. It had that kind of uneasy feeling at halftime, like the match could go south with something foolish, silly, or unlucky.

Ben White and Kai Havertz quickly put that to bed, however. First White collected a bouncing ball in the box following a corner to fire home. Then Havertz collected an inch-perfect pass from Martin Ødegaard and put it into the roof of the net on the break. Havertz added another eight minutes later, as did White, five minutes after that. Havertz’s brace was his 10th and 11th Premier League goal of the season. His 10 open-play goals are the most on the team. He’s been worth every bit of the £60M it took to acquire him.

Martin Ødegaard had 17 progressive passes in the match, 11 into the box, and created 8 chances. He’s had as good of a season as any footballer in the world and precious few people are talking about it. He should win Premier League player of the season. If Arsenal win the Premier League title, he’ll be a shoo-in.

The clean sheet clinches the Premier League Golden Gloves for David Raya, who missed 6 league matches this season — 4 to start the season when Aaron Ramsdale still had the job and 2 against his parent club Brentford. It warmed my heart to see Gabriel Magalhaes fired up about a defensive play late in the match, 5-0 up. And it gave me heart palpitations when Declan Rice was a little slow to get up after sliding and stretching to make a tackle with Arsenal up big. I know it’s extremely difficult for these guys to play any other way, but c’mon Declan. You can ease off the gas to preserve your energy and health.

There wasn’t a player on the pitch for Arsenal who put in less than a 7 out of 10 performance. Even Thomas Partey, who has looked worryingly rusty and slow since returning from injury, looked more like his languid, progressive pass-picking self. It was a minor disappointment that neither Gabriel Jesus nor Gabriel Martinelli could get back among the goals. Jesus slipped on his best chance of the evening and Martinelli failed to convert a breakaway. Fabio Vieira’s one memorable moment was a shot that looked for a second like it had found the top corner at the near post from the TV angle but was actually wide of the mark (but not by much).

A trip across North London to visit Tottenham is next up for Arsenal. Spurs are in a two-club race for fourth with Aston Villa and would like nothing better than to spoil the Gunners’ title push. An Arsenal win likely consigns Tottenham to a fifth place finish and a Europa League spot. And it would be St. Totteringham’s Day.