ARSENAL wiped away the April blues with a centurion display to keep their title charge at full throttle.
Leandro Trossard netted the Gunners’ 100th goal of the season, followed by a Ben White and Kai Havertz double in a rampant second-half blitz to get them back on track after a few bumps in the road this month.
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The league loss here to Aston Villa 10 days ago and a Champions League quarter-final exit to Bayern Munich have been forgotten. All roads now lead to an epic three-way title race.
Meanwhile, Mauricio Pochettino was left feeling blue yet again – perhaps regretting suggesting in the build-up that his Chelsea side are NOT Cole Palmer FC.
Without their clinical 20-goal Premier League superstar Palmer to produce moments of magic, the West Londoners were torn apart by an Arsenal outfit smelling blood at the Prem summit.
Four points clear of Manchester City in third. Three points clear of Liverpool in second. A goal difference of +55 that is 11 better than City and 12 better than Liverpool.
Mikel Arteta can sit at home with his feet up for a few days and hope for top-flight madness to ensue.
Chelsea were in this at half-time but it is custom for Poch’s men right now to blow up and go missing just when the going is looking half decent.
Four goals in 18 second half minutes embarrassingly ended this as a contest, and ended a run of eight Prem games without defeat.
How different it could have been had Palmer been well enough to take the field, with Malo Gusto also missing through injury, replaced by academy boy Alfie Gilchrist.
In the nitty-gritty stages of a title run-in, Arteta has honed his inner ‘Tinkerman’, in particular at left-back, rotating between Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jakub Kiwior and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
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Tomiyasu got the nod this time, while a surprise in midfield saw Thomas Partey pair up with Declan Rice for the first time since August’s Community Shield.
Gabriel Jesus dropped out for Kai Havertz, back in his seemingly favoured No.9 position, and he was in behind after just 30 seconds with Benoit Badiashile scrambling backwards.
A sign of things to come, Trossard drove low and hard through the legs of Djordje Petrovic just minutes later, finishing off Declan Rice’s drive from deep with Chelsea’s backline backing off in fear.
How Pochettino wishes Chelsea had managed to get a deal for boyhood Blues fan Rice over the line before his arrival. Instead, the £105m Emirates lure proved too much last summer.
Ironically, Arsenal made desperate attempts to sign Mykhailo Mudryk and Moises Caicedo in the past 18 months before they ended up at Stamford Bridge for a combined £182m.
You wonder what Chelsea actually paid for with that duo, especially Ukrainian winger Mudryk, who made it clear last night that tracking back simply is not for him.
Bukayo Saka was running rampant down the right with Ben White on the overlap, leaving Marc Cucurella chasing shadows. Mudryk did not look overly bothered.
VAR then incredibly chose not to check a horrific studs-up challenge from Nicolas Jackson into the shin of Tomiyasu. Ref Simon Hooper also chose not to act.
With Chelsea’s hot-heads losing their cool, Arsenal were picking up chances easier than at an Emirates box buffet.
Havertz latched onto a defensive cock-up but opted to pass instead of shoot. Moments later, he made the right decision only for Petrovic to come to the rescue again with a tremendous double save, also stopping Axel Disasi prodding into his own net.
Wasteful Arsenal were giving Chelsea a lifeline, and they should have been punished. Badiashile’s flicked header from a corner was begging to be tapped in at the far post.
Jackson was giving William Saliba a good battle, forcing him back down the left only for his tightly-laced finishing boots to come into the equation yet again before heading wide from Conor Gallagher’s pick out.
Noni Madueke beat Tomiyasu on the other side and his cross found Cucurella and Enzo Fernandez, both failing to properly test David Raya.
Arsenal went into the break looking nervy, but emerged defiant and lethal. Having wasted a few early chances, White begun the hammering in the 52nd minute, curling in from close range from a badly defended corner.
Martin Odegaard’s defence-splitting pass put Havertz in five minutes later and this time the German did not disappoint. He got his second in the 67th minute, in off the post having drifted into the box with complete ease.
To top it all off, White – who had two Prem goals in season before last night – grabbed a spectacular second in the 70th minute, volleying a chipped Odegaard pass into the top corner.
The Englishman produced a cheeky grin, embarrassed it managed to go in.
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Don’t worry Ben, you weren’t the only one embarrassed at the Emirates last night.
Pochettino will be hanging his head in shame and disbelief.
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