Chelsea beat Arsenal, marching straight to the championship

Hazard scored a beautiful solo goal, while Fabregas scored his first goal against Arsenal to help Chelsea win 3-1 in round 24.

Chelsea are flying high with form and character that surpasses their competitors. Photo: Reuters.

Goals: Alonso (13'), Hazard (53'), Fabregas (85') - Giroud (90'+1).

Arsenal were tasked with saving the Premier League when they visited Stamford Bridge. However, Chelsea showed the league that Arsenal were just another victim on the road to the title this season.

Marcos Alonso opened the scoring for Chelsea in the 13th minute with a powerful header. Arsenal's efforts only brought them a close-range shot from Gabriel Paulista late in the first half, but Thibaut Courtois made an excellent save.

The second half saw another early goal for Chelsea as Eden Hazard soloed from midfield past a number of Arsenal players before beating Petr Cech. Arsenal's pain was further compounded by a late mistake from Cech that allowed former captain Cesc Fabregas to score his first goal against his former club.

Giroud's goal could not help Arsenal salvage a point while in the stands some fans held up banners demanding manager Arsene Wenger leave.

The victory in the London derby gave Chelsea 59 points and increased the gap with second-placed Tottenham to 12 points. In this round, Tottenham will host Middlesbrough at White Hart Lane.

Meanwhile, Arsenal could fall out of the top 4 after round 24 if Liverpool do not lose to Hull and Man City defeat Swansea.

Chelsea's midfield with star interceptor N'golo Kante stifled Arsenal's play. Photo: Reuters.

In theory, the race in the Premier League is still open even if Chelsea maintains a 12-point gap after round 24. However, looking at the developments of this year's season, Chelsea can touch the championship with one hand even though there are still 14 rounds left.

The last two rounds showed the champion image of Coach Conte and his team when they showed both courage and luck. In the midweek series, Chelsea was held to a draw at Anfield but strangely, both teams behind, Tottenham and Arsenal, failed to win against weak opponents like Sunderland and Watford. In this round of the London derby, Chelsea turned Arsenal into delicious bait and paid the debt of losing 0-3 in the first leg.

The heavy defeat in the first leg was the starting point for Chelsea's beautiful journey so far. Coach Conte began to switch to a 3-4-3 formation and put in players suitable for this style of play. Chelsea immediately had a streak of 13 consecutive wins in the Premier League. After indirectly helping Conte's army revive, Arsenal directly supported with the defeat at Stamford Bridge.

Arsenal faced numerous difficulties when manager Wenger was forced to sit in the stands due to a touchline ban and the midfield was patched together. Alexis Sanchez was brought back to the striker position but this did not bring about any results as Chelsea took the initiative against Arsenal. The visitors, despite having more possession of the ball, played stalemately, while Chelsea were too dangerous with counter-attacks and if they had been more precise in their final passes, the score would not have stopped at 3-1.

Fabregas was not happy with the goal against his old team. Photo: Reuters.

Arsenal were almost helpless in one-on-one situations when competing with Chelsea players. The home team had a series of quick counter-attacks starting right from the middle of the field when they won the ball from Arsenal players. This helped Chelsea not need too many people in attack, but mainly the trio of Hazard, Costa and Pedro coordinating with each other. In addition, this style of play also helped them to maintain enough players to ensure safety in their own half.

A banner reading "Enough Is Enough. Time To Go" was raised before the end of the match, aimed at Wenger's seat. This is the final season of the Frenchman's current contract and the dream of recreating the title is almost over. The last title victory, the 2003-04 unbeaten season, is too far away for Arsenal at this point.

According to VNE