Arsenal beat Chelsea

Scorers: Lacazette 14', Koscielny 39'

The first half of the season saw the two teams battle it out for a goal, with four goals scored in the first half. Chelsea then won 3-2 thanks to a late second-half goal from Marcos Alonso. However, the Emirates clash was a different story. Chelsea were no longer able to maintain their open play. When Jorginho was absent, and when two of their key players, N'Golo Kante and Eden Hazard, were not in their best positions, "Sarri-ball" was ineffective. Chelsea had not even had a shot on target until the 82nd minute.

Arsenal's lineup and personnel were nothing special in this match, except for Aaron Ramsey's rare start under Unai Emery. The problem was the way the positions operated. Thanks to the flexibility of Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi, Arsenal easily suffocated Chelsea's midfield. Meanwhile, full-backs Hector Bellerin and Sead Kolacinac often pushed forward to support the attacks. Down below, captain Laurent Koscielny had one of his best games for Arsenal.

In the 5th minute, Alexandre Lacazette had a pass from the right wing for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to tap in from close range, but incredibly missed. Just three minutes later, center-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos headed the ball from a corner kick that went wide. In the 13th minute, Koscielny had a chance, but the ball went straight to goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

And then, Arsenal's dominance was rewarded in the 14th minute.. Continuing with a pass from the right wing by Bellerin, Lacazette controlled, dribbled past two Chelsea players and fired a shot with the toe of his boot into a tight corner, opening the score for Arsenal. Three minutes later, the gap could have been doubled for the home team, if Aubameyang had beaten goalkeeper Kepa in the opposite phase. Before that, the Arsenal striker had quickly approached and stolen the ball from Antonio Rudiger.

From that moment on, Chelsea seemed to wake up. Their positions were stronger, somewhat limiting the attacks from the other side of the field. However, their playing style did not improve. The midfield was completely lost, and the visitors could only rely on long balls from center-back David Luiz. In such a situation in the 19th minute, the opportunity was given to Pedro but his chip went just wide of the post.

In the second half of the first half, Arsenal again organized dangerous attacks. In the 29th minute, Ramsey won the ball and fired a powerful shot from outside the penalty area, forcing goalkeeper Kepa to try to push it away. In the 36th minute, Aubameyang almost created a masterpiece with a hooking shot, but it missed the post.And then just three minutes later, Chelsea's net was up again.. The away team's defense was not organized well enough, allowing Koscielny to sneak down and miss his header, but the ball hit his shoulder and bounced into the far corner, making it 2-0.

Before the break, Chelsea had a chance to close the gap but Alonso's header hit the post.

There were few changes for Chelsea in the second half, although Arsenal were no longer aiming to score. Their best chance came when Pedro hastily shot the ball into the air after Willians's return pass in the 56th minute. About 10 minutes later, substitute Ross Barkley unleashed his signature shot from the edge of the box, but it was straight at Koscielny.

The only negative point for Arsenal in this match was Bellerin's injury. The Spanish right-back appeared to have suffered a ligament tear after a wrong move in the 70th minute. He appeared to be in a lot of pain and had to be carried off on a stretcher. Chelsea then tried to attack Arsenal's right flank, but to no avail. Except for Hazard's cross that went over the goal, the rest of the situations were successfully cleared by Koscielny and his teammates.

Winning 2-0, Arsenal continued to stand in fifth place with 44 points. However, they are only three points behind Chelsea. The race for the top 4 promises to be very dramatic, as Man Utd has also returned and is equal on points with Arsenal.

Line-up

Arsenal: Leno; Bellerin (Elneny 72'), Sokratis, Koscielny, Kolasinac; Torreira, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Ramsey (Maitland-Niles 68'); Lacazette (Iwobi 67'), Aubameyang.

Subs not used: Cech, Mustafi, Monreal, Ozil

Chelsea: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Luiz, Alonso; Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic (Barkley 63'); Pedro (Hudson-Odoi 80'), Willian (Giroud 68'), Hazard.

Unused reserve: Caballero, Christensen, Emerson, Ampadu

Ha Do