May 02, (THEWILL) – Arsenal put on a dominant display against their London rivals, Chelsea to climb back to the top of the Premier League on Tuesday night.
With a 3-1 victory, Arsenal overtook Manchester City at least for the next 24 hours. Captain Martin Odegaard scored twice while Gabriel Jesus wrapped up the points before halftime. Meanwhile, Chelsea slumped to their sixth successive defeat under interim boss Frank Lampard, with Noni Madueke scoring a rare consolation goal.
Although the Gunners had not won any of their past four games, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta refused to rule his side out of the title race, and his team proved him right. The game began positively for the hosts with Granit Xhaka wasting an early chance to score. Bukayo Saka also tested Kepa Arrizabalaga early in the game.
However, it was Odegaard that opened the scoring through a Xhaka assist. The Norwegian and Xhaka combined again for the second goal in similar fashion. Three minutes later, before Chelsea could gather their wits, they were down by three goals as Jesus entered his name in the scoresheet in the 34th minute.
Chelsea tried to mount a comeback, with Ben Chilwell coming close to scoring and Madueke cutting the deficit to 3-1, but the Arsenal defense stood firm thereafter to see out the game. Ex-Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang started for Chelsea but was anonymous for the most part and was substituted at halftime.
The result takes the Gunners temporarily back to the top of the league, two points clear of City, who have two games at hand. Arsenal will next face Newcastle on Sunday, while Chelsea will play Bournemouth on the day before.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
