August 23, (THEWILL) – The result of the English Premier League tie between Chelsea and Arsenal panned out exactly as expected as Romelu Lukaku marked his return to the attack lineup of the Blues with a debut goal to set an early marker of what to expect this season from his boots.
The UEFA Champions League winners kept up their perfect start to the 2021-22 campaign by cruising to a 2-0 victory over Arsenal in their first away tie of the season in the Emirates Stadium clash. Chelsea’s Reece James took advantage of the freedom he was given at the right flank to get a goal and an assist.
The man-of-the-match brilliantly set up a tap-in for Lukaku after only 15 minutes before doubling Chelsea’s lead later in the half with an unstoppable drive into the top corner after the referee Paul Tierney played the advantage rather than call for a foul.
A rain-soaked second half saw chances created by the London sides in the first derby of the season with defender Rob Holding with the Gunners’ clearest chance wasted as he nodded the ball wide from six yards. German keeper Bernd Leno produced a stunning save to deny Lukaku moments later.
Beleaguered Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, introduced the team captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who recovered from a bout of COVID-19, just after the hour mark to provide better scoring opportunities for the hosts and replaced Kieran Tierney with new boy Nuno Tavares.
It made no difference for Arsenal even if Chelsea did not add to their misery, they finished with a second opening loss which immediately plunged them down to the last team in the standings bar one. On the other hand, Chelsea took the summit of the League with the maximum points gathered so far.
It might get even worse for Arteta as their next Premiership game is against English champions Manchester City at the Etihad, who wrapped up a solid 5-0 whitewash of Norwich on Saturday. Chelsea will also face a sterner test in their next tie against the other team with asimilar perfect start: Liverpool.
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.
