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Resurging Arsenal got their Champions League push back on track with 4-2 win at Chelsea on Wednesday.
Eddie Nketiah’s brace and goals from Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka sealed the win.
Gunners move level on points with fourth-placed Spurs; Chelsea stay third, five ahead of Arsenal.
The Gunners took the lead not once, but twice at Stamford Bridge through goals from Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe, but on both occasions, Chelsea found a response as Timo Werner’s deflected strike and Cesar Azpilicueta’s low finish sent the sides in level at the interval.
The scoring wasn’t over in the second half as the Gunners took the lead once again, and it was Nketiah who grabbed his side’s third before Bukayo Saka sealed Arsenal’s victory from the spot after being hauled down late on by Azpilicueta.
Victory ends a run of three straight defeats in the Premier League for Arsenal and sees Mikel Arteta’s side move level on points with fourth-placed Tottenham – who they still have to play towards the end of the season – ahead of another crucial match against Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Chelsea, who suffered a second straight home league defeat, remain third, five points ahead of fifth-placed Arsenal.
Nketiah was crowned Man of the match.
Highlights:
In what was a frantic first half, Arsenal took the lead when a long hopeful ball over was not dealt with by Andreas Christensen, and his under-hit back pass was picked up by Nketiah, who finished expertly past Edouard Mendy for his first league goal of the season.
Much to the frustration of Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, the lead did not last long as Chelsea were back on level terms just four minutes later.
The Gunners wasted numerous chances to clear the ball before Werner’s strike deflected off Granit Xhaka to bring the scores level.
It was proving to be a difficult evening for both defences as Arsenal re-established their lead midway through the opening 45 minutes.
Smith Rowe produced another fine finish to round off an excellent team goal, sweeping home into the bottom corner after excellent work from Xhaka and Martin Odegaard in the build-up.
The goals kept coming and the celebrations in the away end were cut short again as Chelsea hit back again.
Cesar Azpilicueta pounced like a striker to get on the end of Mason Mount’s ball into the box to take the two sides into the break on level terms.
Chelsea responded to their defensive frailties in the first half by bringing on Thiago Silva for Christensen, but it would be Arsenal who hit the front for a third time.
More indecision in the Chelsea defence allowed the striker to nip in and he poked home after Nuno Tavares’ cross had not been dealt with by the Blues’ backline.
Substitutions:
Thomas Tuchel made four changes to his side that beat Crystal Palace 2-0 in the FA Cup semi-finals on Sunday.
Romelu Lukaku started his first match in two months as Kai Havertz was given a rest on the bench.
Antonio Rudiger (groin) and Mateo Kovacic (ankle) were not in the squad after playing vs Palace.
Jorginho also dropped to the bench as Ngolo Kante came in.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Malang Sarr were the other two Chelsea changes, coming into the team.
Alexandre Lacazette returned for Arsenal on the bench after missing their 1-0 defeat at Southampton due to Covid as Eddie Nketiah kept his place up front.
Mikel Arteta made three changes with Rob Holding coming into the backline for Cedric Soares. Mohamed Elneny started his first game since December 2nd in midfield instead of Albert Sambi Lokonga, while Emile Smith Rowe started ahead of Gabriel Martinelli.
Another frustrating night for Romelu Lukaku came to an end as Chelsea threw on Kai Havertz as they looked for a third equaliser of the night, but it never came.
Arsenal won a late penalty as Bukayo Saka was dragged to the ground by Azpilicueta, the forward dusting himself off to convert the resulting spot-kick to wrap up a crucial three points for the Gunners.
What the managers said:
A very dejected Thomas Tuchel said there were too many dramatic mistakes in Chelsea’s performance as they were beaten 4-2 by Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel: “It was a totally wild and open game in the first half, already at 2-2 after we came back twice.
“We had a good start but again gave the first goal away, which is impossible to do these things in consecutive matches. But we’re doing it. We came back twice and we scored another two in the second half, unfortunately for the wrong side.
“It’s a level of mistakes, the number of mistakes in consecutive games here at home, it’s impossible at this kind of level. You don’t see this.
“It’s simply impossible, but we’re doing this at the moment and you cannot win football games like this. It’s not about individual players.
“A defensive performance is a team performance and an offensive performance is a team performance.
“You need to have the tactics right, which is doubtful I had this right, and you need the team selection right, again it’s doubtful I had this right. Then it’s a game for the players.
“They get full praise when they do it, when they did it for the last three matches. And they have to face the reality that it’s impossible to win matches if you make this amount of mistakes of this calibre.
“It’s simply impossible. I don’t see it in any other matches but I see it now in consecutive matches of our games and it has to stop.”
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta: “I said to the players, if you want to be playing Champions League football, you have to go these stadiums and beat the top teams.
“So they have done it and I’m really proud of them, but I’m more proud of how we’ve reacted as a group in the past weeks. That gives me more energy to be here.
“What I love is the spirit of these players. When you lose matches, you get punished, you get criticised but for these players I don’t care because it’s so worth it.
“They are phenomenal people and as a group they are really growing. To win a London derby away from home and how we did it, I am really happy.”