It was a bad day in the office for Chelsea and Mauricio Pochettino, as Arsenal put five past the Blues at the Emirates on Tuesday night.
Former Chelsea star, Kai Havertz, was among the goals as he haunted his former club, with two well-taken goals.
The defeat leaves Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea in ninth place in the table, and for the Gunners — who have played a game more than Liverpool in second place, and two more than Manchester City in third place –they would wish things stay like this as they make their intentions clear to win the Premier League title this season.
They currently top the table with 77 points.
After beating Everton 6-0 in the previous game, going into this, the Blues were hopeful of a good result that would take them above Manchester United, but Arsenal’s firepower proved to be too much for them, as they fell off 5-0 on the road.
The game got off to just the start Mikel Arteta’s men needed.
A brilliant run by Declan Rice released Leandro Trossard, who fired an unstoppable shot past Petrovic to open the scoring after just four minutes.
Given how rampant Arsenal have been this season in front of goal, this was a warning to the Blues about what they were in for.
Chelsea’s defensive pairing of Disasi, Badiashile, Gilchrist, and Cucurella did not give some Chelsea fans any hope, as some were not expectant of a favourable result against Arsenal.
The goal did appear to have awakened the Blues, though, as they took control.
The highlight of the Blues’ limited pressure was when a good run by Nicholas Jackson led to a deflected shot off the post.
With further chances falling to both teams, Arsenal could have added to their lead, and the Blues could also have levelled the score, but the teams headed for the tunnel at half-time, with Arsenal 1-0 ahead.
In the second half, Arsenal looked to add to their lead, and after Petrovic in the Chelsea goal kept both Declan Rice and Kai Havertz out, Ben White could not be denied, as he made the score 2-0 to Arsenal.
With Chelsea all over the place, Arsenal fancied their chances of scoring more goals to boost their goal difference against other title chasers.
Three minutes after Ben White made it 2-0, a former Chelsea star had a bite of the Arsenal cherry, as a brilliant ball from captain Martin Odegaard, released Kai Havertz, who evaded a challenge from the hardworking Cucurella to make the score 3-0.
If Chelsea harboured any hopes of a comeback, the third Arsenal goal certainly made it a big ask for them–but the Gunners were not done just yet.
With 25 minutes to the end of the game, Kai Havertz added his second to effectively kill the game off. At 4-0, the game was effectively over and Arsenal had their points.
It’s not every day that a defender scores a brace, but Arsenal’s Ben White showed it was possible. The defender scored with what had been intended to be a cross into the Chelsea box to make it 5-0.