Arsenal briefly retakes lead after win over swallowing Chelsea

Arsenal has regained the lead in the Premier League, at least for a while, over Manchester City. The Gunners were 3-1 too strong for Chelsea at their own Emirates Stadium after four games without a win, suffering their sixth consecutive defeat since the return of coach Frank Lampard.

Last Sunday, Arsenal’s loss of first place, which had been announced for several months, was a fact and Manchester City was leading the Premier League. With City not playing West Ham United until Wednesday in this midweek round of play, Arsenal could still briefly regain the lead today, and it did.

Faltering Chelsea proved to be the ideal opponent for coach Mikel Arteta’s team to regain confidence. In just over half an hour, the home side was already leading 3-0. Martin Ødegaard scored the wonderful opening goal on a pass from Granit Xhaka with a pressed shot from the left via the underside of the crossbar.

The second goal also came with a controlled foot movement from Arsenal’s Norwegian playmaker, and again Xhaka was the aggressor. Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale prevented a Ben Chilwell goal moments later and Gabriel Jesus made it 3-0 after Wesley Fofana and Thiago Silva failed to get the ball away.

Arsenal missed another series of chances for the 4-0, then former PSV player Noni Madueke escaped offside in the second half and brought the tension back somewhat with his first goal for Chelsea. The home side, however, easily stayed upright. Hakim Ziyech came on for Madueke in the 79th minute.