Havertz and White go wild as Arsenal crush Chelsea and boost title hopes | first division

All Arsenal can do is win, turn up the heat, raise the question of Manchester City, the defender. first division champions, who retain control of their destiny in terms of this season's exciting title race. But how Mikel Arteta's team won here and his message couldn't have been clearer. If City fail, Arsenal will be there to take advantage.

One of the images of the evening was provided by a young man Chelsea fan, who held up a cardboard sign toward the end. “I don't want your shirt. I want you to fight for what is ours,” he said. That hurt. On the other hand, the Chelsea players had stunk up the stadium.

Arsenal's intensity was impressive from the first action and maintained it during the first 30 minutes. They threatened to topple Chelsea before falling slightly and taking just a 1-0 lead at half-time. And so it was again, Arteta sent his players on early for the second half, and this time they reduced Chelsea to rubble.

When Arsenal substitute Gabriel Martinelli went ahead in the seventh minute of added time, he was denied by overworked Chelsea goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic in a one-on-one situation. It could have been 6-0, which would have equaled Chelsea's biggest defeat in the Premier League. 6-0 against City in 2019.

There was no consolation for anyone dressed in blue, no hiding place, only shame at their heaviest defeat to Arsenal, worse than the 5-1 loss to Herbert Chapman's team in 1930.

Chelsea's Kai Havertz Champions League winning scorer In 2021, he was impressive, scoring two goals during the run after the break and was ably supported by Leandro Trossard, who had scored the first goal, and the monster Declan Rice. Ben White appeared with the other two and then there was Martin Ødegaard, possibly the best of them all. A pair of assists seemed little reward for the captain on a night in which he led the team with vision and precision passing.

In the final stages, the Arsenal crowd brought out the oles during a period of possession but it was Chelsea and totally sarcastic. The visiting area was practically deserted at all times; No one associated with the club could get out of there fast enough. Arsenal's eyes are now set on second-placed Liverpool's visit to Everton on Wednesday before City's trip to Brighton on Thursday.

Mauricio Pochettino was without his talisman, Cole Palmer, who was ill, and had expressed a simple hope: that Chelsea could prove they were not the “Cole Palmer football club”. The comment did not age well.

Arsenal scored early and it was too easy, Rice emerging on the inside left after a clever pass to play in the overlapping Trossard, who beat Petrovic at the near post.

Pochettino had seen White open his back four after just 30 seconds, giving Havertz a clear run towards goal, although the centre-forward had strayed marginally offside. In the 10th minute, the Chelsea manager was on the warpath, adopting an aggressive stance, furious at the efforts of his players. Moments earlier, Havertz had tried unsuccessfully to find Rice when he gloriously positioned himself inside the box to shoot. The pass was ready; Havertz just didn't execute it.

Arsenal had a spell before the half-hour mark that was dizzying to watch, so God knows what the Chelsea defense must have experienced. Somehow they survived. Rice fired a high shot after a wonderful turn away from Enzo Fernandez as Havertz extended Petrovic. Havertz also had a shot deflected by Axel Disasi and crashed into Petrovic's face.

It must be said that Chelsea had their moments in the first half. Disasi almost touched a pass from Benoît Badiashile after a corner kick; Nicolas Jackson burst down the left and saw the cutback of him hit Gabriel Magalhães and kiss the post.

Jackson raised some questions with his breakneck pace, but the less said about his final product, the better. When Conor Gallagher crossed in the 42nd minute, Jackson made such a mess of the header that he appeared to handle it. Moments earlier, White had blocked Marc Cucurella and Fernandez guided the rebound wide.

Arteta was booked at the end of the first half for complaining too much about Trossard's yellow card to Cucurella, but his players channeled their emotions to destructive effect after the restart, with Ødegaard behind the explosion that overwhelmed Chelsea.

Rice shot too close to Petrovic; Havertz was denied by the goalkeeper after a sumptuous pass from Ødegaard. But Arsenal did not panic. They knew that their destiny was to win.

The second goal followed a penalty corner, worked between Bukayo Saka and Ødegaard and, when Rice's shot hit Gallagher, White guided the broken ball into the far corner. Enter Havertz. Chelsea had legitimate claims for a foul by Gabriel on Noni Madueke, but there was no decision, Ødegaard releasing Havertz, who pushed Cucurella aside to score.

At that point, Chelsea seemed to give up. Arsenal did not stop. Havertz languidly scored the fourth without any challenge shortly after Jackson missed from close range. And if White's goal to make it 5-0 had an element of fortune (it looked more like a cross into the far corner), Arsenal more than deserved it.