Times are changing at Stamford Bridge. Even Arsenal, once afraid of traveling to this corner of West London, lost their fear. There is no one like Didier Drogba to harass his defenders to subdue these days, and as a measure of how easily Mikel Arteta’s players accepted the challenge to breathe life back into their Champions League challenge, nothing sums it up more than Buchayo Saka, who takes the penalty, finally shattered Chelsea’s hopes of stealing a point.
It was a moment of great importance for Saka, who had not scored a point since missing the decisive one when England lost to Italy in the Euro 2020 final. There were no nerves from Arsenal’s brilliant young winger. Saka were full of faith after torturing Chelsea’s hesitant defense, and his steely steel meant that Arsenal, who had a point to prove after three consecutive defeats, could celebrate their equalizer with fourth-placed Tottenham with six games left.
The race for fourth is live. Out of nowhere, Arsenal has momentum again.
They have another chance to start when they host Manchester United on Saturday, and despite all their youth inexperience threatening to hold them back, they have every chance of coming to look back on this victory over Chelsea as a defining moment in their development.
It was a live performance that made it even more impressive than the fact that Arsenal did it without Thomas Party and Kieran Tierney. He had an excellent performance in attack from Eddie Nketia, who grabbed his first shots in the league this season. Emil Smith Rowe scored his goal beautifully.
Saka never stopped running and Granit Jaka was strong along with Mohamed Elneni in the midfield, where Chelsea’s lack of urgency left them open to Arsenal’s counterattacks.
Chelsea, who have conceded 11 in their last three home games, have no complaints. For the second time in four games, Thomas Tuchel withdrew Andreas Christensen at halftime, but the change had no effect. Chelsea, who are just five points above the Spurs, were too unfocused and said a lot that Tuhel was reduced to criticism on the pitch when analyzing Christensen’s mistake that led Nketia to find the result.
Emil Smith Rowe (left) celebrates Arsenal’s second goal against Chelsea. Photo: David Price / Arsenal / Getty Images
Not everything is fine at Chelsea. They had to endure the laughter of Arsenal fans in 10,000 empty seats in the home zones and the evening ended with Cesar Aspilicueta, captain of Tuhel, protesting against one of his own supporters.
Nature was variegated. The home crowd also expressed their disappointment with Romelu Lukaku when the 97.5 million pound striker was replaced after 60 slow minutes. There have been several boos about Lukaku and it is difficult to see a great future for him at Chelsea.
Arsenal’s prospects looked brighter. They wore black armbands in memory of their former Chief Scout Steve Rowley, who died at the age of 63 and were 13 minutes ahead.
The goal summed up Chelsea’s difficulties after the break of Thiago Silva and the start of Malang Sar in place of the injured Antonio Rüdiger. Nuno Tavares’ punt made Christensen run to his own door and swing under the pressure of Nketia, who wanted to impress after starting instead of Alexandre Lacazette.
Christensen, who is expected to join Barcelona for free, was everywhere. The back of the central defender was under attack and Nketia, who expired at the end of the season, set out to beat Edward Mendy with a cool final.
Arsenal soon continued to distribute several of their own gifts. Ruben Loftus-Cheek quickly gained high possession on the field, and Timo Werner equalized after letting fly with a shot that spun past Aaron Ramsdale thanks to a heavy deflection from Xhaka.
However, the equalizer did not change the model of the game. There was danger every time Saka ran to Sar and Marcos Alonso on the right, and Chelsea soon fell behind again. Jack saved Rob Holding from a mess he made before calmly taking the ball out, Saka and Martin Odegor combined well and Smith Rowe shot past Mandy.
However, Chelsea came back, equalizing again in the 32nd minute. This time Ben White was guilty when he gave the ball to Mason Mount and called for a free kick. John Moss didn’t care about White’s complaints, and Mount crossed for Aspilicueta to pass Tavares and pass the ball beyond Ramsdale.
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But Chelsea were still in a mess. After 57 minutes Aspilicueta missed a pass and Tavares attacked. The left back found Nketia and when Silva, Sar and N’Golo Kante failed to clear, the striker passed the ball past Mendi.
This was another self-inflicted wound. Tuhel tried to answer, replacing Lukaku with Kai Havertz, but there was no going back. Arsenal pressed on the break and the points were theirs when Aspilicueta allowed a penalty for a foul on Saka, which ended confidently. Arsenal felt a change of power.
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