Chelsea 2-4 Arsenal: 4 talking points as top four dream stays alive

Arsenal secured a vital three points at Stamford Bridge as they breathed life back into their Champions League dream. An Eddie Nketiah brace, along with an Emile Smith Rowe strike and a second-half Bukayo Saka penalty, were enough as they secured a critical 4-2 victory.

Mikel Arteta made a couple of changes to the side that lost at Southampton with Rob Holding and Mohamed Elneny coming into the side. Eddie Nketiah retained his place and Benjamin White was moved to right-back.

After a rather nervous start, Arsenal took the lead after a poor backpass from Andreas Christensen allowed Eddie Ntekiah to take possession and slide his shot past Edouard Mendy to give the Gunners the lead just 13 minutes in.

Arsenal’s lead lasted less than five minutes after the Gunners tried to play out from the back. The ball got picked off and found its way to Timo Werner who cut inside and hit his shot that took a deflection and past Aaron Ramsdale.

Chelsea 2-4 Arsenal: 4 talking points as top four dream stays alive with stunning Premier League win for Mikel Arteta’s side

Arsenal took the lead just 13 minutes later after a superb counter-attack. It started with Granit Xhaka and ended with Martin Odegaard feeding Emile Smith Rowe on the edge of the box who hit his shot first time and past Mendy.

Again, Arsenal’s lead didn’t last long. Chelsea won the ball back in their half and Mason Mount teased a ball across the six-yard box and Cesar Azpilicueta nipped in front of Nuno Tavares to poke home yet another equalizer. The first half ended 2-2 in what was a scintillating half of football.

Arsenal took the lead again, just nine minutes into the second half. Azpilicueta misplaced his pass, and Tavares picked it up and fed in Nketiah. After the ball bounced around between defenders the young Englishman poked home from close range.

The game lost its excitement with Chelsea dominating possession but was not creating any chances. Late into injury time, Arsenal was awarded a penalty after Saka was tugged down by Azpilicueta and the young star stepped up and smashed home his shot to all but guarantee a vital three points.

This Premier League classic provided plenty of talking points, here they are.

Eddie Nketiah Shows Up and Shows Out

Often much-maligned, Nketiah put all the doubters to rest tonight as he produced his best performance ever in an Arsenal shirt. A superbly well-taken brace for the 22-year-old.

His pace, energy, and cool finishing were a feature as he led the line supremely well. One could strongly make the case that Arsenal would not have taken the lead in the first half if Alexandre Lacazette was in the line-up.

The Frenchman does not possess the speed and some could say the calmness in front of goal that Nketiah produced. Does the young Englishman retain his place for Arsenal’s next game against Manchester United? Surely, he has too as tonight he was simply superb.

You can’t not after a wonderfully well-rounded display.

He always gave Arsenal an outlet, pressed and harried the Chelsea defense, used his physicality to his advantage and, most importantly, when the chances came his way he tucked them away.

Overall, an incredible performance from him tonight.

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