Arsenal regained a five-point gap over Premier League leaders Manchester City with a hard-fought victory over Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal now appear to have the mentality to secure the Premier League title (Image: Getty Images)
These are the kind of games that win the title. A hard-fought, hard-fought, ugly victory, while torture, says a lot about spirituality.
Three set-piece goals, a red card for Chelsea’s Pedro Neto and three crucial points for Arsenal as they chase the title. Incredibly, Neto’s red was Chelsea’s ninth in all competitions this season, with the reduction to 10 men costing them yet again. But they still pushed Arsenal to the end.
By the time the final whistle sounded, Arsenal’s players looked so exhausted they could barely raise their arms in celebration with the relieved crowd at the Emirates. Much has been said about the tensions at Emirates this season, but this time it was sensational how the fans got behind the team and stuck by them until the end.
And did they need them? Don’t get me wrong, this match was a war of attrition. There wasn’t much entertainment or flair. Just grit and bloody spirit.
Make mirrors your first choice. Click here to enable or add us as a preferred source in your Google search settings
read more: Arsenal issue title statement as Chelsea send off yet another star player – 6 talking pointsread more: Arsenal fans celebrate earliest ever St. Totteringham’s Day after Spurs defeat to Fulham
Arsenal currently have nine games in hand, but probably only need six more wins, and this was a certain reaction after Manchester City piled on the pressure by beating Leeds to close the gap to two points. Two defenders, William Saliba and Julian Timber, were looking to score from Arsenal’s second corner – well, what else do you expect? – and they needed to step up.
Others did too. David Raya made two great saves. With Liam Rossenier’s side facing Arsenal in their own game, Pierrot Hincapie was excellent despite heading into his own goal under pressure from a Chelsea corner.
Declan Rice was a perfect example. They chased Chelsea in the closing stages to try to stop them from breaking through, but they were so exhausted that they frightened a simple backpass into contact with another corner. And this season, he became Arsenal’s Duracell Bunny.
Mikel Arteta is delighted with the result (Image: Getty Images)
This will be remembered as key if Arsenal go on to win the title. And oddly enough, this perhaps shows that having a week free like Arsenal did is not necessarily a good thing. Perhaps they were too relaxed.
They have an excellent record against Chelsea – they haven’t lost to their London rivals since August 2021 – and that has probably given them some confidence.
Chelsea did not get off to a good start and keeper Roberto Sanchez was at the center of it all. He looked nervous and his defense looked nervous.
Arsenal took the lead in the 21st minute. Bukayo Saka’s deep corner kick found Gabriel at the back post, the Arsenal defender leapt past Reece James, William Saliba headed home, and the ball deflected to Mamadou Sarr.
David Raya made a series of decisive saves (Image: Getty Images)
Follow the Arsenal FB page! For the latest Gunners news and details, visit our dedicated Facebook page.
However, Arsenal did not take their foot off the gas. Victor Gokeres and Eberechi Eze, who starred for Tottenham last week, struggled to make a similar impact. Arsenal had the ball, but they didn’t shoot or shoot well enough.
Arsenal also looked unstable in the corners themselves. James whips in a bright corner. Arsenal’s ball clearly hit Rice’s arm, and Raya made a super save to escape with a one-point lead. It should have been a penalty, but somehow it wasn’t.
The reprieve did not last long. James took another corner kick in the box and Hincapie mistimed his jump, but his backheader into his own goal in first-half stoppage time.
Arsenal lived on edge. Raya made a great save from Joao Pedro’s close range header. Arsenal then scored their second goal in the 64th minute.
Arsenal have nine games left (Image: Getty Images)
As Rice went over the corner, Timber was allowed a header amidst the jostling. This was his 31st set-piece goal of the season. Neto was given a yellow for his own complaint, but was given a second four minutes later for a blatant trip from Gabriel Martinelli.
That’s what it was supposed to be. But this is Arsenal. Raya made a great save to deny Alejandro Garnacho’s cross curling into the far corner.
Chelsea manager Rosenior said substitute Liam Delap put the ball into the net in stoppage time, but it was clearly offside and VAR intervened.
Another tortured moment of drama – but this time Arsenal survived.
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive Mirror Football content every day. Community members also receive special offers, promotions, and advertisements from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check it out whenever you like. If you are interested, please read our privacy notice.
