London: Arsenal came out victorious putting on a dominating performance in the all-important London derby beating Chelsea 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium in London on Saturday (December 26).
Alexandre Lacazette, Bukayo Saka and Granit Xhaka were on the scoresheet for the home side while Tammy Abraham scored for the visitors. Both the sides started well trying dominate the possession on the ball to create chances. Though, Chelsea were the more dominant, it was the Gunners who looked good going forward.
Eventually, the home side took the lead through Lacazette who converted it from the penalty spot after Tierney was taken down in the box by Reece James.
Towards the end of the half, Arsenal were building pressure on Chelsea’s backline resulting in the extension of the lead just before half-time courtesy of an outstanding free-kick from Xhaka who bent it with power and precision giving goalkeeper Edouard Mendy absolutely no chance.
In the second half, Chelsea were trying hard but weren’t finding their rhythm. Timo Werner had a rather disappointing outing and so was Kovacic. The Gunners made it 3-0 through youngster Saka who’s curled effort found the back of the net. The youngster showed great promise with dynamism, energy and intelligence to make things happen.
The visitors got one back through Abraham as a ray of hope before getting another chance from the penalty spot which Joginho failed to convert after Mason Mount was taken down by Pablo Mari in the box.
Towards the Chelsea turned up the heat a bit but that it wasn’t enough as Arsenal took the full three points. This win in a big match will surely boost the morale of Mikel Arteta’s side with hopes to improve their performance from now on.
