With five games remaining in the Premier League campaign and without a win in four, Arsenal were in desperate need of three points as they hosted rivals Chelsea in their final London derby of the 2022/2023 Premier League season.
Ahead of the game, Mikel Arteta had made three changes to his starting XI from the crushing defeat away at Manchester City. Former Chelsea man Jorginho came into midfield to replace Thomas Partey, Leandro Trossard earned a deserved start as Gabriel Martinelli was rested on the bench, and Polish defender Jakub Kiwior came in for his first league start since his January signing over Rob Holding.
Time would tell whether these changes from the Arsenal boss would prove to work, and it started well for Arteta and his side as twenty minutes through the first half, Granit Xhaka found Martin Odegaard on the edge of the box and the Arsenal captain fired a fine effort off the crossbar and into Kepa’s goal despite the best efforts of the Spanish goalkeeper. And the Norwegian would soon double the lead for his team and grab his second of the evening as he slotted home an effort from 18 yards out from another Granit Xhaka assist in what was a very similar move.
However, Arsenal wouldn’t finish their first half dominance there. Three minutes after they had doubled their lead, Gabriel Jesus smashed home from close range following some more poor Chelsea defending to make it 3-0 and net his 10th goal of the season in the process. The Brazilian’s goal rounding off an excellent first half performance from the Gunners, much needed following a poor run of results in recent weeks for Mikel Arteta’s team.
The home side started the second half just as they finished the first, dominating the control of the game and coming close when Thiago Silva headed a Gabriel effort off the line from a corner. Granit Xhaka also came close for the Gunners as he broke through into the Chelsea penalty area following some superb play from the Arsenal. However the Swiss could unfortunately not add a goal to his three assists as he could only manage a fairly tame effort which was saved by Kepa. Despite their considerable dominance, Chelsea would find a goal back through Noni Madueke when the winger was found after Oleksandr Zinchenko lost his man. The Blues goal made the end to the game slightly more nervy than it probably should’ve been however Arsenal did well and saw out the game with little trouble for Aaron Ramsdale.
Arsenal will look to make it two wins from two on Sunday however face one of the league’s toughest away trips right now as they head North to St. James Park to take on high-flying Newcastle.
Player Ratings:
Aaron Ramsdale: 7 – Made a number of catches and saves and could do nothing about the goal
Ben White: 7: Solid throughout and dealt well with the late threat of Mudryk
Jakub Kiwior: 7 – The Polish defender’s first 90 minutes was a very solid one. A strong first league start
Gabriel: 7 – solid as ever
Oleksandr Zinchenko: 6 – Not bad by any means but arguably at fault for the Chelsea goal
Jorginho: 7 – A calm and composed presence in the midfield against his former club
Granit Xhaka: 8 – Three assists and a great control of the game throughout from the Swiss. A great evening’s work
Martin Odegaard: 9 – Two fantastic finishes from the captain which went along with an excellent midfield performance
Bukayo Saka: 7 – No goal but a great performance. Always a threat on the ball
Gabriel Jesus: 8 – Excellent all-round display capped off by a 10th goal of the season
Leandro Trossard: 7 – Another solid performance in red and white for the Belgian