Arsenal may not be so involved in the conversation of the title as they would like, hence the celebrations here were something, nowhere as lush as they would have been.
This was more a victory to show the abyss between the second best club and the chelsea in the country, one side with a serious growing to make Enzo Maresca under.
Arsenal was barely at his best, since Mikel Merino's header on the corner of Martin Odegaard acted as the winner, but they knew what to do to quell his opponents.
The Maresca team showed a minimum invention or intensity for 90 minutes, its greatest opportunity came when David Raya almost lost a routine salvation in his own goal.
Otherwise, they were out of ideas, disturbed where to be and when, with players like Enzo Fernández and Wesley Fofana showing their petulance with silly offenses born from frustration. And no, we cannot blame everything for the absence of Cole Palmer, injured by this trip.
Chelsea had won his four previous games in all competitions, which sounded well as a statistic, although he was warned by how they came against Southampton, Leicester and Copenhagen twice. These victories did not prevent Maresca from facing accusations that his football style is too aside for fans' taste. His philosophy focuses on control, after all. If you want an end to end action, look for a ticket for Wimbledon championships.
Arsenal beat London Chelsea rivals at Emirates Stadium in the Premier League on Sunday
Mikel Merino scored his sixth goal of the season to give Arsenal the advantage after 20 minutes
Emergency striker Merino found the bottom of the network with a loop header after a corner
This was supposed to be the true fire test, and they failed it.
December 8, 2024 was the last time Chelsea held a victory outside the Premier League, delivered through a return of 4-3 in Tottenham. A friend who leads to and from the games away from home calculated that he had covered 1,446 miles since then. Not enough to make a dent on a trip to the moon, but the same mileage could have taken it to Albania.
Speaking of, Thomas Tuchel's England will face Albania in a few days, although it is not known if Palmer will be available for it. Worrying about the followers of Chelsea, its game creator collected an injury in training on Saturday and, therefore, was marginalized here.
While he was out, the 22 -year -old English still takes the Maresca team for a level, after having scored or helped 20 of his 53 goals in the Premier League this season.
Palmer's absence had a domino effect on Chelsea configuration. Fernández forced Fernández to complete in NO 10, which in turn transferred Reece James to the center of the field, which meant that Fofana was on the right, which led Benoit Badiashile to the central defense. It is not ideal, and Chelsea lost 5-0 at Arsenal last season in another game when Palmer was missing, that time due to the disease.
Leandro Trosssard took four minutes to open the score in the annihilation of April 2024. He could have hit even before, although he could not prevent his 12 -yard shot from diverting.
Robert Sánchez was again the number 1 of Chelsea about Filip Jorgensen and his first mistake came when the ball went directly to Gabriel Martinelli. The end of Arsenal could not capitalize on the gift, although this was only the beginning of a comic start of visitors.
In the 12th minute, Mikel Arteta wondered how they had not scored when there was a fight from the almighty goal mouth, initiated by Jurrien Timber picking up possession after Marc Cucurella fell to the ball. Timber's square pass in the six -yard box was brilliantly defended by Fofana, but a double deviation from Badiashile and then Levi Colwill forced Sánchez to a reactionary rescue when Declan's rice hit the rebound. Var took a long look of whether there was a Cucurella handball before in the movement, but they gave him the benefit of the doubt. The same happened when Rice said Fofana had trampled after a foul.
Referee Chris Kavanagh issued six yellow cards to the players during a competitive London derby
Sunday's victory saw Arsenal extend his ruin undefeated against Chelsea to seven games
Chelsea has now suffered four consecutive losses away from home in the Premier League
The Arsenal Chief, Mikel Arteta, is shown in the photo while talking with Marc Cucurella de Chelsea (right)
Arsenal led 1-0 after 20 minutes and the only surprise was that it took them so long. He arrived from a corner shot towards the Waiting Package of Odegaard, who was playing his 99th game for his club as Captain. Merino lit it as he left Sánchez 1-0.
The first Chelsea taking of any description occurred after 26 minutes. It was speculative from Fernández, he never entered, but visiting supporters celebrated him anyway because, technically, they had seen an attack. They wanted invention and intensity, not one side of the sleepwals.
In the 37th minute, after Pedro Neto and Christopher Nkunku had seen their blocked shots, Cucurella threw a volley directly at bay. It should have been a routine stop for Arsenal's goalkeeper, but a loose ball saw the ball drunk next to the post.
That gave Chelsea some confidence while pushing above in the field, although they were difficult to get. Net, trying to direct the line instead of a striker, he frustrated when he was moodied by Arsenal's defenders in the second half. However, the challenges were clean, and the improvised center of the front arsenal in Merino almost scored again when he turned to the goal, only to be denied by a strong hand of Sánchez.
In the 70th minute, Fofana knocked Myles Lewis-Skelly, an 18-year-old full of confidence after her first call from England. Martinelli stopped in front of the Chelsea goalkeeper while fixing his wall, trying to distract him. The Arsenal organization lasted more than two minutes and when Rice finally took it, he hit the wall.
When we entered the final stages, Maresca threw himself into the 19 -year -old academy star, Tyrique George, but it was a great help to change this.