- Arsenal dominates, beats Chelsea 5-0 in unexpected victory
- Chelsea’s decline evident as Arsenal controls the game
- Havertz shines, Arsenal’s victory revives hope for the team
Wait. Does this constitute a twist? Consider this a surge, a wound, or a volte-face. Or is it simply the way it feels to play against Chelsea, whose opponents at times appeared to be engaging in a non-sporting protest activity consisting of prolonged standing around eagerly awaiting the conclusion of the game?
As a peculiar indication of Manchester City’s dominance, Arsenal’s season has appeared to have ended a week ago, despite the club remaining atop the table. With a performance that evoked a sense of liberation, Arsenal surpassed City (who have two games in hand) by four points and moved three points clear of Liverpool.
It always appeared that this week would determine the outcome of the championship contest. However, this was an incredibly intriguing football contest in its own regard. The return of Kai Havertz to his mercurial false 9 position was one of the season’s greatest positives. He had an outstanding performance. Martin Odegaard was awe-inspiring; he embodied that peculiar combination of roughhouse pressing and exquisite surgical passing, as if a poet were to pursue him to death.
Under Ødegaard’s leadership, this Arsenal squad, which continues to contend for the league lead in terms of goals tallied and convincing victories, has performed admirably. Ultimately, will scoring five goals against a Chelsea squad that disintegrated like a cardboard box in the downpour have any significance? Manchester City does not appear to be pleased. Suddenly, it feels like a challenge. Pep Guardiola has been peculiarly complaining about fatigue. They are compelled to secure victory in this matter at minimum.
It also helped that Chelsea were performing at this level of mediocrity. How peculiar that despite winning a game 5-0 in the championship round of eliminations, the opposition seems to be the focus of attention. This is the extent of Chelsea’s poor performance. Even the teamsheet evoked thoughts of football in the post-apocalypse, the end times, and remnants.
Galadher Mudryk Madueke Jackson. Diverse components render this peculiar human mixture; human talent is represented by amortised numbers. We are artificial beings. We are individuals who are hollow. We are the midfielders for Chelsea. Imagine failing to defeat Chelsea 5-0.
It was, in a sense, revitalising. So much serious systems football is currently in play. What a liberating sight it was to observe a team that had no plan. Enzo Fernández once advanced the ball thirty yards before seemingly exhausting his bandwidth and pausing and restarting the play while visibly perplexed. Early on, Conor Gallagher’s sole significant responsibility was to run in and stand in anticipation of each Arsenal freekick. Indeed, it is a livelihood.
Here, talent has been hoarded. Then why? Chelsea appears to be pondering this query with each sideways pass and shrugging restart. This Chelsea squad has suffered a significant decline in quality in the absence of Cole Palmer and Malo Gusto. An anomaly of the 18-month mega-splurge was the limited selection of talent. Many Chelsea footballers were purchased at ambient temperature or lower. Simply filler, not lethal. We now possess the DNA of the yes-maybe player.
At kickoff, the Emirates appeared chilly and a little low-key, possibly still wounded from the previous ten days. The initial goal was scored in the first minute when Thomas Partey, operating behind Declan Rice, delivered a deft, fast pass to Rice, who then passed it on to Leandro Trossard. Djordje Petrovic was just denied a shot; the ball passed through his feet as he collapsed in the opposite direction akin to a shoddy Jenga tower.
Arsenal sluggishly progressed for a while. The halftime break has passed. And within ten minutes, Arsenal had taken control of the contest. Ödegaard executed a remarkable move when, starting from a standing position, he executed a reverse pass that fizzed in a flat, straight line while he was averting his gaze—directly into Havertz’s feet in front of the goal.
Ben White thumped a loose ball into the net after Petrovic blocked, but it was 2-0 from the corner as Chelsea’s players tested the exact boundaries of how near one can stand to a football game without influencing its outcome.
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Moments later, Odegaard repeated the feat with a through pass from within his own half that curved into Havertz’s path. Havertz glided away with his knees high and head up, resembling a middle distance merchant on a cinder-track with flannel shorts, before slamming the ball high into the net.
Havertz struck once more with 65 minutes remaining, causing Chelsea’s defenders to pretend to move in the manner of football while he paused, evaded, and slid a shot inside the near post. With its 24th strike on goal, Arsenal increased the lead to 5-0. It was more of an imperfect volleyed cross than a shot; Ben White was merely experimenting and having fun.
The significance of this as a turning point is debatable. Probably at this point, it is all but late. However, it felt, at the very least, as if this team had made a sworn oath to persevere until the very end.
