By Razeen Gutta
There may have been without Cole Palmer, but there were no other excuses for the Blues, who were on the receiving end of a five-star Arsenal performance at the Emirates on Tuesday.
Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea took to the London turf for a derby evening that would have had both the red half of Merseyside and the blue side of Manchester intrigued as to what could be, as the run-in for the Premier League title reaches fever pitch.
Without star man and the league’s top scorer Palmer, however, the Blues would have known that they faced an uphill battle.
The battle would turn to struggle after just four minutes as Leandro Trossard netted to put the hosts ahead.
The struggle would only turn into utter humiliation at the turn of the half though, with Arsenal going on to score four further times inside 18 minutes.
Ben White and Kai Havertz both bagged braces against the Blues as the 5-0 win got the Gunners three points clear at the summit of the standings.
The victory was Arsenal’s biggest ever against Chelsea in all competitions while the Blues were victims of a defeat of this magnitude in a London derby for the first time since 1986 when QPR beat them by six goals to nil.
On Wednesday the derby day action shifts to Merseyside as Liverpool make the trip across Stanley Park to face Everton and close the gap at the top of the pile.
Arsenal now sit three points ahead of the Reds having played a game more; and four clear of Manchester City, who have two games in hand on the Gunners.
Pictured above: Arsenal
Image source: @arsenal
