Arsenal breeze by Chelsea to reclaim PL’s top spot (for now)

Arsenal snapped their four-game winless skid and went back atop the Premier League table with a 3-1 victory over Chelsea at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.

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The victory may have come too late for Arsenal (76 points), though, as they only lead Manchester City by two points, but the two-time defending champions now have two games in hand on the Gunners. The defeat leaves Chelsea (39 points) in 12th, down a spot from where they began matchweek 34.

Arsenal flew out of the starting gate and went ahead after just 18 minutes. Granit Xhaka made his way down the left channel, in acres of space with all the time in the world, and cut a cross back to the top of the penalty area, where Martin Odegaard arrived with picture-perfect timing and technique. Odegaard thumped the ball with his left foot, guiding it over Kepa Arrizabalaga’s hand and just under the crossbar for a 1-0 lead.

13 minutes later, Odegaard struck again, with an all-too-familiar, left-footed sweeping motion. Again, it was Xhaka who did the work on the left and found the Norwegian, this time nearer to the penalty spot, with an inch-perfect pass.

WATCH ARSENAL vs CHELSEA FULL MATCH REPLAY

Gabriel Jesus made it 3-0 just three minutes after that, as he cleaned up another busy scene inside Chelsea’s six-yard box after Xhaka was initially denied by Arrizabalaga.

Chelsea got a goal back in the 65th minute, as Noni Madueke scored his first goal since joining the club from PSV Eindhoven in January. Madueke made a diagonal run from the right wing and got behind Gabriel Magalhaes as Mateo Kovacic’s pass soared over the Arsenal defense. Madueke got a faint touch on the bouncing ball, hitting it into the ground and bounding over