Arsenal returned to the top of the Premier League courtesy of a 1-0 win over London rivals Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Gabriel put Arsenal ahead on 63 minutes with his second goal of the season to settle a hard-fought game and crown Mikel Arteta’s 150th match in charge. Victory marked a third win in a row at Stamford Bridge for Arteta’s men, who re-established their two-point advantage over Manchester City with one match to go before the league breaks for the World Cup.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang lined up to face his former club after leaving under something of a cloud back in February, when he was stripped of the Arsenal captaincy amid questions over his discipline. His most notable intervention here, though, was a yellow card for a rough foul on Arsenal’s Ben White before he was subbed off in the second half on a frustrating afternoon for the Chelsea striker.
Chelsea, hammered 4-1 at Brighton last time out in the league, were sluggish in the first half, with Arsenal the better side for much of the opening exchanges. White dragged wide after 10 minutes, Thiago Silva made a superb tackle on Gabriel Jesus inside the box and the Arsenal striker nodded wide with the goal gaping inside the opening 30 minutes, while at the other end Aaron Ramsdale was largely untroubled.
The first half was a non-event and the opening of the second period followed a similar pattern with neither side looking particularly comfortable on the ball or dangerous in attack. In a game of fine margins, it took a set-piece to open the scoring, with Bukayo Saka’s corner squirming all the way through a crowd of bodies and Gabriel tapping the ball home from inside the six yard box.
Chelsea boss Graham Potter had seen enough, replacing the anonymous Aubameyang — whose rare touches were booed by the visiting support — for Armando Broja, with Conor Gallagher replacing Kai Havertz.
The home side were left short at the back chasing an equaliser and Jesus found Martin Odegaard in space, but he fired over amid a spell of sustained Arsenal pressure. Potter’s next roll of the dice was to introduce USMNT’s Christian Pulisic but as the rain lashed down at Stamford Bridge, nothing could dampen the visitors’ joy as Arsenal saw out the match to consign Potter’s men to back-to-back league defeats.