By David Awopetu
To put the scale of Arsenal’s shock boxing day victory over Chelsea into some sort of context, Arsenal had been able to score only four goals in their previous 10 Premier League matches – a sequence that had brought them five points.
It had the club mired in their worst start to a season since 1974-75 and the manager, Mikel Arteta, in crisis. One of the big pre-match questions asked whether Arsenal were in a relegation battle.
This was a restorative result and performance, with Arteta’s bold team selection returning a rich dividend. He gave first league appearances of the season to Pablo Marí and Emile Smith Rowe and a first start in the competition this time out to Gabriel Martinelli. Smith Rowe emerged with honours, driving from his No. 10 role.
Arsenal were in control by half-time, with Alexandre Lacazette’s penalty being followed by an absolute banger of a free-kick by Granit Xhaka, who is one of the players the Arsenal support love to hate. On his comeback from suspension, Xhaka was excellent.
Bukayo Saka’s cross then dropped into the top corner early in the second half to put the game beyond the visitors.
Tammy Abraham scored from close range to make it a nervy final five minutes for the hosts and Jorginho then saw his weak penalty saved by Bernd Leno.
But it was an otherwise lacklustre performance by Frank Lampard’s side, who missed the chance to go second.
It was a well-deserved victory for Arsenal, who climb to 14th and will hope any talk of a relegation battle is now behind them.
