In a match that showcased the gulf in class between the two sides, Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard orchestrated a masterful performance that led his team to a resounding 5-0 victory over Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
Odegaard, who has emerged as one of the Premier League’s most influential midfielders, pulled the strings like a prime-time Cesc Fabregas and picked out passes like Mesut Ozil at his peak. He set up two of Arsenal’s five goals, including an assist for Kai Havertz that had a real ‘men against boys’ sort of feel about it, leaving Chelsea chasing shadows and pulled to and fro by his wand of a left foot.
Danny Murphy, speaking to talkSPORT after the match, highlighted the stark difference in quality between the two sides. ‘Arsenal have got better players,’ he said. ‘I did not see a lack of application (from Chelsea). I saw two players for Arsenal in Rice and Odegaard who are at the top of their game, I saw three in the Chelsea midfield who are young, at the top of their game and trying to aspire to those two.’
Chelsea’s £122 million midfield duo of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo endured another evening to forget. Fernandez, once the Premier League’s most expensive player, lasted only 67 minutes and failed to make a significant impact on the game. Caicedo also struggled to contain Arsenal’s fluid attack and was replaced at half-time.
Kai Havertz, who completed a short trip across London from Chelsea to Arsenal last summer, netted twice in the second half to add to his side’s embarrassment. Ben White then grabbed a brace of his own, his second a classic case of a mishit cross taking everybody by surprise.
For Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino, the defeat was a bitter pill to swallow. ‘I feel disappointed. Really bad,’ he said. ‘The performance wasn’t good, we didn’t start the game in the way we were supposed to start. ‘We conceded the goal too easy, we made things so easy for Arsenal, started the game losing the game and after that it was really tough.’
‘The most difficult thing to accept is the way we started, because the last 30 minutes of the first half we competed well and the game was even and we started to force them to make some mistakes to create some chances. ‘Then, in the second-half, the way we started when it went 3-0… I think in this moment the team started to suffer a lot and struggled to manage the game.’
The victory extends Arsenal’s lead over Chelsea to 15 points and brings them closer to their first Premier League title in two decades. For Pochettino and his team, the defeat is a major setback and raises serious questions about their chances of qualifying for the Champions League.
