David Hytner was at the Emirates on a great night for Arsenal and Cole Palmer. Here’s his report. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night. Mauricio Pochettino speaks to TNT. “We started the game not so well … it was difficult for us to recover from the goal … the first half we competed after 10, 15 minutes … we said at half-time we could not approach the game in the same way … but we showed too low energy … we did not compete in the way we need to compete … after the third goal it was so easy for them to manage the game … we lose the game in the first 15 minutes of the first half and the first 15 minutes of the second … against Manchester City we created many chances but were not clinical and today the same thing happened … it is a difficult result … it is not nice to see your team play like this from the beginning of the game when you are supposed to have full energy … it is an inconsistency … we are so disappointed with the game and the performance … we are talking too much during this season … we want to be in a different position next season and we need to take decisions … we deserve to go to Europe [if we compete like we did against City] but if we compete in this way, no.” Mikel Arteta talks to TNT Sports. “I am very happy with the amount of chances and goals we scored … and the clean sheet … it shows the consistency of the team … we had to be more disciplined [in the second half] and we defended the box much better … we congratulate them for their performance … it was a joy to watch them play … rest and on to Spurs now … my role is to keep demanding and make them believe they can do it … Sunday will be tough against a top side … let’s enjoy tonight and go back to work.” Leandro Trossard speaks to TNT: “The early goal helped us a lot … after that we played so well … we had a lot of chances and we turned them into goals … it’s a great night for us … clean sheets help you win games … today was a perfect night … we can only do our job and that is winning games … we will see at the end what happens.” Meanwhile two-goal Ben White is asked whether he meant his second: “I’ll let everyone else decide!” That win puts Arsenal three points clear at the top of the Premier League, for 24 hours at least. They were to a man magnificent this evening, though special notices should be made regarding Martin Odegaard, Leandro Trossard, Kai Havertz and Declan Rice. That was the performance of a title-winning team. As for Chelsea … well let’s just observe that their last two league matches have been a 6-0 win and 5-0 humiliation, and leave it at that. FULL TIME: Arsenal 5-0 Chelsea That’s Arsenal’s biggest-ever win over Chelsea, besting a 5-1 victory by Herbert Chapman’s legendary team in 1930. It’s also one heck of a title statement. Gauntlet down. Over to you, Liverpool and Manchester City. On this evidence, Arsenal are going to take some beating. 90 min +7: It should be six. Martinelli is released down the inside-left channel. He’s just got Petrovic to beat. He opens his body and slaps his shot straight at the keeper. That would have equalled Chelsea’s worst-ever Premier League defeat, a 6-0 chasing by Manchester City in 2019. 90 min +6: Chelsea again stroke it around, but only because Arsenal are happy to sit back and let them. 90 min +4: On the touchline, Mauricio Pochettino peers towards a point exactly 1,000 yards in front of him. 90 min +2: On TNT, Ally McCoist names Martin Odegaard as his player of the match. An absolute no-brainer. The Arsenal captain has been on another level this evening. 90 min +1: Martinelli spins and lashes a low drive wide of the left-hand post with an insouciant flick of the boot. Rice, free in the middle, wanted to be teed up, but Martinelli was within his rights to shoot, and so nearly scored spectacularly. 90 min: There will be seven added minutes. Not what Chelsea wanted to hear. 88 min: Vieira jinks his way down the right and upon reaching the edge of the box launches a short-backlift shot towards the top right. Inches wide of the postage stamp, with Petrovic beaten all ends up. As the ball hits the side netting, Odegaard gives him a deserved pat of encouragement. 87 min: Casadei attempts a dragback down the right but only succeeds in falling over and tumbling off the pitch. The young man has the good grace to smile wryly as he gets back to his feet amid more ironic celebration. 85 min: Chelsea string a few passes together. Arsenal’s fans pour salt into the wound with some loud ironic olés. Stinging satire. 83 min: Arsenal nearly score the goal of the season. Jesus, dribbling back upfield from the byline, finds Rice with an absurd backheel threaded down the inside-left channel. Rice opens his body and steers a shot across Petrovic and off the base of the right-hand post. Odegaard latches onto the return and shoots, but it’s blocked, and turns out Rice was a smidge offside. But wow, what a goal that nearly was. Arsenal are purring. 81 min: Saka is replaced by Vieira. 79 min: Chelsea make a double swap. Out go Madueke and Gilchrist, on come Casadei and Silva. They’ve gone five at the back, into damage limitation mode. A horse that’s already bolted, yes, but you get the general point. 78 min: White has been booked for some earlier transgression. “Nicolas Jackson is confounding,” begins Kári Tulinius. “He seems like such a skilful, intelligent player, until he shoots at goal. He’s like that Mars explorer that had traversed the huge distance from Earth only to crash into the planet’s surface because the landing system used imperial measurements instead of the metric system.” 76 min: Chelsea knock it around the back. Their goose not so much cooked as burned to a crisp, they’re just running the clock down. In the stand, a young Chelsea fan holds up a placard that says it all: “I don’t want your shirt, I want you to want to fight for ours.” 74 min: Madueke has perhaps been the sole Chelsea player not to completely embarrass himself tonight. He dribbles his way in from the right but loses control just as things appear to open up for a shot. He’s looked dangerous. 72 min: The Emirates is en fête. Mikel Arteta takes the opportunity to make a quadruple substitution: Trossard, Havertz, Partey and Tomiyasu make way for Martinelli, Jesus, Jorginho and Zinchenko. GOAL! Arsenal 5-0 Chelsea (White 70) Odegaard Phil Mickelsons a wedge down the inside-right channel. White meets the dropping ball with his shin, slicing it across and over Petrovic and in. A fluke, but what a delicious assist! 69 min: Odegaard is swanning around imperiously. Rice, Trossard and Havertz have also been immense. Arsenal are looking every inch a title-winning team tonight. 68 min: Sterling’s first act is to be skittled by Partey, just to the right of the D. His second is to take the free kick himself, and floats weakly straight at Raya. That’s Chelsea’s first attempt on target. 66 min: Poch is fuming. He makes a double change, hooking Mudryk and Fernandez for Sterling and Chalobah. GOAL! Arsenal 4-0 Chelsea (Havertz 65) Saka dribbles in from the right and passes across for Havertz, who lets the ball roll across him before swivelling and pinging it off the base of the right-hand post and in. Easy as that! 64 min: Arsenal stroke it around and the home fans crack out the olés. Any old excuse … 63 min: TNT have shown that challenge by Gabriel on Madueke again. It was a clear foul, Madueke preparing to dribble away only to be hauled back and brought down. Arsenal got away with a big one there. First the Jackson challenge on Tomiyasu, then this: another triumphant day for VAR! 61 min: Madueke slips a cute pass down the inside-right channel to release Jackson into the Arsenal box. A shot across Raya towards the bottom left would surely be a goal. He goes for the near corner instead, and only succeeds in finding the side netting. Another huge chance passed up by Jackson. It’s like the cup semi all over again. 60 min: Trossard romps down the left. He can’t shoot. Partey can, though. Blocked. Then Odegaard has a go. Blocked again. Chelsea are in danger of falling to pieces. 58 min: At the start of that move, Gabriel fell into the back of Madueke, his arm around his opponent’s waist as he brings him down. Some, such Ally McCoist on TNT, will say it should have been a free kick. VAR checks and disagrees. The goal stands! GOAL! Arsenal 3-0 Chelsea (Havertz 57) Now it’s Odegaard’s time to look for Havertz down the middle. A glorious pass curled in front of Havertz. He strides down the middle, then eases off to the left to make sure Cucurella, on his right shoulder, can’t act. He reaches the edge of the box before lifting confidently over Petrovic and in. Game over! 56 min: Partey attempts to release Havertz into acres with a simple long ball down the middle. Petrovic races out of his box to hack clear. 54 min: Chelsea’s defending didn’t really pass muster there. It was a garden-variety short corner, and Rice was afforded way too much time and space to take his shot. 53 min: On the touchline, Mikel Arteta celebrates with vigour. As dominant as Arsenal have been, Chelsea have also threatened on several occasions. They needed a second. GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea (White 52) The corner’s played short and worked back to Rice, in acres by the D. Rice swipes towards the bottom left. The ball deflects into the path of White, on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. He swipes first time back across Petrovic and into the bottom left. The Emirates erupts! 51 min: To repeat: how on earth etc.? Odegaard plays a sensational reverse pass down the inside-right channel for Havertz, who swivels and shoots hard from the corner of the six-yard box. Petrovic somehow shovels the ball around the post for a corner. From which … 50 min: Now Odegaard spins on the edge of the D before larruping over the bar. How on earth is this match still 1-0? 49 min: Rice steals the ball off Gallagher, lays off to Odegaard and romps towards the Chelsea box. Odegaard slips the ball to him down the inside-right. Rice drives low and hard; Petrovic makes another solid block. 48 min: The resulting free kick isn’t worth discussing. 47 min: Jackson snaffles the ball from a dozing Partey and is cynically clipped from behind as he wanders off with it. A free kick in a central position, 35 yards out, though no yellow card for Partey. Nobody knows anything. Arsenal get the second half started. No changes. “So much hate thrown against Nottingham Forest for their statement against PGMOL, but seriously, what is going on with VAR?” asks Filip Gieldon. “How in the world wasn’t the on-field referee sent to the replay screen for that horror tackle by Jackson on Tomiyasu? You can see his foot bend under the pressure, he nearly snapped his leg.” Half-time entertainment. Some retro retro whimsy, all the way from 2010. HALF TIME: Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea Plenty of chances in that half. Most of them for Arsenal, but some big ones for Chelsea too. Just the one goal, though. As things stand, Arsenal are going three points clear at the top! 45 min: Now it’s Trossard’s turn to go into the book for standing on top of Cucurella’s foot. A late challenge, and he can’t have any complaints. Mikel Arteta makes one, nonetheless, and is also booked for his trouble. 44 min: Madueke whistles past Tomiyasu on the right. He’s got the Arsenal man’s number. He reaches the byline and crosses low. Raya collects. Nobody in blue had kept up with play. 43 min: Chelsea pick up a couple of cheap bookings in short order. Gilchrist for shoving Trossard in the back, Cucurella for a similar nudge on Saka. Truth be told, there wasn’t much in either challenge, but now both of Chelsea’s full backs are on the disciplinary tightrope. 41 min: Gallagher races after a long pass down the right and digs out a cross from a tight spot. Jackson arrives to meet it at the near post, but doesn’t throw himself bravely at the header. He sticks his arm up, thinking the nearby Gabriel is about to high-kick him, and the ball hits his hand. Free kick, when it really should have been an equaliser. 39 min: Chelsea ping it around patiently. Suddenly Madueke goes through the gears down the right. The ball’s worked back to Fernandez, who floats into the Arsenal box. Gallagher is this close to meeting the dropping ball, six yards out in a central position, but Raya has read the danger and comes off his line to collect. 37 min: Cucurella thinks he’s won a throw down the Chelsea left. He takes it, but the officials put him right. He hops around in the livid style, which isn’t exactly a proportionate response. He’s lucky the referee stops at a lecture; he could easily have gone in the book. 35 min: Trossard has the beating of Gilchrist down the left. He makes it all the way down the left flank before firing a cross through a six-yard box unpopulated by team-mates. 34 min: Trossard’s shot is deflected wide left. From the resulting corner, Saka sprays a speculative shot wide right and high. “Getting nutmegged by someone like Trossard from six yards out is nothing to be ashamed of, especially when your defence hangs you out to dry like that,” writes Justin Madson. “I would still rather have Petrovic in goal than Sanchez. One thing Pochettino has definitely gotten right this season.” 32 min: Trossard slips White into acres down the left. White crosses for Saka, who can’t win a clean header, six yards out, and concedes a free kick. Time for Chelsea to take a few much-needed deep breaths. 30 min: Chelsea nearly equalise. Madueke zips past Tomiyasu at warp speed. His low cross finds Cucurella in some space at the far post. He drives low and hard goalwards. Raya parries. Fernandez tries to steer the rebound into the bottom left, but passes just wide of the post. As bad as Chelsea look at the back, they’re very dangerous whenever they spring into attack. 28 min: Chelsea are teetering on the brink every time Arsenal come forward. Saka is causing Cucurella all sorts of bother down the right, while Odegaard is in leg-as-magic-wand mode. 26 min: Odegaard rolls a pass to Havertz, who spins and feeds Saka. A shot. Blocked. Havertz comes again. Shot. Saved by Petrovic, this time. Then finally Trossard has a go. His shot is deflected, and looks like flying into the net past the wrong-footed Petrovic, but the keeper somehow sticks up an arm to stop. What an outrageous passage of play, with a couple of top-drawer saves to match! 25 min: Nothing comes from the corner. This is a very open game. 24 min: This is great end-to-end fun. Odegaard’s quick feet sends Tomiyasu into the box down the left. A low cross is narrowly missed by Saka and Havertz. Then a counter. Jackson tears past Saliba down the left and cuts back. The ball pings off Gabriel, then the left-hand post, and out for a corner. Breathless! 23 min: Chelsea have settled a bit, mind. They enjoyed 66 percent of possession during the five minutes that immediately preceded Rice’s shot. 22 min: Saka sashays down the right touchline and cuts infield. He drops a shoulder to shoot, but his effort is blocked. Rice then steals the ball off Fernandez, and has a lash from the edge of the D. Over the bar it goes. Not by much, though. That got the crowd gasping. 21 min: On TNT Sports, Ally McCoist argues that Petrovic shouldn’t have been beaten at his near post for the goal. “He’s talking clichéd rubbish about Petrovic,” writes Hugh Molloy. “Trossard’s perfect first touch let it sit up slightly and allowed him to absolutely marmalise that from six yds out. Unless that hits the keeper, it’s a goal. Near post or not.” 19 min: Mudryk’s corner is flicked on by Badiashile. Disasi, bombing in at the far post, can’t connect. Had he got anything on that, the ball was flying into the net. Arsenal probably should have gone 2-0 up; now they could easily be 2-1 down. Strange old match, this one. There’ll surely be more goals. 18 min: Saka makes a mess of a simple backpass, shanking it out for a Chelsea corner on the left. Mudryk to take. 16 min: Chelsea’s best form of defence may be attack. Jackson probes down the left. He can’t find anyone with his cross. Mudryk has a go from the same flank. He delivers brilliantly, but Madueke can’t connect in the middle, six yards out. So close to an equaliser, despite everything that’s gone before! 15 min: The corner’s worked back to Odegaard, who crosses deep. Tomiyasu closes his eyes and heads over from close range. 14 min: Odegaard is orchestrating. He rolls a pass down the right for White, who wins a corner off Cucurella. Arsenal have already scored 13 goals from corners this season. Number 14 coming up? Not immediately, as Badiashile eyebrows Saka’s delivery out for another corner, this one to come in from the left. 13 min: That really should have been 2-0. Arsenal doing their time-honoured thing of attempting to walk the ball into the net. They’ve been excellent, though, forcing Chelsea into many a mistake. 11 min: Badiashile passes out carelessly from the back. Partey intercepts easily, then Odegaard sends Havertz into the box down the inside-right channel. Havertz attempts to roll the ball across for Rice, instead of shooting himself. Caicedo intercepts. It would have been a simple tap-in for Rice otherwise. Chelsea have started in shambolic fashion. 9 min: Jackson stands on Tomiyasu’s ankle. A free kick, but no yellow. It could easily have been a red. 8 min: Fernandez tugs back Trossard on the left. Odegaard’s free kick is no good, straight into the arms of Petrovic. Then another phase of attack, and White makes good down the right but can’t find anyone with his cutback. Chelsea need to wake up quickly or they’ll be out of this in short order. 7 min: Bad news for Chelsea: Arsenal have won 22 of the 25 Premier League games this season in which they’ve scored first. GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea (Trossard 5) This is way too easy. Rice is allowed to barrel down the inside-left channel without anyone in blue questioning him. Rice reaches the edge of the box and feints to go inside, only to switch direction, releasing Trossard on the outside. Gilchrist dummied out of the game. Trossard lashes low and hard and beats Petrovic at the near post. A flying start for the hosts! 3 min: Chelsea are making a slightly nervous start. Cucurella heads back to his keeper Petrovic and only just gets enough purchase on the ball. Trossard was hovering. 2 min: … so but for an inch or two, Arsenal could be one up already and Chelsea a man down. 25 sec: White curls a low pass down the inside-right channel to release Havertz on goal! He enters the box before being tugged back by Badiashile. Clearly a penalty … but the flag goes up, correctly, for offside. What an escape for Chelsea. What a start that could have been! Chelsea get the ball rolling. Arsenal kicking towards their famous clock. The teams are out! Arsenal wear their red and white, Chelsea blue and gold. Everyone looking real fine. Everyone at the Emirates sounding damn good as well, the atmosphere just as you’d expect ahead of a midweek derby between two huge rivals under the lights. We’ll be off soon enough! Mauricio Pochettino talks to TNT. “We need to move on … we were disappointed after the semi … it is another opportunity today … it is not easy to replace a player [Cole Palmer] that is doing really well for us … the playmaker … but we need to know how we need to play … Alfie Gilchrist already has experience … he must take things in a natural way and try to play and perform the way he knows.” Mikel Arteta speaks to TNT Sports. “We know we will have to be really good tonight to beat this team … we keep fighting … we have won ten out of 11 and are still not top, that is the level we are in … [Saliba and Gabriel] is a huge platform, they is an unbelievable chemistry there, an understanding, they complement each other in the right way … they’ve been playing for two years together and keep growing … we are blessed to have them … the team defensively has been collectively strong … we have already been here and we know what it takes … we are here to impact the game … we have the ability … when it comes to these moments you have to step up and make it happen.” Arsenal make two changes to their starting XI after the 2-0 win at Wolves. Thomas Partey and Takehiro Tomiyasu are in; Gabriel Jesus and Jakub Kiwior drop to the bench. Chelsea make four changes in the wake of their 1-0 FA Cup semi-final defeat by Manchester City. Cole Palmer is ill and Malo Gusto is injured, while Trevoh Chalobah and Thiago Silva drop to the bench. Mykhailo Mudryk, Axel Disasi, Benoit Badiashile and Alfie Gilchrist step up. The teams Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tomiyasu, Odegaard, Partey, Rice, Saka, Havertz, Trossard. Subs: Ramsdale, Gabriel Jesus, Smith Rowe, Martinelli, Nketiah, Kiwior, Jorginho, Vieira, Zinchenko. Chelsea: Petrovic, Disasi, Gilchrist, Badiashile, Cucurella, Caicedo, Fernandez, Madueke, Gallagher, Mudryk, Jackson. Subs: Thiago Silva, Sterling, Bettinelli, Chalobah, Chukwuemeka, Casadei, Washington, Tauriainen, Dyer. Referee: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire). Preamble Arsenal can go three points clear at the top of the Premier League tonight, and in doing so, tick off one of the harder matches of their title-race run-in. They’ll fancy their chances against a side that everyone has suddenly started referring to as Cole Palmer FC, but tonight won’t feature any Cole Palmer. Arsenal are the form horse, having won 11 of their last 13 Premier League matches, and have only lost one of their last nine encounters with Chelsea, though they lost their last home game, against Aston Villa. Meanwhile Chelsea are belatedly getting it together under Mauricio Pochettino: they’re unbeaten in eight league games, and were the better side in defeat to Manchester City in the cup semis last weekend. So all in all, for a match between first and ninth, between teams separated by 27 points, this is balanced rather nicely. Kick-off is at 8pm BST. Business-end drama ahoy! It’s on!