In the late kick-off, Arsenal gave manager Arsene Wenger a 20th anniversary to remember as Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil scored in a slick 3-0 victory over Chelsea.
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“We must reflect on our two defeats in “two big games”.
The way Arsenal are looking at the minute you would expect us to win both those matches and if we do then things will really start looking good for the season ahead.
It showed just how reliant Chelsea is on a 35-year-old John Terry and why Antonio Conte was so keen to bring in defensive reinforcements: Kurt Zouma can not return from injury quickly enough.
“We wanted to start strong in a high pace and committed way”.
“If someone thinks this season is easy, we must work a lot to improve and change the situation because now we are a great a team on the paper, not on the pitch”, Conte said.
“It’s one of those moments as a manager when you think: ‘Today is a great day.’ In the first half it was almost flawless”.
For once, a landmark game for Arsene Wenger wasn’t spoiled by Chelsea, and this time it was Arsenal humiliating its London rival. I don’t want to talk about the mistakes because it’s not right for the player, we win as a team and we lose as a team and we know we must work a lot. “There’s still room for improvement, but that shows we can defend together the style of football we want to play”.
“It’s one of the best performances in recent years”, Wenger said of his 1,128th Arsenal game.
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte added: “I think that we didn’t have the right attitude from the first minute”.
The Blues produced one of the most frantic defensive displays since owner Roman Abramovich took charge of the club over a decade ago and left Twitter wondering whether Arsenal were that good, or Chelsea that bad.
By reeling off a sixth successive English Premier League victory on Saturday, Manchester City underlined just how formidable it is under Pep Guardiola.
– Chelsea found themselves three goals down at half-time in a Premier League game for the first time since May 2012 (v Liverpool, 4-1 FT). “At the moment Manchester City look a long way in front but, if we maintain the quality of our performances and stay consistent, we might have a chance”. The hero of last season’s title win was left trailing in Ozil’s wake for Arsenal’s third.
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Minutes later it was 2-0 when Theo Walcott finished off a slick Arsenal passing move.
