Arsenal's best and worst players in comfortable Chelsea win
Arsenal halted their slide with a 3-1 victory against Chelsea on Tuesday night, climbing back atop the Premier League summit even if it is a temporary stay.
Martin Odegaard capped off a dominant start for the Gunners with a crisply taken side-foot finish that crashed off the underside of Kepa Arrizabalaga's crossbar. The contact wasn't so sweet when Granit Xhaka rolled a practically identical pass across the box for Odegaard's second goal of the first half but it still trickled into the corner of the net.
Gabriel Jesus completed the first-half blitz with Arsenal's third after 34 minutes, snaffling up a loose ball with two Chelsea defenders seated inside their own six-yard box.
Noni Madueke pulled one back for Frank Lampard's visitors but the mood at the Emirates was defiant. After season-defining defeats for the boys' under-18s and senior women's side at the club's north London venue in the past week, the men's first team responded to their own setback against Manchester City last Wednesday with a win that took them back above Pep Guardiola's side.
Here were the star performers for the resurgent hosts.
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Arsenal's best player vs Chelsea
Martin Odegaard: 9/10
Before this season, Odegaard’s most recent brace had been as a 15-year-old while he was making a mockery of men’s football in Norway. This term he has nabbed three doubles en route to a very respectable 14 league goals.
Arsenal's skipper also covered more ground than any other player on the pitch while delivering the decisive contribution in the opening half-hour.
Honourable mention
Gabriel Jesus: 8/10
With a pair of assists, Xhaka may feel hard done by to miss out but Jesus embodied the swagger which Arsenal carried for large swathes of the contest, nonchalantly nudging Chelsea’s considerably taller defenders out of his way with ease.
Jesus took his tally to ten Premier League goals with his first-half strike, becoming the fourth Arsenal player to hit double digits this season - the most of any club in England's top flight.
Arsenal's worst player vs Chelsea
Oleksandr Zinchenko: 3/10
The famously inverted fullback spent most of his time in midfield but never looked comfortable when defending as an orthodox left-back against the ball or the man.
Madueke regularly jinked past the former Manchester City defender and darted into his blind spot to receive Mateo Kovacic’s pass for Chelsea’s consolation strike before Arteta subbed him off.
Dishonourable mention
Gabriel: 5/10
When the Brazilian was on his feet, he did precious little wrong, passing progressively and snuffing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang entirely out of the contest.
However, Gabriel's insistence on slumping to the turf, holding his hamstring or knee or ankle or whatever part of his lower body was bothering him at that point in time has earned him a dishonourable mention.