Arsenal retake title lead with win at Chelsea

Arsenal’s controlled 1-0 win at London rivals Chelsea on Sunday offered the strongest evidence this season that the Gunners can finally challenge again for the title that has eluded them for nearly 20 years.

Arsenal players and fans celebrated loudly after the match at Stamford Bridge, knowing the three points took them back above Manchester City at the top of the table and confirmed they can hurt the Premier League’s heavyweights.

The north Londoners claimed the only goal of the game — when defender Gabriel stabbed home after a corner eluded a string of Chelsea players — but the narrow victory margin masked their superiority over the 90 minutes.

The Gunners’ only league defeat of the campaign was in September away to one of England’s traditional top six clubs, Manchester United, drawing criticism that their strong start to the season was based on wins against lesser opposition.

Though they have beaten local rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool since then, both those wins were at home, adding to the sense that Sunday’s victory in West London was a milestone in their season.

Arsenal now have 34 points after 13 games, the most they have racked up at this stage of the season since the Premier League was launched, and are two points ahead of second-placed Manchester City.

Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta acknowledged the win was “another step” for his team, who failed to finish in the top four last season.

“We are getting much better as a team we are competing much better. We are getting really good results right now,” he said.

But Arteta continued to play down Arsenal’s chances of wresting the title from champions Manchester City.

“Just look at the last six years what Manchester City have done with the best manager in the world, with the best team in the world. They have shown it consistently in every single competition. We have to be respectful of that,” he said.

Pressed again on whether Arsenal were finally contenders for the title, the Spaniard limited himself to saying: “We are today,” before quickly adding the season remained a marathon.

For Chelsea, a second successive defeat after last weekend’s 4-1 drubbing by Brighton & Hove Albion underscored the challenge facing coach Graham Potter, who is two months into his time in charge of the Blues, and 13 points adrift of the Gunners.

“We huffed and puffed, I thought, but you could see the difference between the two teams in terms of confidence,” Potter said. “We’re not in a fantastic moment as we speak.” 

Warm welcome

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery tasted victory in his first game in charge as his side beat Manchester United 3-1, the visitors’ first defeat in 10 matches in all competitions.

Home supporters gave former Arsenal boss Emery a warm welcome before the match. He could not have wished for a better start to life back in the Premier League as Villa raced into a two-goal lead inside 11 minutes.

Leon Bailey arrowed a strike into the bottom corner to give Villa the lead, before Lucas Digne curled a sublime free kick past the despairing dive of United goalkeeper David de Gea, much to Emery’s delight on the touchline.

United improved a great deal as the half wore on, creating several openings before Luke Shaw’s strike took a huge deflection off Jacob Ramsey and found the net on the cusp of halftime to give the visitors hope.

Those hopes were quickly dashed though as Ramsey made amends, finding the top corner four minutes into the second half to restore Villa’s two-goal advantage.

Tempers flared as the match reached its climax, but United could not muster a comeback, losing for the first time at Villa Park in the league since 1995 to stay fifth in the standings as a well-deserved victory lifted Villa to 14th.

Reuters