Arsenal got their top four chase back on track with a thrilling 4-2 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.
There were banks of empty seats at Stamford Bridge, in what was Chelsea's first home game with only season ticket holders in attendance since government sanctions meant the club were unable to put match tickets up for general sale.
Chaos reigned in a pulsating first half, with four goals flying in amid a litany of defensive errors at both ends.
Chelsea nearly took the lead inside five minutes but Marcos Alonso's close-range effort was deflected into the side netting. Gabriel Magalhaes was then forced to clear Mason Mount's resulting corner from underneath his own crossbar.
After both Gabriel and Romelu Lukaku had gone close at either end, Andreas Christensen's horribly mis-hit back pass put Eddie Nketiah clean through, and the Arsenal striker made no mistake with a low finish.
However, the hosts were level four minutes later. This time Nketiah was the villain, giving the ball away to Ruben Loftus-Cheek, whose interception rolled to Timo Werner. The German shifted it out of his feet and his mis-hit low drive squeezed inside Aaron Ramsdale's near post.
Mount almost gave Chelsea the advantage shortly afterwards, but his rasping drive veered away from goal. Bukayo Saka then cut the ball back for Nketiah after a jinking run, but the frontman conspired to strike his effort against his own leg and it looped wide.
The half persisted in an end-to-end nature, and a wonderful counter attack yielded a second Arsenal goal. The move started with a cool nutmeg from Granit Xhaka, with the ball eventually worked out wide to Saka. His pass found Martin Odegaard, whose layoff was beautifully converted first time on the run by Emile Smith Rowe.
Once again, though, it took Chelsea just a few minutes to find a leveller. Ben White gave the ball away out wide under pressure from Mount and Werner, and the former's perfect cross was expertly converted by wing-back Cesar Azpilicueta, and the Blues survived a VAR review for a possible foul in the build-up.
Livewire Nketiah went close again straight from kick-off, firing a left-footed effort past post from the edge of the box. Smith Rowe came within a whisker of his second in the final minute of the half, engineering some space in the box with some dazzling footwork but blasting wide.
The game settled somewhat in the second half, but there was still room for a defensive error to lead to another goal before the hour mark.
Azpilicueta gave the ball away in midfield, and although substitute Thiago Silva made an excellent challenge on Nketiah, Malang Sarr was unable to deal with the loose ball and the Arsenal man was able to prod in his second before.
Arsenal then settled into a more defensive shape, inviting Chelsea to try to break them down. The closest they came was when Reece James' cross-shot was pushed away by Ramsdale with 25 minutes to play, and White produced a wonderful block to deny Alonso's follow-up.
Saka sealed the victory from the spot in the last minute. The winger went down off the ball under a challenge from Azpilicueta with referee John Moss adjudging it to be a foul, and the England man stepped up to slot the penalty beyond Edouard Mendy.
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