Arsenal 5-0 Chelsea: Player ratings as ruthless five star Gunners extend lead atop the Premier League table | OneFootball

Premier League title chasers Arsenal dispatched London rivals Chelsea with ease this evening.

Mikel Arteta’s men resumed control of the championship table with a 2-0 win at Wolves last time out, while the Blues were eliminated from this season’s FA Cup at the semi-final stage by Manchester City, who are one point back on the Gunners with a game in hand.

Resuming their Premier League duties, Chelsea found itself in ninth place following another difficult campaign, the first under ex-Tottenham boss — and Arteta’s former Paris Saint-Germain teammate — Mauricio Pochettino, the Argentine tactician has never won a Premier League away game against Arsenal, drawing four and losing three of his seven league visits to the Emirates Stadium with Southampton and Spurs.

Chelsea also came into this contest without talisman Cole Palmer; the 21-year-old has already scored 20 league goals this season, ten of which came in his last five appearances. Furthermore, they averaged 1.3 goals per Premier League game this season without Palmer starting (eight games) compared to 2.2 goals per game when he started (23 games).

How they missed their ‘most valuable player’. Leandro Trossard, Ben White (brace), and Kai Havertz (brace) netted in what ended up being a routine 5-0 victory. Subsequently, the North Londoners are three points ahead of Liverpool with a game in hand (tomorrow’s Merseyside Derby). Meanwhile, the defending champions, Manchester City, are four back, though they played two fewer games.

As the dust begins to settle, here is how the players rated at the Emirates Stadium:

Arsenal

David Raya – 7 – Another clean sheet for the Spaniard, who survived a scare when he saw Jackson’s first-half deflected shot hit the post.

Takehiro Tomiyasu – 7 – Played on the opposite flank he is accustomed to, but that did not deter the Japanese international, who proved to be a consistent outlet.

Gabriel – 7.5 – When called upon, the Brazilian didn’t put a foot wrong, winning 100% of his attempted tackles and making a crucial interception.

William Saliba – 8 – How the Gunners missed his presence at the backend of last season. If he stays healthy, Arsenal could become champions.

Ben White – 9 – Showed real endeavour going forward, in the right place to double Arsenal’s lead before registering their fifth, and put a commendable shift backing up the dynamic Saka.

Declan Rice – 8.5 – He plays a crucial role in Arsenal’s defence. Rice is often tasked with maintaining possession and executing his tasks perfectly, but today, he registered as the sixth assistant in the campaign.

Thomas Partey – 6.5 – Made his fifth Premier League start of an injury-hit campaign and only his second since August. Following the regaining of possession, he produced some intelligent forward runs.

Martin Ødegaard – 9 – As usual, when he’s on song, Arsenal plays their best football. Ødegaard was at his fleet-footed best, and everything Arteta’s side did positively came through him.

Leandro Trossard – 7 – On the occasion of his 50th Premier League appearance for Arsenal (24th start), he celebrated by opening the scoring. Trossard has only scored more goals in the competition against Liverpool (6) than Chelsea (4).

Kai Havertz – 9 – He was facing his former team and went into the break thinking he could have done better from an attacking perspective; Havertz went to pass instead of shooting but made amends by netting Arsenal’s third and fourth.

Bukayo Saka – 7 – There were glimpses of Saka’s brilliant wing play, and the England international finished with another registered assist.

Substitutes:

Gabriel Jesus (for Havertz 71) – 5 – A delicious no-look pass for Rice, who found himself in an offside position, was a highlight of his brief cameo.

Gabriel Martinelli (for Trossard 71) – 5 – Once a guaranteed starter, the Brazilian forward would be miffed not to have begun the game.

Jorginho (for Partey 71) – 5 – The one-time Chelsea hero was brought on to ensure Arsenal kept a clean sheet with his ability to control possession.

Oleksandr Zinchenko (for Tomiyasu 71) – 5 – Has been under par this season but faced no difficulties against Pochettino’s demoralised side.

Fabio Vieira (for Saka 81) – N/A – A late sub.

Chelsea

Djordje Petrovic – 5.5 – He was kept busy and made two brilliant saves, notably Trossard’s deflected effort before the half-hour mark.

Marc Cucurella – 4.5 – Started nervously before settling into the game. He enjoyed a fascinating battle with Saka down Chelsea’s left flank.

Benoît Badiashile – 5 – Had an interesting performance at both ends of the pitch: created two chances while producing the same amount of interceptions.

Axel Disasi – 5 – Made several critical interventions while the hosts were on top and bossing the game.

Alfie Gilchrist – 5 – Made his first Premier League start, and what a baptism of fire with him dealing with a flying Trossard, but the youngster gave a decent account of himself.

Enzo Fernández – 4.5 – Couldn’t conduct his usual midfield duties seamlessly as Arsenal won the middle-third battle.

Moisés Caicedo – 5 – He often found himself on the back foot and not in the opposition half, where his link-up prowess could have made a difference.

Mykhailo Mudryk – 4.5 – One cannot question his commitment, but Mudryk lacks the consistency that will catapult him from being merely okay to good.

Conor Gallagher – 5.5 – Unsurprisingly, this was another combative performance from Chelsea’s distance runner, but he was on his behaviour, not adding to his yellow card collection.

Noni Madueke – 5.5 – Often cut a lonely figure out wide. That said, he was often the outlet whenever Chelsea aimed to switch from defence to attack.

Nicolas Jackson – 5.5 –

Trevoh Chalobah (for Fernández 67) – 5 – Not much he could have done with the game long done.