Arsenal beat Chelsea 3-1 to take league lead for now

Arsenal kept the Premier League title fight alive by beating up on a Chelsea team that seems to be in need of life support under Frank LampardArsenal returned to the top of the standings for a day at least by dismantling Chelsea 31 at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday to end a fourgame winless run that saw its control of the title race slip awayAlso ReadErling Haalandrsquos heroics takes Man City boss Guardiola by surpriseThe Gunners channelled their disappointment over last weeks 41 loss to rival Manchester City into a dominant firsthalf display going 30 up inside 34 minutes as Chelsea slumped to a sixth straight loss in all competitions under LampardMartin Odegaard scored two nearly identical goals and Gabriel Jesus added the third minutes later The visitors offered little in response until Chukwunonso Madueke pulled one back in the 65th but never came close to staging a comeback as the hosts saw out the gameWe came out with a different spirit a different team to last time against City Odegaard told Sky SportsIt hurt after the City game and we used this anger and the disappointment in this game to bounce backThe win puts Arsenal two points above Manchester City atop the standings but given that Pep Guardiolas team has two games in hand including at home against West Ham on Wednesday it may not stay there for longArsenal was coming off the loss to City and a run of three straight draws before that But Mikel Artetas team couldnt have asked for much easier opposition as it tried to get back on trackIf we want to have any chance to win the league we had to win today Arteta saidGranit Xhaka created the two opening goals in similar fashion sending a low cross into the box from the left to pick out Odegaard who beat goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga with his left foot both timesThat took any remaining air out of a Chelsea team that has nothing to play for and is languishing in 12th place under its third manager of the season in Lampard who is set to leave at the end of the campaignJesus slotted in the third just three minutes after Odegaards second following a reboundLampard gave former Arsenal striker PierreEmerick Aubameyang a rare start but the Gunners early domination meant that four of the forwards first seven touches in the game were kickoffs He was taken off at halftimeArsenal missed two good chances to extend the lead after the break as Thiago Silva cleared a header from fellow center back Gabriel off the line in the 50th and Kepa saved a low shot from Xhaka three minutes laterMadueke gave Chelsea a bit of hope as he got behind Oleksandr Zinchenko to meet a ball over the top and beat Aaron Ramsdale from close rangeWhile Chelseas intensity increased after that Ramsdale didnt have another save to make until Kai Havertz tried a shot from a difficult angle in injury timeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever