Lukaku Impresses As Chelsea Ease Past Arsenal
Chelsea’s club-record signing Romelu Lukaku scored on his second debut for the club as the blues claimed a 2-0 away victory against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Arsenal started with Bukayo Saka Gabriel Martinelli and Nicolas Pepe in attack, while new signing Ben White was out with COVID-19 and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was on the bench. Chelsea’s new signing Romelu Lukaku started with Reece James and Kai Havertz also making the team.
The £97.5m summer signing Lukaku registered his first goal for the club after tapping home at close range from Reece James’ ball across the face of goal in the 15th minute. The Belgian’s superb hold-up play triggered the move before the goal.
Lukaku bullied Arsenal’s defence all afternoon as defender Pablo Mari went in the book early for a foul on the striker, and in drawing the attention of the Gunners’ back line, space opened up regularly on both Chelsea flanks, particularly on the right.
Chelsea’s second came from the right flank as good work from Kai Havertz set Marcos Alonso free. Alonso found Lukaku, who let the ball run through him amid Granit Xhaka’s challenge to allow Mount spread the ball wide to James. The England wing back made no mistake, firing the into the top left corner of the goal.
Arsenal felt they should have had a penalty just before the break as Saka went down under James’ challenge, but both the referee and the VAR ruled it a fair coming-together challenge.
Arsenal improved after the break as Saka’s deflected effort from range was tipped over by goalkeeper Edouard Mendy. Moments later, Rob Holding should have done better when his header from six yards out, failing to meet the target as the defender was unmarked in the box.
Aubameyang was introduced to accompany Gabriel Martinelli who was isolated throughout the match. Arsenal goalkeeper Leno made a big save when he superbly denied Lukaku a second, tipping his close-range header onto the bar. However, the Chelsea fans were singing Lukaku’s name at full time after a brilliant performance as the match finished 2-0.
It was a dismal afternoon again for Arsenal, who lost both Kieran Tierney and Martinelli to injury, but Chelsea’s dominance shows why they are considered as genuine title contenders this term.
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Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku scored his 114th Premier League goal, overtaking Ian Wright to become the competition’s 20th highest scoring player. Lukaku also became the eighth non-Englishman to score 50+ goals both home and away in the competition.
It doesn’t get any easier for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, whose reshuffled back four struggled desperately with Lukaku as they sit 19th on the Premier League table.
Arsenal go to West Brom on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup second round, before travelling to champions Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday. Chelsea will travel to Anfield to play Liverpool on Saturday.
Premier League results
Southampton 1-1 Manchester United
Wolves 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Arsenal 0-2 Chelsea
Chidi Nwoke/Premier League.
