Kai Havertz and Ben White scored twice as the Gunners run riot in the second half to thrash a sorry Blues side
Some might call it a sliding doors moment. Rewind to the January transfer window of 2023 and Arsenal were trying their best to sign Mykhaylo Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk. In the end, they were gazumped by Chelsea, who splashed out the princely sum of £88.5million to sign the Ukraine international. Arsenal reacted by landing Trossard for £27m from Brighton.
The Belgian has proven himself the perfect utility player and now commands a place in the starting XI ahead of Gabriel Martinelli. Trossard now has five goals in his last nine games for Arsenal – including two in the Champions League.
On the other hand, Mauricio Pochettino was a bundle of frustration in his technical area. The Argentine was frequently on the touchline barking orders at his players and making tactical tweaks. His arms went up into the air and onto his hips with regularity as his side struggled to get to grips with things.
At one point in the first half, he came forward, beckoned Conor Gallagher over for a word. He then ordered Jackson and Mudryk to switch positions. A few seconds later he was jumping up and down in annoyance after Mudryk gave away the ball with a simple lay-off.
When he wasn’t pacing or hopping down the touchline to encourage his players forward on a counter, he (Pochettino) was remonstrating with fourth official Graham Scott and the linesman in front of him. The game felt like a microcosm of his time at Chelsea: lots of hard work for little reward.
Meanwhile, Jackson only joined Chelsea in the summer, but he already has something of a reputation – and it’s not a positive one. He was involved in something different here – with Arsenal fans up in arms after he stood on Takehiro Tomiyasu in an ugly challenge early on. But once that had passed, it was back to the usual grumbles.
He showed a brilliant turn of space to show William Saliba a clean pair of heels in the first half. But there was no end product, with his attempted pass hitting Gabriel Magalhaes and clipping the outside of David Raya ’s post. That was promising, but he soon reverted to type, somehow contriving to handball Gallagher’s pinpoint cross. It continued after the break, too, with Jackson hitting the side netting after getting past a stumbling Gabriel.
Jackson was not supposed to be Chelsea’s first-choice striker for an entire season. He is 22 years old, inexperienced and full of potential. But his erratic finishing is threatening to erode that promise. And with Cole Palmer missing, there was no-one to turn to for Chelsea.
Arsenal fans are fond of reminding people that many observers considered the £65m they paid for Kai Havertz to be a waste. Arteta knew how he wanted to use him – as a No8 or as a No9 – and he is being proven right in some style game after game.
The German international is a confident player. When things aren’t going well, he seems to dwell on his mistakes and can let it get to him. But when things are going well – like right now – he seems a well-rounded and supremely effective player.
He was superb against his former club, running them ragged with his pressing and making them pay when he got into dangerous positions. He could have scored even more, too, had Petrovic not made some decent stops.