Chelsea vs Arsenal LIVE: Premier League result, final score and reaction tonight
Relive all the action from Stamford Bridge
Bukayo Saka banished his Euro 2020 final penalty shoot-out ghosts by converting a spot-kick as Arsenal toppled Chelsea 4-2 to reignite their bid for a top-four Premier League finish.
The England forward slotted home his first-ever penalty for Arsenal to seal the Gunners’ vital win over the Blues, that drew Mikel Arteta’s men level with fourth-placed Tottenham in the table.
Saka missed the last penalty in England’s 3-2 shoot-out defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley last July.
The 20-year-old won the late spot-kick at Stamford Bridge by drawing a foul from Cesar Azpilicueta, and quickly insisted on taking the penalty himself.
Saka dismissed any nerves by side-footing home to boot, to put the seal on a crucial win for the Gunners.
Eddie Nketiah had twice seized upon slipshod defending to drive Arsenal into a 3-2 lead before Saka’s strike.
Nketiah capitalised on Andreas Christensen’s woefully under-hit back-pass for his first Arsenal goal in 367 days, to open the scoring in west London.
The 22-year-old forward later settled a scrappy but engrossing contest when three attempted Chelsea clearances landed the ball straight into his path and through on goal.
Timo Werner’s deflected effort had Chelsea level quickly after Nketiah’s first goal, with captain Azpilicueta then cancelling out a fine finish from Emile Smith Rowe before half-time.
The fatigued and off-kilter Blues were made to pay for a string of errors however, with £98million striker Romelu Lukaku again failing to fire.
Toni Rudiger’s absence with a minor groin problem destabilised Chelsea’s defence, and Christensen endured a night to forget.
The Denmark international was withdrawn at half-time in a below-par showing, but not even the peerless Thiago Silva could sharpen up the hosts.
Arsenal took full advantage of Chelsea’s malaise to notch just their second win in six league matches, breaking a wretched run of results to move below Spurs on goal difference, leaving the race to finish fourth wide open.
Relive all the action live below:
Chelsea 0 - 0 Arsenal
6 mins: Chance! Chelsea win the first corner of the game and it gets whipped into the middle of the box and drops for Romelu Lukaku. He has his back to goal and can pnly lay it off to Marcos Alonso who shoots and sees his effort deflected into the side-netting.
The next corner kick is an inswinger and curls over the head of Aaron Ramsdale. He flaps at the ball but misses it and it looks for a moment as though Chelsea might score but Gabriel is well positioned near the back post to head the ball off the line!
Chelsea 0 - 0 Arsenal
3 mins: Nearly. N’Golo Kante brings the ball through the midfield but loses it to Mohamed Elneny. The ball comes loose and bobbles over to Mason Mount who pokes it into the box for Timo Werner. He brings it down but is pounced on almost immediately by the two Arsenal centre-backs and gets dispossessed.
Kick off: Chelsea 0 - 0 Arsenal
Martin Odegaard gets the match started for Arsenal. The visitors work it down the right side and send the ball out for an early Chelsea throw in.
Arsenal look to be set up with a back three utilising Nuno Tavares and Bukayo Saka as wingbacks to make it a five when Chelsea have possession.
Chelsea vs Arsenal
Here come the teams. Arsenal can move level with Tottenham if they win tonight. Chelsea would take a firmer grip on third place if they were to pick up all three points.
Which way will this one go?
Chelsea vs Arsenal
The warm-ups are over at Stamford Bridge and kick off is just over five minutes away.
Elsewhere in the Premier League tonight, Everton take on Leicester and Newcastle host Crystal Palace. Those two games also kick off at 7:45pm before Manchester City attempt to retake the top spot with a victory over Brighton at 8pm.
Chelsea vs Arsenal
Thiago Silva is set to become the oldest outfield player to represent Chelsea in the Premier League - aged 37 years and 210 days - but he starts on the bench tonight.
Chelsea vs Arsenal
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel speaking to Sky Sports, on a start for striker Romelu Lukaku: “You were asking so much about him so I finally put him in! Kai Havertz is overloaded so it was the moment to go with Romelu.
“If you have a good experience, a good memory against an opponent it can help. It was not the main reason - he deserves to play first of all and Kai is a bit tired. Also a little bit that he had a good game in the first match.
“It’s always like this. We are used to playing a lot. It means you play for something. It is challenging to go from competition to competition and all the challenges that comes with it, but it is a good sign, it is a reward.”
Chelsea director Eugene Tenenbaum: ‘I do not hold assets for Mr Abramovich’
Chelsea director Eugene Tenenbaum expects “mistakes made to be dealt with accordingly” in seeking recourse after being sanctioned by the UK Government.
Tenenbaum was hit with an asset freeze on April 14 by Downing Street, owing to his long-held association with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK Government on March 10, with Downing Street claiming to have proven his links to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Downing Street claimed Tenenbaum took control of Ervington Investments – a company linked to Abramovich – on February 24, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine-born Tenenbaum has now insisted he does not have control of the assets concerned, and that he was not a company director when the sanctions were imposed.
Chelsea director Eugene Tenenbaum: ‘I do not hold assets for Mr Abramovich’
Tenenbaum was hit with an asset freeze on April 14 by Downing Street, due to his long-held association with Blues owner Roman Abramovich
Chelsea vs Arsenal
Bukayo Saka is the only English player to have registered at least 50 shots and created a minimum of 50 chances in the top flight in 2021-22.
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