Premier League: Arsenal show title credentials with gritty win at Chelsea

London: Arsenal's controlled 1-0 win at London rivals Chelsea on Sunday offered the strongest evidence this season that the Gunners can finally challenge again for the title that has eluded them for nearly 20 years.

Arsenal players and fans celebrated loudly after the match at Stamford Bridge, knowing the three points not only took them back above Manchester City at the top of the table but also confirmed they can hurt the Premier League's heavyweights.

The north Londoners claimed the only goal of the game - when defender Gabriel stabbed home after a corner eluded a string of Chelsea players - but the narrow victory margin masked their superiority over the 90 minutes.

The Gunners' only league defeat of the campaign was in September away to one of England's traditional top six clubs, Manchester United, drawing criticism that their strong start to the season was based on wins against lesser opposition.

Although they have beaten local rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool since then, both those wins were at home, adding to the sense that Sunday's victory in West London was a milestone in their season.

Arsenal now have 34 points after 13 games - the most they have racked up at this stage of the season since the Premier League was launched - and are two points ahead of second-placed Manchester City.

Another step
Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta acknowledged the win represented "another step" for his team who failed to finish in the top four last season.

"We are getting much better as a team we are competing much better. We are getting really good results right now," he said.

But Arteta continued to play down Arsenal's chances of wresting the title from champions Manchester City.

"Just look at the last six years what Manchester City has done with the best manager in the world, with the best team in the world. They have shown it consistently in every single competition. We have to be respectful of that," he said.

Pressed again on whether Arsenal were finally contenders for the title, the Spaniard limited himself to saying: "We are today," before quickly adding the season remained a marathon.

For Chelsea, a second defeat in a row after last weekend's 4-1 drubbing by Brighton & Hove Albion underscored the challenge facing coach Graham Potter who is two months into his time in charge of the Blues, and 13 points adrift of the Gunners.

"We huffed and puffed, I thought, but you could see the difference between the two teams in terms of confidence," Potter said. "We're not in a fantastic moment as we speak."

He said Chelsea - missing several key players through injury - had to improve but warned that his rebuilding of the team he inherited from Thomas Tuchel would take time.

Potter pointed to the three years that Arteta has been in charge of Arsenal.

"I'm sure if you look at the Arsenal story, and where they are now as to where they were two years ago, or one year ago, it's slightly different," he said.

 

Liverpool's Salah strikes twice to down Spurs
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah cleverly fashioned one goal and was gifted another as the visitors won 2-1 at Tottenham Hotspur despite a battling display by the home side after the break.

Egyptian Salah opened the scoring after 11 minutes with a precise finish while his second goal just before halftime was a gift from Eric Dier who miscued a header straight to him.

Tottenham had their moments, with Ivan Perisic hitting the woodwork in each half, and they could have had a penalty when Ryan Sessegnon was bundled over by Trent Alexander-Arnold.

In the second half, Spurs raised their game, boosted by Dejan Kulusevski returning from injury off the bench late on. He had an instant impact as he fed Harry Kane who scored in the 70th.

But Liverpool weathered the storm to claim the win and end a run of two Premier League defeats, leaving them eighth on 19 points after 13 games. Spurs slipped to fourth on 26 from 14.

"I think we were lucky in the first half, we played quite good and managed to score two goals," said Salah. "In the second half we could've scored but were unlucky.

"We did well to get the three points. It is always a tough opponent. I'm focused on making a difference and managed to do so today."

Liverpool took the lead when Salah controlled a pass from Darwin Nunez inside the area, turned and expertly fired a low shot into the corner with his left foot.

Spurs were under pressure but four minutes later they almost equalised when Kane broke down the right and crossed to the impressive Perisic whose header hit Alisson and then the post.

Salah was handed his second goal on a plate after 40 minutes when Dier's attempted header came off his shoulder from a long kick by Alisson and the Egyptian dinked the ball past Lloris.

Tottenham started the second half much brighter, as they usually do, and Perisic was desperately unlucky to hit the bar when he met a cross to the far post from Dier.

A huge cheer greeted Swede Kulusevski when he made his first appearance for seven weeks in the 68th and two minutes later he set up Kane who fired home to rally the Spurs fans.

But despite a late Tottenham onslaught, including a close-range header from Rodrigo Bentancur, Antonio Conte's side could not find an equaliser and Liverpool left with the points.

"It has been the story of our season so far -- we haven't played well enough in the first half and got punished," said England striker Kane.

"We fought until the end and we knew if we got one back we would have chances to get a second but unfortunately we couldn't do it and it's disappointing."