Arsenal will battle until the end for the Premier League title, their captain Martin Odegaard said on Tuesday after scoring twice in a 3-1 defeat of Chelsea that put the north London side back on top of the table for 24 hours at least. Gabriel Jesus scored the third.
Three successive draws and a 4-1 drubbing at reigning champions Manchester City last week had seen Arsenal’s hopes of a first title since 2004 evaporate.
City topped the standings for the first time sinceFebruary by beating Fulham on Sunday but Arsenal have returned to form by outclassing a struggling Chelsea side — meaning they have gone undefeated in London Derbies this season.
Relentless City are two points behind the Gunners with two games in hand after eight straight league wins and will reclaim top spot if they beat visiting West Ham United on Wednesday.
The manner of Arsenal’s home win on Tuesday could sow some seeds of doubt into the heads of Pep Guardiola’s City players and Odegaard remains confident the title race is not over.
“Especially the first half was brilliant. We came out and showed a different spirit to the last time,” the Norwegian, who produced two superb first-half finishes to take his league tally to 14 for the season, told Sky Sports.
“We have to fight and keep going. We believe and will fight until the end.”
Arsenal face third-placed Newcastle United away in their next league game.
Manager Mikel Arteta said the important thing was that Arsenal had got their mojo back after a damaging April.
“We have four games to go and we are top of the league,” he said. “The first 60 minutes, I thought the team played really well.
“We need to be us, and that was everything I want to see from our team. Speed, quality, movement, two beautiful goals, we connected with our crowd and created an incredible atmosphere.”
The one negative was an injury to defender Gabriel who limped off near the end.
“He tried for 10 to fifteen minutes and he couldn’t carry on. A big concern,” saidArteta, who is already without Gabriel’s fellow centre-back William Saliba through injury.
After losing to City 4-1 last week, Mikel Arteta made three changes, including giving striker Leandro Trossard a start in the place of Gabriel Martinelli and handing Jakub Kiwior his first league start in midfield.
His side dominated their slumping London rivals straight from the kick-off as they sought to shake off last week’s potentially title-deciding setback.
Granit Xhaka, who provided assists for both Odegaard’s strikes, almost opened the scoring himself in the opening minutes.
But he was thwarted by Kepa Arrizabalaga who went on to make saves in the second half that prevented an Arsenal rout.
Chelsea lost for the sixth time in six games in all competitions since interim coach Frank Lampard replaced Graham Potter last month.
