A fiercely contested Premier League London derby got underway at Arsenal's home ground at the crack of dawn on Wednesday (3), with Arsenal eventually beating Chelsea 3-1 to reclaim top spot in the league table while keeping their title hopes alive with two fewer matches to play. Meanwhile, Chelsea suffered six consecutive defeats after Lambert took over as manager, adding to the same losses in the last four games of his Everton tenure, making Lambert the first English manager since 1988 to suffer 10 consecutive defeats in all competitions in the top flight.
Although Arsenal lost their last Premier League match to Manchester City, they came away with a comfortable victory against Chelsea, who are currently in a slump. Midfielder Martin Odegaard put a powerful shot through the net just 18 minutes in, and the 24-year-old Norwegian international scored again on 31 minutes, with both of Odegaard's goals coming off assists from Greta Sagar.
Just three minutes later, Gabil Hersitz extended the lead to 3-0 as the Brazilian international has scored his 10th goal in the league this season. Together with Gabil Martinelli (15 goals), Martin Odigat (14) and Bukayo Shaka (13), Arsenal have now had four players reach double figures in league goals this season.
At the change of ends, Chelsea broke the deadlock with a goal from Maduigi to somewhat save face, but still could not escape from a run of six consecutive defeats in all competitions. Chelsea's loss was compounded by an altercation between two defenders, Thiago Silva and Zivier, during the match, sparking speculation of infighting.
In addition, Lambert became the first English manager to suffer 10 consecutive defeats in all competitions in the top flight since Cox, the manager of Playby County in February 1988, and the first English manager in the history of the Premier League to set this humiliating record.
