It was a thrilling London derby at Stamford Bridge, and thanks to goals from Pedro, Alvaro Morata and Marcos Alonso, Chelsea got the three points.
See the player ratings below:
Kepa: Had some shaky moments when exposed, and he could have done better to keep out Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s goal. Surely, we’d have to be patient with him. 5/10
Luiz: Was responsible for bringing the ball out of the defence, and had a decent game but left some gaps for the Gunners to exploit. 6/10
Rudiger: Was solid and rugged as usual, but our defence was left open a number of times. There’s room for improvement. 6/10
Azpilicueta: Gave a decent pass for Morata to score and he supported the attack very well. But will be careful to watch behind him a bit as Arsenal played a number of balls that opened the defence. 6/10
Alonso: Was named the match as he put in a good shift offensively. He played in an excellent ball for Pedro’s goal and scored the match winner late in the second half. However, the Gunners exploited his position with a number of balls behind him. 8/10
Jorginho: Has proven to be a good signing and was superb in the first half as he set the tempo of the game with his passing and positional play. He played a wonderful ball to Alonso to set up Pedro. He cut Arsenal open a few times with his passes. 8/10
Kante: He surprisingly had the most passes in the opposition box and could have gotten a goal late on but his header sent the ball over. Worked really hard in midfield and went forward more than we have become accustomed to. 7/10
Barkley: The 24-year-old is looking like a new signing and had a good start to the game with his movement and knocked the ball around nicely. He had a couple of threatening shots, especially in the second half when he fired on goal and Cech tipped it round the post. 7/10
Willian: Had quite a decent game in the first half, but marred that by losing the ball that led to Arsenal’s first goal. 6/10
Pedro: He’s looking reenergized for the new season under Sarri as he didn’t only get on the scoresheet but he worked really hard for the team. 7.5/10
Morata: Looked livelier than we have seen him in recent times, and did well to score the second goal for Chelsea. 7/10
Subs
Hazard: Completely changed the game after coming on for Willian on the hour mark. Was on the ball as much as possible and when Chelsea needed a big act to get the victory, he delivered a sumptuous ball to Alonso for the winner. Could have gotten a goal but unselfishly laid a pass for Giroud late in the game who couldn’t take the ball past Cech. 8/10