But how Mikel Arteta's team won here and the message could not have been clearer. If City are to slip, Arsenal will be there to capitalise.
Arsenal's intensity was breathtaking from the first action and they maintained it for the opening 30 minutes. They threatened to blow Chelsea away before dipping slightly and taking only a 1-0 lead into half-time.
When the Arsenal substitute, Gabriel Martinelli, ran through in the seventh minute of stoppage-time, he was denied in a one-on-one by Chelsea's overworked goalkeeper, Djordje Petrovic. That could have been 6-0, which would have equaled Chelsea's biggest ever Premier League defeat.
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