Odegaard and Saka shine as Arsenal come from behind to sink Chelsea
By Luke Oluoch, September 6, 2026Arsenal extended their dominance in the London derby rivalry against Chelsea, overcoming the scare of an early goal to turn the tables on their city rivals in a 2-1 home victory on Sunday, Spetember 6, 2026..
Kai Havertz and Martin Ødegaard scored at either end of the half to cancel out Morgan Rogers’ opening strike inside 77 seconds and ensure the reigning champions stay unbeaten after three games.
The defeat came at the expense of high-flying Chelsea, who slumped to the first loss of Xabi Alonso’s tenure.
The Gunners joined Manchester City as the only teams with perfect starts, as Chelsea’s flying start in the league campaign was brought down to earth at the Emirates.
The Blues remain fourth on the pile, with six points, a rank below third-placed Hull City, who are among the unbeaten Premier League teams after the opening three games.
Rogers’s opener
Rogers volleyed in the opener from an early Chelsea set-piece to hand the visitors a dream start to the high-stakes encounter. The tie was soon leveled when Kai Havertz struck against his former club to pull Arsenal back into the game after 25 minutes.
The goal came moments after Riccardo Calafiori had an effort disallowed following a scramble in the Chelsea goalmouth. Arsenal dominated much of the half, but Chelsea came closest to retaking the lead when Pedro Neto hit the post in injury time.
Arsenal then stormed into the lead for the first time after the restart thanks to skipper Martin Ødegaard. The Norwegian picked up Christos Tzolis’s angled pass—assisted by a well-timed dummy from Havertz—to plant his shot past Martinez and send the Emirates into a frenzy.
Alonso opted to rejig his team with Pep Chavarría and Malo Gusto replacing Jorrel Hato and a visibly frustrated Roméo Lavia at the hour mark.
Meanwhile, Martinez produced a brilliant diving save to deny Saka with twenty minutes to go before Havertz saw a flicked header deflected wide to keep Arsenal at bay. The Argentine was back at it shortly after, gathering a loose ball following a corner melee.
Arteta wrung his first changes, bringing on Mikel Merino and Viktor Gyökeres for Ødegaard and goalscorer Kai Havertz.
Estevao chance
Alonso then hauled off Rogers for Danny Welbeck for his clash against his former team as Arsenal camped in their own half to preserve their lead.
Substitute Estêvão had Chelsea’s best chance to breach Arsenal’s vulnerable lead, only for Raya to palm away his curling effort from the right wing.
The clash ultimately ended with the hosts delivering a resolute defensive display to hand Chelsea and Xabi Alonso their first loss.
The Gunners extended their winning run against their London rivals to move second on the log behind early pace-setters Manchester City.