Romelu Lukaku scored in his second Blues debut as the visitors added to Arsenal’s misery with a 2-0 win on Sunday.
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Romelu Lukaku had a dream start to his second spell with Chelsea, scoring the opening goal in a 2-0 win over Arsenal on Sunday. The striker started and finished a sublime Blues move in the 15th minute, turning home Reece James’s pass. Chelsea continued to create problems in the home side’s defence, with James being a constant threat down the right. It was fitting that the English right-back was the one who doubled the lead shortly after the half-hour, controlling a Mason Mount pass before firing it past Bernd Leno. In defence, the Blues did well to keep Arsenal’s attackers at bay. Edouard Mendy saved from Bukayo Saka and Cesar Azpilicueta brilliantly thwarted Emile Smith Rowe, while Rob Holding missed their best chance with a header from six yards out. After two games, Chelsea are sitting at the top of the table, while Arsenal are languishing in 19th place.
Lukaku was one of three changes Thomas Tuchel made to his starting line-up, with Kai Havertz and James handed their first league starts of the campaign. Timo Werner, Trevoh Chalobah and the isolating Christian Pulisic made way from the playing XI. N’Golo Kante and Hakim Ziyech were back on the bench after injury, but they did not enter the pitch till the second half. For the hosts, Saka started after coming off the bench at Brentford. Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares were brought into the defence with Ben White unavailable.
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Saka created the first opening with 60 seconds on the clock, playing the ball into Smith Rowe’s path on the edge of the box. His shot, however, was comfortable for Mendy. In a high tempo match, both sets of players gave little room for the opponents to work their way into the match. But it was the visitors who drew the first blood.
Mateo Kovacic fed Lukaku on the edge of the box, back to goal, he laid it back to the Croatian, who picked out the unmarked James with a precise lofted pass to his right. The Belgian then brushed off Pablo Mari and burst into the six-yard box, where he couldn’t miss James’s inviting ball as the away end roared in delight.
Chelsea started to push for more as Mount had a shot blocked after an exquisite Havertz pass freed James once more. Soon the Blues doubled their advantage. Alonso’s pass infield reached Mount, who quickly shifted it on to James. This time he went for goal himself and fired a finish high into Leno’s top corner. As one end of the crowd celebrated, the majority of the stadium went quiet.
With no more goals scored, the half ended in Chelsea’s favour. Lukaku nearly bulldozed an opening for himself when play restarted, eventually, he was crowded out. Then, Mendy was called into action, tipping a deflected long-range Saka strike over the bar. Soon Holding pushed his header wide.
Home side manager Mikel Arteta brought Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on for Saka. Not long after, the Gabonese forward beat the offside trap only to be thwarted by the alert Mendy, who raced off his line and cleared the ball. Minutes later, a superb block from Cesar Azpilicueta denied Smith Rowe reducing the deficit from close range.
Lukaku nearly had his second of the night with a quarter-of-an-hour remaining. However, his effort was denied by a point-blank Leno save, tipping his header from Mount’s cross onto the crosser. Havertz had a couple of late opportunities but was not able to add to the Blues’ total.
