Arsenal secured a historic victory over Chelsea as Kai Havertz scored twice against his former club in a commanding 5-0 triumph on Tuesday, further cementing the Gunners' position at the summit of the Premier League table.
Ben White added a brace in the second half, compounding Chelsea's woes. They suffered a dramatic collapse after halftime, prompting most of their away supporters to leave the Emirates Stadium long before the final whistle.
"It's a great night," said Arsenal winger Leandro Trossard, who scored in the fourth minute. "The early goal helped us, and we played so well after that. We had a lot of chances and we turned them into goals."
The win ensures Arsenal will go into the weekend with the league lead. Mikel Arteta's team is three points ahead of Liverpool before Wednesday's Merseyside derby at Everton. Manchester City is four points back before it plays at Brighton on Thursday, with another game in hand.
For Chelsea, it was another dispiriting loss after a 1-0 defeat to Man City in the FA Cup semifinals on Saturday that ended any hope of finishing a disappointing season on a high note.
Chelsea's leading scorer, Cole Palmer, was absent with an injury, but the manner of the team's second-half collapse will only renew questions about what progress – if any – the expensively assembled team has made in its first season under Mauricio Pochettino.
The Argentine manager said his players "gave up" after Arsenal's third goal and lamented his team's inconsistency throughout the season. Chelsea is languishing 30 points behind Arsenal in ninth place.
"When we have bad days, we are so bad," Pochettino said.
Arsenal's previous biggest league win over its London rival was 5-1 in 1930.
Pochettino, though, insisted he didn't feel let down by his players' overall effort, pointing to mitigating circumstances such as Palmer's absence, a young starting lineup and fatigue from what he called "an amazing performance" against Man City three days ago.
"I'm not going to blame the players," Pochettino said. "The circumstances are bigger than the performance of the players."
Trossard gave Arsenal the early lead by beating Chelsea goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic at his near post from a tight angle. Petrovic made amends by single-handedly keeping his team in the game with a handful of good saves until the floodgates opened in the second half as the visitors' resistance melted away.
White swept home the second in the 52nd, and Havertz added the third just five minutes later with a well-taken goal after being teed up by a perfect through ball from Martin Odegaard. The Germany international, who made an expensive move to Arsenal from Chelsea last summer, got another one in the 65th with a shot from the middle of the area, and White added to the rout with a fortunate second goal when his attempt at a volleyed cross sailed into the net in the 70th.
"The second one was a bad touch and it went in," White acknowledged.
Pochettino responded by bringing on center-back Thiago Silva to prevent the scoreline from getting even bigger.
