Gabriel Magalhaes scored the only goal of the game as Arsenal returned to the top of the Premier League table with a 1-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
In the 63rd minute, the Brazilian centre-back prodded home from point-blank range after Bukayo Saka's corner evaded everyone in the Chelsea box to hand the Gunners a deserved victory.
Mikel Arteta's side have now restored their two-point lead above Manchester City at the top of the table after making it three Stamford Bridge victories in a row, while a lacklustre Chelsea remain seventh and have fallen 13 points behind their London rivals.
A stop-start first half at Stamford Bridge was characterised by a plethora of fouls - 17 to be total - but it was Arsenal who dominated the ball and tried to make inroads.
However, Edouard Mendy remained relatively untroubled during the opening 45 minutes, but Gabriel Jesus wasted a magnificent chance to put Arsenal ahead.
In the 29th minute, Arsenal played out from the back brilliantly before Gabriel Martinelli crossed from the left, finding Jesus in acres of space, but the misfiring striker headed that golden chance wide.
Jesus had gone eight games without a goal before the trip to Stamford Bridge and should have done much better with that first-half opportunity, but his opposite number was not doing much better.
Starting against his former club, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's main contribution in the first half was a late challenge on Ben White right in front of Arteta, which earned him an early booking.
Advantage Arsenal! 🔴
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 6, 2022
Chelsea fail to deal with the corner and the ball falls to Gabriel who taps home into an empty net ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/Sm2iNeRt3x
Kai Havertz was the livewire for Chelsea during their rare forays forward and fired a low ball into the box in the 33rd minute, but Aaron Ramsdale got down quickly to smother the ball.
Within 11 minutes of the second half, an Arsenal corner ended with Thomas Partey's deft header sailing wide, but the Ghanaian had got there a whisker ahead of Martinelli, who was in a much better position to try to break the deadlock.
Play was then briefly halted for a few minutes due to an apparent medical emergency in the stands, and Jesus then missed another chance for Arsenal in the 62nd minute, as Mendy covered his near post well to save from a tight angle.
However, the resulting corner would eventually lead to a deserved opening goal for Arsenal, as Saka ignored objects being thrown from the crowd to fire in a low corner, which was missed by a sea of blue shirts, and Gabriel poked home from point-blank range.
Saka's corner may have been heading in anyway, but Gabriel made sure as the Gunners made their dominance count, and Aubameyang's miserable afternoon against his old club was brought to an end not long after as Armando Broja was introduced.
Broja injected a spark of life into Chelsea down the left, but once that Blues move broke down, Arsenal countered quickly and Martin Odegaard should have done much better with a right-footed effort that sailed harmlessly over the top in the 75th minute.
Hearts were then in mouths for the hosts when the ball clearly struck Marc Cucurella's hand in the 80th minute as Arsenal screamed for a penalty, but no penalty was awarded by VAR, with the offence being committed just outside the box.
Seemingly galvanized by that let-off, Chelsea started to show a bit more intensity in the final 10 minutes, but Ramsdale was protected impeccably by his defenders as Graham Potter's side slumped to a second successive league defeat.
Ben Knapton
