Two London rivals, Arsenal and Chelsa, kept their winning streak in Europe going as both teams defeated their opponents in the UEFA Champions League match day three on Tuesday night.
The Gunners that were playing at Emirates trashed Ukranian champion, Shaktar Donetsk, 5-1 while the Blues which were playing without several key players still managed to collect all three point after beating Spartak Moskow 2-0 at Luzniki.
Arsenal Goal Rout
Being marked by the return of Cesc Fabregas after long spell on the sideline, Arsenal celebrated their captain’s return in a wonderful fashion by netting 5 goals on Andriy Pyatov’s goal. The away team that were having an awful day did managed to get a consolation that comes from the Gunners’ former striker, Eduardo who came in as a substitute in that game.
Looking to secure their way out of the group stage as soon as possible, Arsenal hit the accelerator pedal from the start as Alex Song puts them ahead in the 19th minute after taking advantage from the mess that Pyatov made on Shaktar’s penalty box. Just before the first half ended, French international, Samir Nasri added his team’s tally by scoring a screamer few yards outside of the penalty area.
The Gunners were in total control as in the second half they managed to add three more goals from Fabregas’ penalty kick, Jack Wilshire delicate chip and Marouane Chamakh sixth goals of the campaign. However, the interesting even did occurred right after Shaktar scored their consolation goal, as Eduoardo received a warm applause from the home crowd, who acknowledge his contribution during the Croatian international days at Emirates.
Unstoppable Chelsea
Traveling to Moskow and challenging Spartak Moskow at the synthetic grass on Luzniki Stadium doesn’t bring any fear to Carlo Ancelotti’s man who fly home with all three points, establishing their place in the top of Group F. Despite the pressure from the home team, Chelsea showed their streght and quality by taking the lead on the 23rd minute from Yuri Zhirkov’s excellent volley from 25 yards out.
Just before the half time ends, The Blues made things harder for Spartak as they scored the second goal through Nicolas Anelka, who turned the Russian team’s defense in and out before placing a nice shot pass Andrey Dykan. The away team looked much stronger in the second half as they were trying to match Chelsea’s prowess, despite getting few good chances the away team stood their ground firm and hold the 2-0 scoreline until the final whistle.
The victories earned by two London rivals in their European matches are something that have been predicted right after the the drawing for the Champions League group stage ended. Without taking away the quality of both teams, Chelsea and Arsenal can consider themselves lucky having a rather ‘soft’ group compared to other strong teams in the competition.
