Both teams had won their opening two league matches of the season, but Arsenal maintained their perfect record by overturning an early deficit to claim all three points.

The result extended Arsenal’s unbeaten run against Chelsea to 12 matches across all competitions. Chelsea’s last victory over the Gunners came at the Emirates on August 22, 2021, when they won 2-0.

Arsenal and Manchester City are now the only teams to have won all three of their league games this season.

The victory also provided Mikel Arteta’s side with ideal preparation for the start of their Champions League campaign, as Arsenal were due to travel to Italy to face Napoli on Wednesday. Chelsea, meanwhile, suffered their first defeat under new head coach Xabi Alonso.

Chelsea made a perfect start when new signing Morgan Rogers opened the scoring in the second minute. A free-kick caused confusion in the Arsenal penalty area before the ball fell to the former Aston Villa player, who struck it first time from distance into the bottom-right corner, beyond Spanish goalkeeper David Raya.

Arsenal thought they had levelled from another set-piece when Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori found the net after goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez had initially saved Gabriel's effort. The ball fell to Ezri Konsa, whose shot struck the right post before Calafiori followed up.

However, VAR intervened and ruled out the goal after determining that Konsa had been offside during the build-up.

Bukayo Saka came close to making amends with a difficult-angle effort in the 18th minute, but Martínez made another fine save.

Chelsea nearly doubled their advantage when Reece James tested Raya from distance in the 23rd minute, but Arsenal levelled two minutes later.

Kai Havertz collected the ball on the right, drove into the area and fired a low shot from the edge of the box that found the net despite Martínez getting a hand to it.

Chelsea almost regained the lead just before half-time, when Pedro Neto’s shot struck the underside of the right post in added time.

Arsenal completed the turnaround five minutes after the restart, thanks to Martin Ødegaard.

A flowing team move and a series of passes opened up the Chelsea defence, with Greek forward Christos Tzolis delivering from the left to Havertz, who cleverly let the ball run through to Ødegaard. The Norwegian then advanced into the area and fired past Martínez.

Arsenal pushed for a third, with Havertz again creating an opening for Saka in the 69th minute, but Martínez stood firm to deny the England international.

Chelsea threatened late through substitute Estêvão, but Raya made a strong save in the 89th minute to preserve Arsenal’s lead.