We’ll fight to the end, says Martin Odegaard after firing Arsenal back to the top

LONDON – Arsenal will battle until the end for the English Premier League title, their captain Martin Odegaard said on Tuesday, after scoring twice in a 3-1 win over Chelsea that put the north London side back on top of the table for 24 hours at least.

The Norwegian’s brace was followed by a Gabriel Jesus strike, as the hosts raced into a 3-0 lead before half-time at the Emirates Stadium. Noni Madueke’s second-half goal was no consolation for Chelsea’s wretched performance.

Three successive draws and a 4-1 drubbing at reigning champions Manchester City last week had seen Arsenal’s hopes of a first title since 2004 evaporate.

City topped the standings for the first time since February by beating Fulham on Sunday but Arsenal have returned to form by outclassing a struggling Chelsea side – meaning they have gone undefeated in London derbies this season.

Relentless City are two points behind the Gunners with two games in hand after eight straight league wins and will reclaim top spot if they beat visiting West Ham United on Wednesday. The match took place after press time.

The manner of Arsenal’s home win on Tuesday could sow some seeds of doubt into the heads of Pep Guardiola’s City players and Odegaard remains confident the title race is not over.

“Especially the first half was brilliant. We came out and showed a different spirit to last time,” the Norwegian, who produced two superb first-half finishes to take his league tally to 14 for the season, told Sky Sports.

“We have to fight and keep going. We believe and will fight until the end.”

Former captain Granit Xhaka added: “We deserved the three points today. We needed a reaction and the team, with the fans, had a good reaction... We still have belief.”

Arsenal face third-placed Newcastle United away in their next game, by which time they could be four points adrift if City beat West Ham and Leeds United at home.

But manager Mikel Arteta said the important thing was that Arsenal had got their mojo back after a damaging April.

“We have four games to go and we are top of the league,” he said. “The first 60 minutes, I thought the team played really well.

“We need to be us, and that was everything I want to see from our team. Speed, quality, movement, two beautiful goals, we connected with our crowd and created an incredible atmosphere.”

Legendary former Gunners skipper Patrick Vieira hailed the progress made by Arteta’s team.

The former Crystal Palace manager told Sky Sports: “There’s progress in that dressing room...

“Arteta made a couple of changes today that made a really big impact on the game. He’s made some really tough decisions in the season... and he’s built a team to perform the way that he sees the game. That’s something really special.”

The one negative was an injury to defender Gabriel Magalhaes, who limped off near the end.

“He tried for 10 to 15 minutes and he couldn’t carry on. A big concern,” said Arteta, who is already without Gabriel’s fellow centre back William Saliba through injury.

The Blues, however, have far bigger issues.

They have now lost all six games since Frank Lampard returned as caretaker boss to replace the sacked Graham Potter.

Former Chelsea and Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas told Sky Sports: “Nowadays the easy excuse is to look at the manager. The manager doesn’t play. It’s 11 players who need to show up.”

Languishing in 12th place, Chelsea are on a nine-game winless run in all competitions and face the prospect of failing to finish in the top half of the table for the first time since 1996.

“Not good enough,” Lampard said. “Defensively, the line wasn’t coming up, which was giving them space. In possession, we weren’t playing over their press. All the things that make you a nice team to play against, we did.” REUTERS, AFP