Jorginho’s misplaced back-pass helped gift Emile Smith Rowe the only goal as Arsenal beat Chelsea 1-0 to stop the Blues moving third in the Premier League.
Italy midfielder Jorginho’s miscued pass left the out-of-position Kepa Arrizabalaga scrambling across goal, with the Spain stopper forced to parry off the line.
Smith Rowe capitalised on a rare Chelsea error under Thomas Tuchel and slotted home, for Arsenal’s third-straight Premier League victory.
WOW 😲
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 12, 2021
Arsenal lead after a calamity mistake from Jorginho!
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Christian Pulisic saw a second-half equaliser chalked off for offside after a video assistant referee review.
Kurt Zouma and Olivier Giroud struck the bar within mere seconds of each other at the death, as Chelsea wasted a host of chances in a dominant but disjointed performance.
Blues boss Tuchel had made seven changes to keep his players fresh, with Saturday’s FA Cup final against Leicester clearly in mind.
Tuchel had been at pains to warn his players of allowing thoughts to drift to the weekend, but that almost inevitably happened.
Chelsea’s third defeat in 26 matches under Tuchel proved the result of a galling west London evening then, and one where the Gunners pulled off a league double over their capital rivals.
The Blues could have taken a giant step towards sealing a top-four Premier League finish with a win over Arsenal, but instead were left to rue a string of missed opportunities.
🔴 Arsenal hang on to beat their London rivals after being gifted a goal.
— Infogol (@InfogolApp) May 12, 2021
👀 A blow for Chelsea, who had a number of late chances, but a boost for West Ham and Liverpool in the top four race...#CHEARS shot map 👉 https://t.co/J4sfNvVl8v#CFC | #AFC | #WHUFC | #LFC pic.twitter.com/4fa3BZPaCo
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Smith Rowe revealed his goal had been the result of hard work on the training pitch.
He told Sky Sports: “We worked on that in training this week, a high press, so we did well to make them make a mistake, and then Auba set me up, which was obviously good.”
Asked if he had been nervous as his mishit shot trickled towards goal, he added: “That happens sometimes. I’m just happy that it went in. But it was a lucky finish.”
