Lukaku bullies his way through sloppy Arsenal defence on his return
Club-record signing Romelu Lukaku scored and put in a dominant display on his second Chelsea debut as they beat Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates on Super Sunday.
Nearly 10 years after his first debut, £97.5m summer signing Lukaku registered his first goal for the club, tapping home at close range from Reece James' ball across the face of goal (15) after the Belgian's superb hold-up play had triggered the move.
James doubled Chelsea's lead with a clinical finish from the right side of the box with Arsenal too engrossed in Lukaku again (35), before the hosts had a strong penalty call denied by both Paul Tierney and VAR as Bukayo Saka went down under James' challenge.
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James doubled Chelsea's lead with a clinical finish from the right side of the box with Arsenal too engrossed in Lukaku again (35), before the hosts had a strong penalty call denied by both Paul Tierney and VAR as Bukayo Saka went down under James' challenge.
Lukaku was denied a second by Bernd Leno's brilliant reflex save onto the crossbar from a header late on - Sky Sports' Gary Neville described his performance as "the complete centre-forward display" - and while Arsenal showed brief glimpses, Chelsea's victory was overall comfortable and classy.
Lukaku bullied Arsenal's defence all afternoon as Mari went in the book early for a foul on the striker, and in drawing the attention of the Gunners' back line, space opened up regularly on both Chelsea flanks, particularly on the right.
With Arsenal's £24m signing Aaron Ramsdale looking on from the bench, starting goalkeeper Leno did himself a big favour by superbly denying Lukaku a second, tipping his close-range header onto the bar.
Leno then denied Havertz at a tight angle, fed again by Lukaku inside the box, and the Chelsea fans were singing the Belgian's name at full time after a masterful show.
It was a dismal afternoon again for Arsenal, who lost both Kieran Tierney and Martinelli to injury, but Chelsea's dominance shows why they are considered as genuine title contenders this term.
