We made it three wins out of three in the opening stages of our Premier League 2 season, with an impressive 4-1 win against Chelsea at Meadow Park.
Mehmet Ali's line-up was largely unchanged from the side who beat West Ham last weekend; the only change coming between the sticks with Hubert Graczyk stepping in as keeper.
Both sides started brightly but it was Chelsea who had large spells of possession in the opening 10 minutes, forcing Graczyk to make an early stunning save and tip a powerful shot over the bar.
The Gunners also came close several times through some fluid, counter-pressing football and both Sagoe Jr and Marquinhos looked incredibly dangerous down the wings.
The deadlock was broken just before the half-hour mark thanks to a beautiful curling shot from James Olayinka. We didn't wait long to double our lead as centre-forward Khayon Edwards joined Olayinka on the scoresheet five minutes later.
Charlie Webster did get a goal back for the visitors just before half-time, with a shot that Graczyk was unlucky not to keep out, but we remained on top at the break.
Chelsea came out strong in the second half, upping the intensity in their attempts to find an equaliser. Our resilient back line was able to soak up the pressure and with every counter-attack, we looked likely to score again.
Skipper Matt Smith came very close to scoring after his lovely chip grazed the post, but it was Charles Sagoe Jr who made it 3-1 to the Gunners. He was rewarded for all his hard work 78 minutes in, with a very well-taken goal after a 1v1 with the Chelsea keeper.
Butler-Oyedeji came off the bench to get our fourth, consolidating an intelligent and mature display from the team
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By Arsenal
August 25, 2022