We turned on the style under the lights at Emirates Stadium to beat Chelsea and claim a place in the Papa John's Trophy quarter-finals.
It was the visitors who had the game's first real chance after just five minutes, Karl Hein forced into a smart save to deny Lewis Baker from close range, tipping a well-hit shot around the post.
That early scare proved the perfect wake-up call for us as we took the lead shortly after, James Olayinka converting from close range after Joel Lopez's effort from outside the box deflected invitingly into the feet of our midfielder.
Olayinka's night was sadly cut short minutes later due to a freak injury after he blocked a powerful effort on goal, resulting in him leaving the pitch on a stretcher and being replaced by Tim Akinola.
The visitors were then reduced to 10 men after Xavier Mbuyamba brought down Mika Biereth as the last man when he was through on goal.
But Chelsea weren't deterred by going a man down and equalised shortly after, Jayden Wareham finding the bottom corner past Hein with a thumping hit from the edge of the box.
Biereth restored our lead moments before the break, showing great composure in the box to take down Mazeed Ogungbo's lobbed cross and finish well beyond Teddy Sharman-Lowe.
Omari Hutchinson scored our third midway through the second half, producing a sublime curling effort from the edge of the box after jinking past multiple defenders in the buildup.
Our winger was replaced moments after his goal by Marcelo Flores, who marked his debut at this level with an impressive driven strike into the bottom corner after Chelsea's defence afforded him too much time.
Flores almost scored his second and our fifth of the night after some great work from Jack Henry-Francis, but his effort was remarkably cleared off the line by Xavier Simons.
The final whistle was greeted by huge cheers from the fans inside Emirates Stadium as we continued our remarkable run in the competition.
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Arsenal Football Club were formed in 1886 and amassed 13 League titles, 14 FA Cups. Some of their gr
By Arsenal
January 13, 2022