Despite the doom and gloom at Chelsea, Blues supporters have drawn satisfaction from Arsenal's defeat against Manchester City. The reigning champions have taken a huge step towards defending their crown after storming past Mikel Arteta's side 4-1, thanks to goals from Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones and Erling Haaland.
As Chelsea watch on from 11th, City have narrowed the Gunners' advantage at the top of the Premier League to just two points – and Pep Guardiola's side have two games in hands too. Had the north Londoners clinched three crucial points at the Etihad Stadium then they would have given themselves plenty of much needed breathing space.
Arsenal have now squandered numerous opportunities to extend their lead in the title race. In just their previous four games, they've let slip a pair of two-goal leads, gone two-nil down inside a quarter of an hour against Southampton and suffered defeat to Pep Guardiola's robotically excellent side.
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While City weren't quite as strong in 2017 as they are now, Eden Hazard did exactly what Bukayo Saka couldn't by leading his club to victory at the Etihad Stadium amid a title race. In December 2016, the Belgium international rounded off a 3-1 win for Chelsea against the Cityzens.
The Blues headed into the tie just one point adrift of Gurdiola's side, but Hazard spurred the west Londoners on to victory and eventually a Premier League title. However, the title race this season is far from over and Mikel Arteta will be hoping that his side can dig deep and mount a late challenge.
After the defeat, the Arsenal boss responded to claims that City have a 92% chance of reigning superior. Arteta said: "The stats at the start of the season said we’d finish sixth or seventh and we are where we are with five games to go.
"Those players deserve a lot of credit to go nine and a half months against this team doing what they have done. There’s still five games to go. Five.
"I’ve been in this country almost 22 years and I’ve seen a lot of things and I know how much it shifts from game to game. There are not easy games in this league. Let’s see.
"We have to lift our players tonight. We played against an exceptional team, we know that, but we are an exceptional team as well. Today we didn’t do the basics and understand what we needed to win the game."
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