Chelsea 's record signing Romelu Lukaku has been targeted for 'not being bothered' as Arsenal stunned their London rivals at Stamford Bridge.
An end-to-end clash ended 4-2 to the Gunners which put them back level on points with Tottenham in the race for the top four, and tempers flared at the end as Cesar Azpilicueta was involved in an ugly spat with angry supporters. Lukaku was handed a shock start against Arsenal after spending weeks watching Kai Havertz lead the line, but the Belgian was substituted in the second half after a poor performance.
Lukaku created an early chance for Chelsea and it looked as though he was set to take his starting opportunity, but it ended up being one of his only involvements in the game. And following the miserable showing, Lukaku has been slammed for 'not being bothered' during the match.
It was a disappointing performance from Chelsea all round, but Timo Werner continued his recent goalscoring run and seems to finally be enjoying life in Thomas Tuchel's side. Less could be said for Lukaku though, who strolled around and looked like a bystander for the majority of the game
And former Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was frustrated with Lukaku at full-time, as he couldn't understand why the record signing wasn't making more of an effort. Hasselbaink said on Sky Sports: "If you want to be the man, you need to at least run around.
"You have to try and show that you are bothered and that you want to suffer, and he simply does not run around, he does not go into gaps and he doesn’t go into space and without doing that, you are not going to score. Chelsea were very static and if you are going to have players that play like that, you have no chance."
But it wasn't just Lukaku that Hasselbaink was unimpressed with, as he highlighted defensive players such as Malang Sarr and Andreas Christensen for not stepping up in the absence of Antonio Rudiger. Chelsea were a mess at the back without the German, and it's a worrying sight of what could be to come as he is out of contract this summer.
"I think for Chelsea today it was a bad performance, a really, really bad performance," Hasselbaink said. "Certain players are getting an opportunity like Lukaku, Sarr, Christensen and when we go back to Lukaku, he does not do enough."
The defeat was a bitter blow for Chelsea, although it's likely that their top four status has already been confirmed due to their five point lead over both Arsenal and Tottenham. And they also have a game in hand on their London rivals, who still have to play one another.
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After they went crashing out of Europe in extra-time to Real Madrid, that left just the FA Cup and the Premier League to battle for. And it was no surprise that Chelsea looked rather fatigued after Sunday's FA Cup semi-final victory over Crystal Palace.
Chelsea will have to settle for third place in the league this season, and go again in Europe during the next campaign to try and win back their crown. But their season could be saved if they were to seek revenge on Liverpool and win the FA Cup final.
Liverpool have already beaten them at Wembley this season after winning the Carabao Cup final on penalties, and Chelsea also lost 1-0 to Leicester in the FA Cup final last year. But Liverpool are on course to be the first ever English team to win the quadruple, so they'll be going all out to get the better of Chelsea again.
