Chelsea made the same mistake as Moses Itauma and were punished by Arsenal star’s moment of genius

Chelsea brought the chaos, but it was the calmness of Kai Havertz and late brilliance of David Raya that ensured Arsenal came out on top.

Arsenal fans waited less than 30 seconds to remind their travelling Chelsea counterparts of last season’s title win with a rousing rendition of ‘Champions of England. We know what we
are.’

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The home sections fell silent as £117million man Morgan Rogers – sought-after by the champions in the summer – fired Chelsea into a shock lead, ironically with exactly one minute and 17 seconds on the clock.

Queue pandemonium inside the Emirates Stadum as the first half turned into a basketball match.

It was a case of ‘you attack, we attack’ as these two Premier League heavyweights exchanged blows. However, maybe Chelsea did a Moses Itauma by punching themselves out of the contest.

Bukayo Saka was denied by Emi Martinez at his near post before Reece James, filling in for the injured Moises Caicedo in midfield, tested Raya with a 25-yard piledriver.

Riccardo Caliafiori thought he had equalised after a low free kick had caused havoc inside Chelsea’s six-yard box, but VAR ruled out the goal because full debutant Ezri Konsa was offside in the build-up.

The Gunners did draw level on 25 minutes when the silky, smooth Havertz picked up the ball on the right corner of the penalty area before cutting in on his left foot and firing low past Emi Martinez.

The Argentine World Cup winner will have been disappointed to be beaten at his near post but did make a number of other impressive stops to prove it should be £7.5m well spent on his signature.

It was always going to be tough for the two teams to keep up the relentless nature of the frenetic opening 45 plus 45 minutes in the second half.

As the tempo slowed after the interval Arsenal began to control the game like the title winners they are.

It took just five minutes for captain fantastic Martin Odegaard to put Arteta’s men in front for the first time, but once again the goal was all about the elegance and intelligence of Havertz, who produced a sublime dummy to let the ball run through to Odegaard in space.

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Christos Tzolis, who more than justified his selection after being hauled off at half time at Aston Villa on Monday, was given too much time to play in a pint-point low cross from the left wing.

Unlike a static Chelsea defence, Havertz had spotted the run of his skipper and Odegaard continued his excellent start to the season by calmly lifting his effort over the advancing Martinez and into the net.

To their credit Chelsea did not crumble, and it still needed a breath-taking last-minute save from Raya to keep out Estevao’s curler and denied Xabi Alonso’s troops a point.

But it was Havertz who the Arsenal fans were serenading at full time. Sixty million down the drain!

Arteta hails ‘magic’ Havertz

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was the first to give Havertz his flowers as he hailed the decisive dummy from the German which led to the winning goal.

“Kai was immense. He’s growing every single match. He gives you presence in the box. He can play outside, he can come to pocket, he links play,” Arteta said in the Emirates Stadium mixed zone.

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His work rate is ridiculous. Today he creates a magic moment, sharp moment, boom, boom, and scores the goal.

“We need the players in that emotional state because that’s what we need.”