William Saliba and Jurrien Timber helped us defeat Chelsea for a third time in 2026.

The defenders headed home at Emirates Stadium to secure a 2-1 success against Liam Rosenior’s side.

But how did we beat the Blues? Adrian Clarke has gone through the footage and stats to find out why got another one over our London rivals

HISTORY MAKING CORNERS

Our two goals from corners against Chelsea took Arsenal’s tally to 16 from that specific type of set piece; a joint Premier League record in a single campaign.

We reached that milestone ourselves in 2023/24, as did West Bromwich Albion (2016/17) and Oldham Athletic in1992/93.

William Saliba’s opener was also the ninth time this season we have gone 1-0 up from a corner, matching Southampton’s record-high in 1994/95.

We targeted far post space very cleverly indeed from that Bukayo Saka cross, making the most of Chelsea’s front-loaded set-up.

As shown here, Jurrien Timber and Piero Hincapie take their markers towards the near post, leaving at 2v1 at the back…

With so many blue shirts missed out by the deep cross, Gabriel Maghalaes made a prodigious leap to set up Saliba for his crucial strike…

Timber’s priceless second half goal also broke a Premier League record.

It was our ninth winning goal scored from a corner this term, surpassing the eight managed by Manchester United 2012/13.

It was another far post corner that bypassed the Blues keeper, this time from Declan Rice.

On this occasion we Viktor Gyokeres and William Saliba pre-occupy two markers, who were happy to be pushed back towards the goal line.

This freed up a bit of extra room for Timber to attack the delivery, scoring his fourth goal of the campaign in all competitions…

SAKA PLAYED HIS PART

This was not an afternoon for pretty football as such, with tactical battlegrounds and physicality dominating proceedings.

Yet from a Gunners perspective, our captain Saka was involved in most of the most pleasing moves on the eye.

In the build-up to the corner which led to our first goal he played a delightful one-touch pass down the line for Timber, who made a decisive underlap…

He set up the right back for another first half chance, one of four opportunities he created, which includes this clever ball around the corner, releasing Eberechi Eze into the box.

Eze’s left foot shot was well saved by Robert Sanchez. 

When you crunch the numbers, it was clear how big an influence Saka had on this contest despite not scoring himself.

He topped our match rankings in numerous categories for his on and off the ball work…

Bukayo Saka v Chelsea

 
Total
Rank

Chances Created 
4
1st

Passes in Final Third 
20
1st

Possession Won 
6
1st

Fouls Won 
3
1st

Touches in Opp Box 
7
Joint 1st

Duels Won 
6
Joint 1st

 
PHYSICAL INTENSITY

We are a super-fit side who consistently run further than the opposition, and that was very much the case once again in this London derby.

Chelsea were rather methodical and laborious in comparison to Mikel Arteta’s team, who ran hard and with good intensity throughout.

By the time the final whistle blew, we had covered 7.59km more ground than Liam Rosenior’s side. 

Arsenal v Chelsea metrics

Metrics
Arsenal
Chelsea

Distance Ran
112.31km
104.72km

Sprints
151
144

Intensive Runs
3081
2819

 

Martin Zubimendi’s 11.3km was a team-high, but credit should also go to the manager for introducing the pace of Gabriel Martinelli on 55 minutes.

His introduction added more thrust and width down the left hand side of the pitch, and it was the Brazilian’s barnstorming dribble which lured Pedro Neto into making a foul that reduced Chelsea to ten men.

Below you can see how Martinelli (top speed 35.08km/hr) changed the dynamic down the left wing after replacing Trossard (30.74km/hr), by playing wider than the inverted Belgian. 

Heatmaps: Trossard v Martinelli

RARELY STRETCHED

The second half was not an easy watch for Arsenal supporters, especially during the closing stages when 10-man Chelsea pushed us back.

There were some nervy moments, and it was frustrating to see so little of the ball, but over the course of both halves we were not put under any serious, sustained pressure by Chelsea.

As you can see on the Chelsea heat map, the vast majority of their possession was in deep areas, with both wide channels well protected by full backs Timber and Hincapie. 

This action areas map also shows how Chelsea, who has almost 59% of possession, rarely ventured into our final third.

While they did present a major threat from corners, their wide men and full backs were unable to stretch us on too many occasions. 

RAYA Reliant

Not for the first time in 2025/26 this was a match when David Raya’s incredible agility came to our rescue.

In general play the Spaniard’s distribution and catching was terrific, but it was two very special saves that were particularly unforgettable.

The first came from a corner when Declan Rice accidentally flicked the ball towards his own goal, forcing Raya to react at lightning speed to push it over the bar.

His speed of thought was sensational. 

Then in the dying moments, a speculative inswinging cross from Alejandro Garnacho was bending at pace towards the bottom corner of the net.

Despite having to deal with Joao Pedro and Gabriel Maghalaes moving across his sight line, Raya kept his eye on the ball, before stretching to tip the ball around the post.

It was a jaw-dropping moment that was greeted with a mixture of wonder and relief by those inside Emirates Stadium. 

We were not at our best on the ball in this feisty encounter, and towards the end we certainly showed signs of nerves, but Raya’s tranquil personality and astonishing reflexes helped to get us over the line with three massive points.

Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.