- The Gunners took the lead after 14 minutes when Alexandre Lacazette scored his 10th goal of the season
- Defender Laurent Koscielny made it 2-0 before half-time with a lucky goal that went in off his shoulder
- Arsenal right back Hector Bellerin left the pitch on a stretcher after suffering a knee injury in the second half
Arsenal got their push for a top four finish back on track on Saturday night with a vital victory over Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium.
First-half goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Laurent Koscielny were enough for them to leapfrog Manchester United back into fifth and reduce the gap to the Champions League places to three.
Arsenal nearly scored inside the first five minutes when Bellerin threaded a ball outside Marcos Alonso for Lacazette to run on to. There are doubts about how well Lacazette and Aubameyang gel in attack but this time the France forward found his partner with a fine cross only for Aubameyang to flick it wide.
Arsenal swarmed all over Chelsea in the early stages and forced another chance when Xhaka's high cross was met by a tremendous leap from Sokratis at the back post only for his thudding header to go wide of Arrizabalaga's left hand post.
Chelsea were in disarray at the back. Arsenal should have scored after 13 minutes when Koscielny ran on to a free kick unmarked but directed his header straight at Arrizabalaga from point blank range. The ball hit the goalkeeper in the chest and ballooned over the bar.
It was only a brief reprieve. Arsenal took a short corner and Bellerin played the ball in low to Lacazette, who had his back to goal. Lacazette was allowed to turn. He wriggled his way past anaemic challenges by Pedro and Alonso and then drilled his shot high past Arrizabalaga. It was a fine goal, aided by awful defending.