By Henry Vinter | 15 January 2056
If anyone wondered how Calin Dimario’s Chelsea would react to losing their 24-game winning streak at Anfield, the answer was written in blood at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
They didn’t sulk. They didn’t stumble. They simply found the nearest victim and tore them apart.
In a performance of cold, hard vengeance, Chelsea demolished Arsenal 5-0, extending their Premier League winning run to 22 matches. The “All Competitions” streak might be dead, but the league title procession has turned into a monster truck rally, crushing everything in its path.
Valera leads the Slaughter
Nacho Valera was the architect of Arsenal’s misery. The Spanish striker, still arguably fuming from his disallowed “ghost hat-trick” against Liverpool, took just 16 minutes to open the scoring.
It was a header from point-blank range that was initially flagged offside—a familiar feeling for Valera. But this time, the VAR gods smiled. The decision was overturned, the goal stood, and the floodgates creaked open.
Valera added his second in the 63rd minute with a “well-struck effort”, capping a Player of the Match display (8.5 rating) that left Arsenal’s defenders chasing shadows.
VAR: Chelsea’s New Best Friend
It is ironic that after being burned by VAR in the Cup, Chelsea were saved by it twice in the first half.
Just before the break, Júnior thought he had been denied a goal by the linesman’s flag. But once again, the technology intervened, overruling the on-field decision to award his header. Instead of going into halftime at 1-0 and hopeful, Arsenal went in 2-0 down and broken.
The Late Collapse
If the first hour was a beating, the final ten minutes were a humiliation.
Center-back McKauley Civzelis rubbed salt in the wounds by heading home a fourth in the 84th minute. Three minutes later, substitute Scott Crichton wandered into the box to rifle home the fifth.
The stats were laughable: Chelsea had 23 shots to Arsenal’s 4. It wasn’t a contest; it was a training drill.
“I Hate Losing”
For Arsenal manager Michael MacDonald, this was a nightmare. The Scot, already under pressure, couldn’t hide his fury post-match. “I hate losing, and I really hate losing to our rivals. This isn’t acceptable,” he fumed.
But what can he do? This Chelsea team has now scored 90 goals in 23 league games. They are not just beating teams; they are devouring them. The Anfield loss was clearly just a glitch in the software. The machine is back online, and it is angrier than ever.