{"id":22752,"date":"2025-03-17T10:00:29","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T10:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=22752"},"modified":"2025-03-17T10:05:14","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T10:05:14","slug":"epl-merinos-lone-strike-gives-arsenal-edge-over-chelsea-in-london-derby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=22752","title":{"rendered":"EPL: Merino\u2019s lone strike gives Arsenal edge over Chelsea in London derby"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Punch<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Arsenal, on Sunday, edged out Chelsea with a 1-0 victory, bolstering their position in the Premier League title race.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is in a fiercely contested London derby at the Emirates Stadium.<\/span><\/p>\n

The decisive moment came in the 20th minute when Mikel Merino expertly headed in a corner delivered by Martin Odegaard, showcasing Arsenal\u2019s set-piece prowess.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"AFP__20250316__372N3M9__v1__Preview__FblEngPrArsenalChelsea.jpg\"
\u2022Chelsea\u2019s French striker #18 Christopher Nkunku (C) clears the ball during the English Premier League football match | AFP.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This goal not only secured the win but also highlighted Odegaard\u2019s significant impact; the midfielder\u2019s assist marked his fifth against Chelsea in Premier League play, surpassing club legends Cesc F\u00e0bregas and Dennis Bergkamp for the most assists by an Arsenal player against the Blues.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chelsea, grappling with the absence of key attacker Cole Palmer due to injury, struggled to penetrate Arsenal\u2019s defence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their best opportunity materialized in the 37th minute when Marc Cucurella\u2019s volley narrowly missed the target.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"AFP__20250316__372M8GW__v1__Preview__FblEngPrArsenalChelsea.jpg\"
\u2022Arsenal\u2019s French defender #02 William Saliba (L) vies with Chelsea\u2019s Spanish defender #03 Marc Cucurella (R) during the English Premier League football match | AFP.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This victory solidifies Arsenal\u2019s hold on second place, narrowing the gap to 12 points behind league leaders Liverpool, with nine matches remaining.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conversely, Chelsea remains in fourth position, now just one point ahead of fifth-placed Manchester City, intensifying the competition for Champions League qualification.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMikel Merino\u2019s first-half header was enough to win a hotly-contested London derby against Chelsea.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Spaniard \u2013 starting his sixth consecutive game up front \u2013 flicked in Martin Odegaard\u2019s corner to give us a deserved lead on 20 minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere were few clear-cut chances for either side after that, though Merino came closest to doubling our advantage in the second-half, with a well-struck volley that Robert Sanchez batted away.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut the one goal was enough to consolidate our second-position in the table, while also making it seven successive Premier League games against Chelsea without defeat,\u201d a post-match report on the game from Arsenal\u2019s website read.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"AFP__20250316__372N3QA__v1__Preview__FblEngPrArsenalChelsea.jpg\"
\u2022Players clash during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium in London on March 16, 2025 | AFP.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Looking ahead, Arsenal shifts focus to their upcoming Champions League quarter-final clash against Real Madrid, aiming to carry forward the momentum from this hard-fought win.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t play again next month. The international players now join up with their respective national teams, and football resumes with the FA Cup quarter-finals, so we return to action on Tuesday, April 1 at home to Fulham in the Premier League,\u201d it stated.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arsenal, on Sunday, edged out Chelsea with a 1-0 victory, bolstering their position in the Premier League title race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1376,1373,223,10328,10327],"class_list":["post-22752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-arsenal","tag-chelsea","tag-epl","tag-london-derby","tag-merino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22752"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22752"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22757,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22752\/revisions\/22757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}