Club-record signing Romelu Lukaku scored and put in a dominant display on his second Chelsea debut as they beat Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates on Super Sunday.
Nearly 10 years after his first debut, £97.5m summer signing Lukaku registered his first goal for the club, tapping home at close range from Reece James’ ball across the face of goal (15) after the Belgian’s superb hold-up play had triggered the move.
James doubled Chelsea’s lead with a clinical finish from the right side of the box with Arsenal too engrossed in Lukaku again (35), before the hosts had a strong penalty call denied by both Paul Tierney and VAR as Bukayo Saka went down under James’ challenge.
Lukaku was denied a second by Bernd Leno’s brilliant reflex save onto the crossbar from a header late on – Sky Sports’ Gary Neville described his performance as “the complete centre-forward display” – and while Arsenal showed brief glimpses, Chelsea’s victory was overall comfortable and classy.
It doesn’t get any easier for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, whose reshuffled back four struggled desperately with Lukaku and Co; they sit 19th and travel to champions Manchester City after the Carabao Cup tie at West Brom on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports Football.
