Marcos Alonso Winner Helps Chelsea beat Arsenal 3-2 in thrilling London derby

Eden Hazard came off the bench to provide the winner for Marcos Alonso as Chelsea edged a thrilling London derby 3-2 over Arsenal on Saturday to condemn new Arsenal boss Unai Emery to a second consecutive defeat.

Contrastingly, Chelsea sit top of the embryonic Premier League table thanks to a perfect start under Maurizio Sarri, but made life difficult for themselves after racing into a 2-0 lead inside 20 minutes through Pedro Rodriguez and Alvaro Morata.

Arsenal were level by half-time as Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi netted.

Yet the Gunners were left to rue wasting a host of other glorious chances before Hazard provided the inspiration in his cameo appearance to swing an enthralling encounter Chelsea’s way.

Chelsea cruised to victory at Huddersfield, whilst Arsenal were outclassed by champions Manchester City on the opening weekend of the season.

Mkhitaryan followed Aubameyang’s example by somehow also blazing over an almost identical chance from close range.

The Armenian made amends to spark Arsenal’s fightback eight minutes before the break, though, with a fiercely struck low shot that had too much power for the world’s most expensive goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga.

If Kepa could have been questioned for the first goal he has conceded in English football after an 80 million euro move from Athletic Bilbao, he was helpless as Arsenal equalised four minutes later when Iwobi smashed home Mkhitaryan’s cross.

There was still time for Aubameyang and Iwobi to pass up another two great chances as Arsenal ended the half on top.

Both sides tightened up after the break as Emery introduced tough-tackling Uruguayan midfielder Lucas Torreria.

But there were still chances at either end as Petr Cech turned Ross Barkley’s low effort behind before Aubameyang was unfortunate to be wrongly flagged offside when he did finally find the net.

Sarri believes Hazard isn’t yet ready for 90 minutes after his exertions with Belgium at the World Cup.

But he still proved a match winner by easing past Hector Bellerin before providing a low cross for Alonso to sweep home 10 minutes from time.