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• Mikel Arteta salutes ‘unbelievable’ Kai Havertz after another impressive display

  Mikel Arteta hailed an “unbelievable” performance from Kai Havertz after his two goals helped Arsenal move three points clear at the top of the Premier League with a thumping 5-0 win over Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium.

  The 24-year-old, who struggled in his early appearances after swapping Stamford Bridge for north London in the summer, gave a superb display against his former side as the leaders heaped more misery on visiting manager Mauricio Pochettino, who saw his ninth-place team slump to a worst-ever league defeat against Arsenal.

  Havertz struck twice as part of an 18-minute blitz in the second half as Arteta’s team won for the second time in four days, continuing their recovery from successive losses to Aston Villa and Bayern Munich.

  “He (Havertz) was unbelievable, in all departments,” said Arteta.

  “For a nine to score two goals the way he scored, his contribution was great. It’s a question for him but I’m sure he’s very pleased.”

  The Arsenal onslaught began after only four minutes, Declan Rice sliding the ball into a channel on the left of the penalty area from where Leandro Trossard took over, dinking past defender Alfie Gilchrist, on his first Premier League start, and thudding it through the legs of Djordje Petrovic.

  Thereafter Chelsea competed gamely, going close to equalising when Axel Disasi just failed to reach a flick-on from a corner and again when Nicolas Jackson’s effort was deflected onto the post by Gabriel, but in the space of under 20 minutes after the interval they fell to pieces.

  First, Ben White reacted quickest to sweep home after Rice’s shot was blocked, then Havertz got his first of the night with a lofted finish over the goalkeeper.

  The former Chelsea forward made it 4-0, his shot pinging in off the post with Petrovic rooted, before White provided the moment of the match with a cross-shot that sailed across the face of goal and in from Martin Odegaard’s pass.

  “It was a big performance, collectively and individually,” said Arteta, whose side moved clear at the top ahead of Sunday’s derby against Tottenham but have played a game more than Liverpool and two more than Manchester City.

  “I thought we were really good, against a really good team that was in great form and were going to ask us a lot of questions. I think we responded really well.

  “From the start we were really determined, really flowing, playing with a lot of courage and making things happen. Really happy with the result. It’s a big day for our supporters.

  “It’s great for us, for the confidence and for the belief that we can do it, we can come to these stages against big teams and win games the way we’ve done it tonight. So enjoy it, then it’s back to work tomorrow because we have a big one on Sunday.”

  Chelsea boss Pochettino, for whom Arteta admitted to have “all the sympathy in the world,” gave a downcast assessment of his team’s prospects of qualifying for Europe after a humbling loss.

  “Now it is difficult to see the future because after this game we feel disappointed,” he said. “It is difficult to talk about objectives.

  “If we compete like Saturday (in the FA Cup semi-final defeat to City), OK. But if we compete like today, I think we deserve to go into Europe? I think in this way, no.”

• Kai Havertz bags brace against former employers as Arsenal hammer Chelsea

  Kai Havertz scored twice against his former club as Arsenal tightened their grip on top spot in the Premier League by denting Chelsea’s European aspirations with a thumping 5-0 win.

  Gunners forward Havertz, who made a £65million switch from Stamford Bridge last summer, registered two of four second-half goals on a remarkable evening at a jubilant Emirates Stadium.

  Defender Ben White also claimed a brace for Mikel Arteta’s title-chasing side, adding to Leandro Trossard’s early opener, as the Blues’ recent resurgence floundered in embarrassing fashion in the absence of key man Cole Palmer.

  Victory moved Arsenal three points ahead of second-placed Liverpool having now played one game more, while reigning champions Manchester City sit four points behind with two matches in hand.

  Outclassed Chelsea squandered a series of chances, with Nicolas Jackson particularly culpable, as they suffered a first defeat in nine top-flight games and missed the chance to climb to seventh.

  Mauricio Pochettino’s men made the short trip across the capital on the back of a painful FA Cup semi-final defeat to Pep Guardiola’s City and without 20-goal top scorer Palmer due to illness.

  Blues academy graduate Alfie Gilchrist was handed a first Premier League start as part of four changes, while Arsenal recalled Takehiro Tomiyasu and Thomas Partey.

  The Gunners, who suffered a damaging 2-0 loss to Aston Villa in their last home game before exiting the Champions League at the hands of Bayern Munich, began brightly and led inside four minutes.

  Declan Rice was afforded time and space to advance deep into opposition territory before slipping in Trossard to escape Gilchrist and fire a low left-footed shot from a tight angle which was allowed to squirm home by Blues goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic.

  Chelsea’s evening could quickly have gone downhill but Jackson avoided a potential eighth-minute red card after catching Tomiyasu’s ankle with his studs.

  Arsenal, whose players wore black armbands following the death last week of former club chairman Sir Chips Keswick at the age of 84, continued to be the dominant force.

  Ex-Chelsea academy player Rice fired narrowly over from the edge of the box following a delightful pirouette, before the visitors almost snatched a fortuitous leveller.

  After Jackson outpaced William Saliba down the left wing, his attempted cut back deflected off Gabriel and struck the outside of the near post.

  Petrovic then atoned for his costly early error by denying Havertz and, moments later, pulling off a fine reaction save to repel Trossard’s effort which took a hefty touch off Axel Disasi.

  A pulsating, end-to-end encounter showed little sign of relenting.

  Gunners defender White produced a crucial block to deny Marc Cucurella after good work from Noni Madueke, before Enzo Fernandez side-footed the rebound just wide.

  Jackson inexplicably handled a golden headed chance from Conor Gallagher’s cross as a breathless opening period finished with a flurry of yellow cards, including one for Arteta.

  The Arsenal boss would have been keen for his side to kill off the contest as quickly as possible – and duly got his wish.

  Petrovic saved well from Rice and Havertz before the hosts secured breathing space seven minutes after the restart.

  Following a short corner between Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, Rice was again denied – this time by the leg of Gallagher – only for the unmarked White to sweep in the loose ball.

  The result was put beyond doubt just five minutes later, with the identity of the goalscorer particularly painful for the travelling fans.

  Havertz, who scored Chelsea’s winner in the 2021 Champions League final, was superbly released by Odegaard and held off Cucurella to lift the ball over Petrovic, sparking wild scenes in the stands followed by taunts aimed at the away end.

  Jackson’s wasteful evening continued as he hit the side-netting with only David Raya to beat before Arsenal piled on the misery for former Tottenham boss Pochettino.

  Havertz doubled his tally in the 65th minute by firing home via the right post after receiving the ball from Saka.

  White replicated the Germany international’s achievement only five minutes later when his attempted volley across goal from Odegaard’s dinked pass inadvertently flew into the top left corner to cap a humiliating outing for Chelsea.

• I don’t expect political statements from Germany team -Thomas Hitzlsperger

  German players are unlikely to make any major political statements at Euro 2024 after their World Cup protest in Qatar was met with a tepid domestic reception, ex-international Thomas Hitzlsperger has predicted.

  Seven European nations at the 2022 global showpiece – including England – initially planned to wear ‘OneLove’ anti-discrimination armbands but were dissuaded following the threat of sporting sanctions from FIFA.

  Instead, the Germans covered their mouths for a World Cup team photograph in protest, while the tournament remained overshadowed by the host nation’s record on human rights, from its treatment of migrant workers to the criminalisation of same-sex relationships.

  Hitzlsperger, who bookended his playing career with spells at Aston Villa and Everton and a decade ago became the first former Premier League player to come out as gay, said: “It ended for the German team not in a good way. Funnily enough, back home a lot of people criticised it whereas abroad it was seen as a big statement.

  “After the tournament, some of the representatives of the German national team just said, ‘look, at the Euros we talk about football, nothing else’. So I don’t expect much from the team similar to the World Cup.

  “I think the England team were the first ones to play, and they decided against the One Love armband. A lot of the German players, they felt a responsibility, they felt ‘we’ve got to make a statement’.

  “They couldn’t rely on the other teams. I think there were seven teams in the end that tried to stick together and wear the armband, and then they all collapsed, basically. And that’s when the Germans were like, ‘We still have to do something’.”

  The former midfielder, who is now serving as an ambassador for this summer’s tournament in his home country, agrees that Germany’s poor showing likely influenced negative sentiment around the protest.

  He said: “Football can be brutal. If you win, you set the tone and whatever you do it’s accepted and people look up to you. If you don’t win, you lose football matches, then you better not say anything.”

  Even before the tournament, said the 42-year-old, the German public was already divided over whether or not the national team – or anyone – had a responsibility to act.

  “It was a very difficult debate and it never came to a conclusion,” said Hitzlsperger.

  “Some said it’s too much politics, others said it was right what we did, and that’s where we ended. That was our opportunity to say ‘we’re hosting a European Championship, let’s have a really good time together’, talk about responsibility when it comes to sustainability but don’t teach the world what to do.”

  Organisers hope the tournament itself will instead do the talking, with ambitions to become be the most sustainable European Championship of all time through the use of entirely pre-existing stadia run by 100 per cent renewable energy sources, a zoned match schedule reducing travel distances for teams and fans, and the creation of a climate fund dedicated to projects focused on mitigating tournament-related unavoidable emissions.

  It is also the second major football tournament, following in the footsteps of last summer’s Women’s World Cup, to sign a human rights declaration.

  UEFA has stated EURO 2024 “embraces gender identities and expressions as a spectrum that is not limited to a binary concept”, with gender-neutral toilets available at all venues and similarly neutral lanes outside the stadia to accommodate a range of gender expressions for procedures like body checks.

  Ultimately, says Hitzlsperger, “the German FA, UEFA, the German government and the foreign ministry, (will do) everything we can do, without putting the team under too much pressure to say ‘every game you have to make a statement’.

  “You have to know who is responsible for what, and unfortunately what happened in Qatar really made the players aware of the consequences if you take a stance on human rights.”