So much for The Choke. So much for the idea that Arsenal are somehow preternaturally inclined to lose their nerve in the white heat of a title race. So much for the idea that we might as well have handed the Premier League trophy to Manchester City already.

Arsenal are not choking. They are resurgent. They have dealt with the blip of their home defeat to Aston Villa and elimination from the Champions League and now they are playing like kings again. They can see the finish line and they are sprinting towards it.

They did not just beat Chelsea last night. They humiliated them. That is not a particularly high bar this season, admittedly, but Arsenal looked back to their very best in a 5-0 rout in which Martin Odegaard was breathtakingly brilliant and Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka were not far behind.

Chelsea were awful. Even when they played passably in spells in the first half, their finishing was comically bad. Without Cole Palmer, they looked like half a team. They had gone eight league games without defeat before this match but their revival, if it was ever that, was brought to a shuddering halt in north London.

This was about Arsenal, though. The win lifted them three points clear of Liverpool at the top of the table and four clear of City, although City have two games in hand and are still favourites to lift their fourth title in succession.

Kai Havertz (right) had no problem celebrating scoring the first of his two goals against his former club

The way Arsenal are playing, though, the manner of this victory, the fact that they have the points on the board, is evidence that they are not going to fade away this season without an almighty fight. If City, or Liverpool, are going to win it, they are going to have to do it the hard way.

Many felt the odds had been stacked further in Arsenal’s favour when the teamsheets were released an hour before kick-off. They showed, as had been widely trailed, that Palmer was absent through illness. Chelsea have started to become known as ‘Cole Palmer FC’ because of his excellence. It was a significant loss.

Palmer has been Chelsea’s outstanding player this season after his move from Manchester City last summer. There have been times when he has looked levels above his teammates. It has got to the point where you’d pay the price of admission just to see him play.

Whether it be the drop of the shoulder that fooled Rodri in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against City or a brilliant flash of creativity, there is always something to admire, which was why his absence was the main pre-match talking point. ‘No Palmer’ was trending on X.

If Chelsea feared how they would fare without Palmer, their fears seemed to have been justified within the first five minutes. Arsenal mounted their first proper attack, Declan Rice drove forward down the inside left channel and slipped the ball to Leandro Trossard. Trossard’s fierce strike shot straight through Djordje Petrovic’s legs and into the net.

Bukayo Saka was looking sharp and eager again after his recent dip in from and five minutes later, Arsenal should have been further ahead. Some typical quick-thinking by Martin Odegaard, Arsenal’s creative fulcrum, freed Kai Havertz in the Chelsea box. Havertz had time and space to shoot but his best option was to square the ball to Rice for a tap-in.

Havertz hesitated a fraction too long over his choice. By the time, he passed to Rice, Chelsea were alive to the danger and the ball was intercepted. On the touchline, Arteta held his head in his hands in disbelief.

Nicolas Jackson, who distinguished himself only with his profligacy against City at Wembley, was lucky to escape a red card with a studs-up challenge that made Takehiro Tomiyasu’s ankle buckle but by midway through the half, Chelsea were starting to gain a foothold in the game.

Axel Disasi threw himself at a flick-on from Benoit Badiashile but the ball was just too far in front of him and then, when Jackson broke away down the left, his cross was inadvertently deflected past David Raya by Gabriel and the home crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief when it bounced to safety off the outside of the post.

The chances started to come thick and fast. Disasi nearly deflected a Trossard shot past Petrovic from point-blank range but the ball bounced off the goalkeeper’s chest, Havertz saw a low shot saved by the Serbian keeper and, at the other end, Enzo Fernandez sidefooted wide from the edge of the area after Marc Cucurella’s piledriver had cannoned off Ben White.

Play swung easily from one end to the other as both midfields struggled to gain control. It was inevitable that one decent chance would fall to Jackson before half time and equally inevitable that he would miss it.

It came two minutes before the interval when Conor Gallagher curled in a superb cross from close to the byline. Jackson got in front of his man six yards out but instead of heading the ball, he inexplicably put his hand in front of his face and the ball hit a combination of hand and face and fell limply to the floor. ‘You have got to be braver,’ an exasperated Ally McCoist said on TNT Sports.

Arsenal threatened straight after the break. Rice robbed Gallagher inside the Chelsea half and then ran on to a return pass from Odegaard. Rice took a touch and then drilled his shot goalwards but Petrovic got down smartly to his right to push it away.

It was only a momentary reprieve for Pochettino’s side. Chelsea failed miserably to deal with an Arsenal short corner, allowing Odegaard acres of space to work his magic at his leisure. Rice swept a shot towards goal from the edge of the box. It was blocked but the ricochet fell to White, who curled it home with aplomb with his weaker left foot. 

Odegaard – who else – was the provider again ten minutes after the break when Arsenal put the game out of reach. His searching ball from deep inside his own half freed Havertz for a race on goal with Cucurella. Havertz held Cucurella off well and clipped his shot expertly over Petrovic and into the roof of the net. 

Two goals in five minutes had won the game for Arteta’s team. They didn’t need any more help from poor Jackson but he gave it to them anyway. When good work from Noni Madueke freed him on the edge of the six yard box, Jackson sidestepped his man superbly and then, with the goal at his mercy, slid his shot very precisely into the side-netting.

The game turned into a rout midway through the half when Saka jinked in from the right and slipped the ball to Havertz 15 yards out. Havertz took a touch and speared his shot low and to Petrovic’s left where it bounced off the foot of the post and rolled in.

Arsenal made it five after 70 minutes when Odegaard chipped a ball forwards for White and White volleyed it ever so casually over Petrovic. It may have been intended as a cross but by that stage, it didn’t matter. The rout had become a humiliation.