For all of two breathless minutes, the Emirates held its breath and Chelsea held the lead. Then Arsenal remembered who they were. A north London afternoon that began in alarm ended in the familiar hum of a home crowd watching a title contender go about its business, Martin Odegaard's second-half strike sealing a 2-1 victory that felt earned rather than gifted.

This was a match of two distinct halves in temperament. Chelsea arrived swaggering, all early adventure and set-piece cunning, and struck before Arsenal had settled. But the response was measured, then ruthless. Kai Havertz drew the sides level against his former club, and Odegaard swept the game beyond doubt after the interval, leaving the visitors to reflect on a lead squandered.

Three games, three wins, no goals of note conceded until Chelsea's opening flourish — Arsenal's start to the season now reads like a statement of intent. The scoreline may have flickered early, but the destination never truly felt in question once the hosts found their rhythm.

A jolt from Rogers

Chelsea could hardly have dreamed of a sharper opening. With barely 120 seconds on the clock, a set piece was worked with intelligence, Jorrel Hato nodding the ball into the path of Morgan Rogers on the edge of the area. Rogers needed no second invitation, curling a right-footed shot low into the bottom-left corner while the Emirates was still finding its seats.

It was the kind of early blow that can unsettle even the most assured of sides, and for a spell Chelsea buzzed with the confidence of a team that had drawn first blood. The visitors had come to be brave, and their reward was a lead and a stadium suddenly anxious.

Yet an early goal cuts both ways. It handed Arsenal a full afternoon to respond, and a side unbeaten and full of belief is rarely better placed to absorb a shock and set about repairing it. The Chelsea lead was a spark, but it lit a fire under the wrong team.

Havertz levels the account

Arsenal did not panic; they probed. The equaliser, when it arrived on 25 minutes, carried the fingerprints of the men who make this team tick. Declan Rice, ever the metronome, fed the ball to Kai Havertz on the edge of the box, and the German shaped a left-footed shot into the bottom-right corner with the certainty of a player who knew exactly where he wanted it.

There was a particular satisfaction in the finish given Havertz's history with the opposition, and the roar that greeted it had the ring of relief and defiance combined. From that moment the momentum shifted decisively, the hosts stretching Chelsea and dictating the tempo they had briefly been denied.

Rice's influence, so often the quiet engine of everything Arsenal do well, grew by the minute. His assist was the product of a midfield that had wrested control from a Chelsea side now retreating into the caution their fast start had promised to abandon.

Odegaard delivers

If the first half was about recovery, the second was about ambition. Five minutes after the restart, Arsenal struck the blow that shaped the afternoon. Christos Tzolis was the catalyst, springing a fast break that ripped Chelsea open before the visitors could reset, and Martin Odegaard arrived in the centre of the box to lash a left-footed finish high into the net.

The captain's goal was a study in timing and conviction, the kind of decisive intervention leaders are supposed to provide on days that demand them. Tzolis's involvement on the counter underlined the threat Arsenal now carry in transition, turning defence into goal in the blink of an eye.

At 2-1, the Emirates settled into something close to serenity, the crowd sensing that the hard yards had been run. Chelsea pressed for a route back but found Arsenal's structure firm and their nerve steady. The visitors' early gift had been repaid with interest, and there was no way back.

Table takes shape

Victory lifts Arsenal to second on nine points, a perfect three wins from three and a goal difference that speaks of a defence rarely troubled and an attack finding its range. Only the barest margin separates them from the summit, and on this evidence the pursuit will be relentless. Six scored, one conceded, and a habit of winning the games that matter against the sides they mean to beat.

For Chelsea, the afternoon is a lesson in the cost of surrendering an advantage. Fourth on six points, with two wins and now a first defeat, they have the goals — eight already — but a leaky look that this reverse only sharpens. Seven conceded across three matches is not the ledger of a team built for sustained challenge, and the early promise here dissolved once Arsenal found their feet.

The margins between these clubs are fine, and Chelsea's willingness to attack from the first whistle will serve them well over a season. But football rewards the finish more than the start, and it was Arsenal who did the finishing. Both sides now turn to the next test with contrasting emotions: one buoyant and unbeaten, the other knowing the raw materials are there but the polish is not yet applied.

On a September afternoon in north London, the reigning contenders looked every inch the part. Stung early, they answered with class, and the message to the rest of the Premier League was unmistakable — Arsenal do not stay behind for long.