Mikel Arteta's plan to stop Romelu Lukaku backfired as the striker impressed on his Chelsea debut.
The Belgian striker made his first start since rejoining the Stamford Bridge side as Thomas Tuchel put him straight into the starting line-up for the trip to the Emirates to face Arsenal.
And Lukaku made his presence felt as he scored the opening goal and dominated Arsenal's backline throughout the 90 minutes.
Arteta was asked if he had a plan in place to thwart the danger of the talisman if he led the line for Chelsea.
And although the Gunners boss didn't want to admit that he was specifically preparing for the striker, he insisted his side ready for every possible scenario that Chelsea would bring to the table.
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Arteta said ahead of the match: “I don’t know if he’s going to play! I have a plan to try to stop what Chelsea do & the plan to do what we have to do to win the game."
And it seems as though that plan didn't quite come to fruition as it only took Lukaku 15 minutes to get on the scoresheet.
He successfully held the ball up as he outmuscled Pablo Mari in the build-up, before getting on the end of Reece James' cross to tap the ball home into the empty net to score his first goal for Chelsea since returning to west London. as he bullied the Arsenal centre-half to the ground in the process.
And that was a common theme throughout as his strength was too much for the Gunners defence to deal with.
He was dangerous throughout the remainder of the first half and he played a part in the Blues' second goal too.
They swarmed to the striker in the middle which left Reece James in acres of space on the right as the defender slotted home expertly to make it 2-0.
Lukaku nearly added a second goal to his name, and Chelsea's third, in the second half but Bernd Leno pulled off a magnificent save as he diverted the striker's header onto the bar.
Arsenal struggled to deal with Lukaku's physicality all day and if Arteta did have a plan to stop him, his players didn't execute it.
