Eddie Nketiah was the hero for Arsenal as they re-ignited their bid for a top-four finish thanks to a thrilling 4-2 victory at Chelsea
The Gunners took the lead not once, but twice at Stamford Bridge through goals from Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe, but on both occasions, Chelsea found a response as Timo Werner's deflected strike and Cesar Azpilicueta's low finish sent the sides in level at the interval
The scoring wasn't over in the second half as the Gunners took the lead once again, and it was Nketiah who grabbed his side's third before Bukayo Saka sealed Arsenal's victory from the spot after being hauled down late on by Azpilicueta
Victory ends a run of three straight defeats in the Premier League for Arsenal and sees Mikel Arteta's side move level on points with fourth-placed Tottenham - who they still have to play towards the end of the season - ahead of another crucial match against Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday
Meanwhile, Chelsea, who suffered a second straight home league defeat, remain third, five points ahead of fifth-placed Arsenal
In what was a frantic first half, Arsenal took the lead when a long hopeful ball over was not dealt with by Andreas Christensen, and his under-hit back pass was picked up by Nketiah, who finished expertly past Edouard Mendy for his first league goal of the season
Much to the frustration of Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, the lead did not last long as Chelsea were back on level terms just four minutes later
 The Gunners wasted numerous chances to clear the ball before Werner's strike deflected off Granit Xhaka to bring the scores level
It was proving to be a difficult evening for both defences as Arsenal re-established their lead midway through the opening 45 minutes
 Smith Rowe produced another fine finish to round off an excellent team goal, sweeping home into the bottom corner after excellent work from Xhaka and Martin Odegaard in the build-up
The goals kept coming and the celebrations in the away end were cut short again as Chelsea hit back… again
 Cesar Azpilicueta pounced like a striker to get on the end of Mason Mount's ball into the box to take the two sides into the break on level terms
Chelsea responded to their defensive frailties in the first half by bringing on Thiago Silva for Christensen, but it would be Arsenal who hit the front for a third time
More indecision in the Chelsea defence allowed the striker to nip in and he poked home after Nuno Tavares' cross had not been dealt with by the Blues' backline
Another frustrating night for Romelu Lukaku came to an end as Chelsea threw on Kai Havertz as they looked for a third equaliser of the night, but it never came
Arsenal won a late penalty as Bukayo Saka was dragged to the ground by Azpilicueta, the forward dusting himself off to convert the resulting spot-kick to wrap up a crucial three points for the Gunners
' :"I do like what I saw from Arsenal
 They've shown a bit of character
"Saka, Nketiah, Smith Rowe they have that devilment in the way they play
"It's a big result, it makes it wide open again
 I think if they'd lost today, it would have been too much for Arsenal to come back from four losses on the spin
 They're right back in this race
"All the talk before the game was Arsenal's goal-shy strikers
The Gunners' 1-0 loss to Southampton on Saturday made it 15 games since one of their strikers scored a goal from open play in the Premier League, which was a run which went all the way back to December
Step forward Eddie Nketiah
Leading the line for the Gunners at Stamford Bridge, there would have been doubts about Nketiah's inclusion after his performance at Southampton
 There were calls for Gabriel Martinelli through the middle and even shouts for Nicolas Pepe to play as a striker
However, Arteta stuck with the former England U21 striker, and it was a decision that paid dividends as Nketiah produced an excellent performance, grabbing two opportunist goals to lead his side to a crucial victory in the race for the top-four
The question now is, can he do it again?"He could be a 4/10 next week, if he wasn't he'd be in the team every week, that's his second start all season," Paul Merson told Sky Sports
 "The consistency levels are not there but if he gets it for three or four games then Arsenal come fourth
 He's a natural goalscorer
"He's a natural goalscorer plus he's willing to run beyond
 Lacazette wouldn't have chased that first [goal]
 He wouldn't have scored those two goals
 Even though he's a better footballer, he's not a better finisher
"After a performance like that it's hard to not see him getting an opportunity to back up that performance against Manchester United
 "Nketiah is going to be playing against Man Utd at the weekend," former Gunners striker Alan Smith said just after the striker was substituted
 "No question of that
 That was just what he needed and just what his team and club needed
"What Arsenal need is for him to do it again, and again, and who knows his future, which has been in doubt for a long time, might just still be at Arsenal
Chelsea boss : "It was a totally wild and open game in the first half, already at 2-2 after we came back twice
 We had a good start but again gave the first goal away, which is impossible to do these things in consecutive matches
 But we're doing it
 We came back twice and we scored another two in the second half, unfortunately for the wrong side
"It's a level of mistakes, the number of mistakes in consecutive games here at home, it's impossible at this kind of level
 You don't see this
 It's simply impossible, but we're doing this at the moment and you cannot win football games like this
 It's not about individual players
 A defensive performance is a team performance and an offensive performance is a team performance
"You need to have the tactics right, which is doubtful I had this right, and you need the team selection right, again it's doubtful I had this right
 Then it's a game for the players
 They get full praise when they do it, when they did it for the last three matches
 And they have to face the reality that it's impossible to win matches if you make this amount of mistakes of this calibre
 It's simply impossible
 I don't see it in any other matches but I see it now in consecutive matches of our games and it has to stop
"Arsenal boss : "I said to the players, if you want to be playing Champions League football, you have to go these stadiums and beat the top teams
 So they have done it and I'm really proud of them, but I'm more proud of how we've reacted as a group in the past weeks
 That gives me more energy to be here
"What I love is the spirit of these players
 When you lose matches, you get punished, you get criticised but for these players I don't care because it's so worth it
 They are phenomenal people and as a group they are really growing
 To win a London derby away from home and how we did it, I am really happy
"April 23 - May 1 - , live on Sky SportsMay 8 - , live on Sky SportsMay 12 - , live on Sky SportsMay 16 - , live on Sky SportsMay 22 - April 24 -  Premier League,live on Sky SportsApril 28 - Premier League, live on Sky SportsMay 1 - Premier League,live on Sky SportsMay 7 -  Premier LeagueMay 11 - Premier League, live on Sky SportsMay 14 -  FA Cup finalMay 19 - Premier LeagueMay 22 -  Premier LeagueChelsea are back at home and back on Sky Sports on Super Sunday when they host West Ham in the Premier League; kick-off 2pm
 Arsenal will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they welcome Manchester United to the Emirates; kick-off 12
30pm
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>