“It’s not over,” Mikel Arteta had said on Monday. It feels as if it is, Manchester City just too powerful, as evidenced by their 4-1 dismissal of Arsenal last Wednesday. But Arsenal cannot allow their Premier League title push to fizzle out. They owe it to themselves after the excellent season they have produced.

Arteta’s men kept up their side of the bargain, moving back to the top of the table, two points clear of City, having played two matches more, although to have failed to beat this Chelsea team would have been an abdication.

Frank Lampard’s visitors were almost implausibly bad in the first half. Then again, it has been all too believable for their supporters of late. Arsenal were 3-0 up after 34 minutes, the game over.

The outstanding Martin Ødegaard scored the first two, Gabriel Jesus added the third and the damage could have been heavier. Chelsea did muster a consolation, Noni Madueke scoring his first for the club, and what passed for a late push but it is now six losses out of six for Lampard – equalling the club’s worst sequence in 30 years. The blot for Arsenal was an injury to Gabriel Magalhães but the response to the hammering at City was there. It was their first win in five games.

The fighting talk from Arteta had been pronounced in the buildup. It has been for a while, his players knowing that he believed in them to stay alive in the title race. “I would pay a lot to be in this position at this moment next season,” he had added.

The Arsenal manager twisted with his starting XI, looking for some freshness post-City. It was Jakub Kiwior for Rob Holding, Jorginho for Thomas Partey, Leandro Trossard for Gabriel Martinelli. Arteta’s idea was to bring the hustle and control the tempo. To be ruthless.

What of Lampard? It was a wholesale re-working from him; back three out, back four in, a first start since last November for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang up front, an opportunity for Madueke on the right wing. The first-half would be a wholesale disaster.

Chelsea were nervy and chaotic, César Azpilicueta indebted to Kepa Arrizabalaga for an early bail-out, and it would get worse. Quickly. N’Golo Kanté had survived a swing-and-a-miss inside his own area, setting the wrong tone, when Azpilicueta tried to go back to his goalkeeper with a header. He got himself caught under the ball, unable to generate the power, leaving it short, allowing Granit Xhaka to steal in. Arrizabalaga’s save at close quarters was a good one.

Chelsea were pinned back during a traumatic period. They could not get out, errors marking their play. Nor could they close the spaces. It felt as though they were trying to make sense of the system.

Ødegaard had begun as if he meant business, demanding the ball and building the play in that driving style. Bukayo Saka had risen to extend Arrizabalaga with a towering header (yes, really) on 15 minutes, Chelsea’s marking slack, when Ødegaard popped up on the edge of the box and at the end of a move.

Gabriel Jesus went left to Xhaka and he screwed a low pass back. It was startling to see the lack of pressure on the ball from Chelsea. There was Ødegaard to lift a first-time shot which flew in off Arrizabalaga’s fingertips and the underside of the crossbar.

Ødegaard’s second was similar. Again, Arsenal built up the left and again Xhaka cut back for the run of Ødegaard. Thiago Silva was rooted, Raheem Sterling did not track and Arrizabalaga was exposed. Ødegaard’s finish from closer in was true. Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell argued about who had been supposed to do what.

Mikel Arteta has praised Bukayo Saka for the “rare” ability he has shown to perform at such a high level on such a consistent basis but says the Arsenal winger has “a lot” of room for improvement.

Saka has been a key member of the Arsenal side that sits eight points clear at the top of the Premier League, scoring 12 goals and claiming 10 assists in 28 games.

Only Erling Haaland and Harry Kane have more goals and assists combined than Saka in the top flight this season, while he has also shone on the international stage with England, starring at the World Cup and scoring a brilliant goal in the 2-0 win over Ukraine on Sunday.

Arteta has started Saka in every one of Arsenal’s Premier League fixtures this season, and talks are ongoing over a new deal to replace the contract which expires in 2024.

When asked if there was further improvement to come from the 21-year-old, the Gunners manager said: “Yes.

“First of all, I think you have to recognise what he’s been doing. The consistency he’s shown at his age and at this level is something rare to see. He’s taken it with normality.

“If you ask me if he has room for improvement, I would say: ‘Yes – a lot.’ He’s never satisfied, he always wants more and he can still do a lot of things better and more efficiently.

Kolo Toure, the former Arsenal defender who was part of the Invincibles – the last Gunners side to lift the Premier League title, back in 2004 – says his old club should convince Saka to remain at the Emirates for the next decade.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Toure said: “First advice to Arsenal is to make sure Bukayo Saka is signed for 10 years.

“Arsenal made a few mistakes in my opinion when they had homegrown players or key players that really love the club and they let them go.

“You have to keep those players because these are the players that are going to lead the team for you. These are the players you can rely on.”