Didier Drogba netted two either side of a Thomas Vermaelen own goal to leave Arsenal's title hopes in tatters.
Arsenal dominated possession in the opening quarter of an hour, but created no real chances, and Chelsea nearly made them pay.
Nicolas Anelka latched onto a through ball and cut across Bacary Sagna as he entered the penalty area. It appeared that Sagna pulled the Chelsea striker as Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia saved at Anelka's feet, but the referee said no penalty.
The in-form Drogba had his first chance midway through the half when he met a lofted John Obi Mikel ball, but he could only send his header straight at Almunia.
The home side attempted to hit straight back and created their first chance through Samir Nasri, but his 20-yard effort was saved by Petr Cech.
Drogba came close again with another header, but he opened the scoring for Chelsea on 41 minutes.
An exquisite through ball by John Terry split open the Arsenal backline and after halting his run, Ashley Cole crossed for Drogba to neatly volley home off the underside of the bar and post to give the league leaders the advantage.
Arsenal would have been hoping to make it to half time at 1-0, but Chelsea doubled the lead a minute before the break in similar circumstances to the first goal.
Ashley Cole once again whipped in a ball across the Arsenal six yard box, and Gunners defender Vermaelen sliced the ball off the far post and into the net to give Chelsea a 2-0 lead.
The home side started the second half the better, and they could count themselves unfortunate they did not pull a goal back in the opening minutes.
Drogba played his side into trouble with a risky back pass which Cech could only half clear. The ball eventually was delivered into the area by Nasri where Eduardo was adjudged to have raised his foot high, moments before Andrei Arshavin hit the ball into the net.
Chelsea came agonisingly close to sealing the three points just after the hour mark when Drogba's curling effort deflected off the chest of Frank Lampard, which forced Almunia into a sprawling save.
As the game entered the final quarter of an hour, the play began to become more stretched as Arsenal looked to pull a goal back and Chelsea looked to see out their fifth away win of the season.
The home side continued to push forward but they could find no way past the strong Chelsea defence, and Drogba capped off a resounding Chelsea performance with a stunning free kick four minutes from time that flew past the despairing dive of Almunia and into the far corner.
Arsenal dominated possession in the opening quarter of an hour, but created no real chances, and Chelsea nearly made them pay.
Nicolas Anelka latched onto a through ball and cut across Bacary Sagna as he entered the penalty area. It appeared that Sagna pulled the Chelsea striker as Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia saved at Anelka's feet, but the referee said no penalty.
The in-form Drogba had his first chance midway through the half when he met a lofted John Obi Mikel ball, but he could only send his header straight at Almunia.
The home side attempted to hit straight back and created their first chance through Samir Nasri, but his 20-yard effort was saved by Petr Cech.
Drogba came close again with another header, but he opened the scoring for Chelsea on 41 minutes.
An exquisite through ball by John Terry split open the Arsenal backline and after halting his run, Ashley Cole crossed for Drogba to neatly volley home off the underside of the bar and post to give the league leaders the advantage.
Arsenal would have been hoping to make it to half time at 1-0, but Chelsea doubled the lead a minute before the break in similar circumstances to the first goal.
Ashley Cole once again whipped in a ball across the Arsenal six yard box, and Gunners defender Vermaelen sliced the ball off the far post and into the net to give Chelsea a 2-0 lead.
The home side started the second half the better, and they could count themselves unfortunate they did not pull a goal back in the opening minutes.
Drogba played his side into trouble with a risky back pass which Cech could only half clear. The ball eventually was delivered into the area by Nasri where Eduardo was adjudged to have raised his foot high, moments before Andrei Arshavin hit the ball into the net.
Chelsea came agonisingly close to sealing the three points just after the hour mark when Drogba's curling effort deflected off the chest of Frank Lampard, which forced Almunia into a sprawling save.
As the game entered the final quarter of an hour, the play began to become more stretched as Arsenal looked to pull a goal back and Chelsea looked to see out their fifth away win of the season.
The home side continued to push forward but they could find no way past the strong Chelsea defence, and Drogba capped off a resounding Chelsea performance with a stunning free kick four minutes from time that flew past the despairing dive of Almunia and into the far corner.
No comments:
Post a Comment