Didier Drogba diverted attention away from John Terry with a first-half double that took Chelsea back to the head of the Premier League table and dealt a potentially fatal blow to Arsenal's title hopes. All eyes were again on Terry, 48 hours after the Blues skipper had been stripped of the England captaincy and the defender responded by providing the assist for Drogba's eighth-minute opening goal.
The striker then capped a sweeping breakaway in the 24-minute to claim his second of the game – and his 17th league goal of the season – to put Chelsea in command.
The win lifts Carlo Ancelotti's side two points clear of Manchester United and leaves Arsenal trailing their London rivals by nine points.
REACTION:
Terry was again in the spotlight following his demotion by England coach Fabio Capello and Chelsea manager Ancelotti praised his captain's response.
"My captain has a fantastic attitude," he said. "He's doing very well every game.
"For the team it's very important to have this leadership, he is always in control of the game. Really, he has a strong mentality. John Terry is the perfect captain for Chelsea."
The coach also had words of praise for Drogba who has scored three goals in two games since returning from international duty and insisted his side had deserved to win despite Arsenal enjoying greater possession.
"Didier did very well," he said. "He's in a good moment. He has come back from the African Cup of Nations with a fantastic motivation and he continued to have a very good performance.
"He has a fantastic record against Arsenal but not only against Arsenal this season. He's scoring with consistency."
And he added: "I think we deserved to win. You can't speak about a match only for possession of the ball, you have to have more.
"You have to control, attacking, defence, counter-attack. When we were two goals up it was very important to counter-attack and did it very well."
Arsene Wenger admitted his side paid the price for poor early defending but insisted he was happy with his team's display.
"I believe the first goal contributed highly to our defeat but apart from that we had a a great spirit, a great attitude," he said. "We couldn't get back to 2-1 but they defended very well and in one or two occasions I think we were a bit unlucky with one or two decisions.
"We had mountains of possession and couldn't transfer that into goals."
But with his side now nine points adrift, the Frenchman conceded Arsenal's title ambitions have been hit hard.
He added: "I feel we are not in the best of positions but we will not give up. We are a bit unfortunate to play in the same period Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool on the trot.
"If you lose one game it's very difficult, It has psychological implications for the next game. That is a little bit of disadvantage."
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Given the manner their defeat to Manchester United last weekend, the last thing Arsenal wanted to do was to concede early on. That may have been the plan, unfortunately the execution was badly lacking as Gael Clichy went walkabout at Chelsea's first corner and Drogba finished easily. Clichy was again at fault for the home side's excellent second goal and from that point Arsenal were chasing the game. The Gunners enjoyed plenty of possession but once again lacked a cutting edge and Chelsea deserved their win.
WHAT IT MEANS:
Ancelotti denied the title race is now a two-horse race but even Wenger concedes his side's position is not good and it's hard to see how they can close the nine-point gap between themselves and the leaders. The main question for Chelsea is can they hold off the challenge of United and on this form, it's hard to see them failing in the task.
QUOTABLE:
"Maybe they did more possession than us but this is not football. Football is attack, defence, keep possession when you need – and results also."
- Ancelotti offers Wenger a lesson in pragmatism.
CHELSEA 2 (Drogba 8, 24) ARSENAL 0
PLAYER MARKING:
Chelsea (4-4-2): Cech 7; Ivanovic 7, Carvalho 7, Terry 8, A Cole 6; Ballack 6 (Zhirkov 82, 6), Mikel 7, Lampard 7, Malouda 6; Drogba 9 (Kalou 89, 6), Anelka 7 (J Cole 87,5).
Subs not used: Hilario, Ferreira, Deco, Alex.
Arsenal (4-3-3): Almunia 6; Sagna 6 (Eboue 74), Gallas 6, Vermaelen 7, Clichy 4; Fabregas 7, Song 6, Diaby 5 (Rosiky 74, 6); Walcott 5 (Bendtner 64, 6), Arshavin 6, Nasri 5.
Subs not used: Fabianski, Denilson, Ramsey, Campbell.
ATTENDANCE: 41,794
NEXT UP:
- Chelsea v Everton (Away), Premier League 10/02, 2000 GMT
- Arsenal v Liverpool (Home), Premier League 10/02, 1945 GMT
MAN OF THE MATCH:
Didier Drogba (Chelsea): Chelsea enjoyed virtually the perfect January without Drogba, and then the striker returns in the kind of form that makes defenders break out in a cold sweat. No wonder Ancelotti's men are proving to be the team to beat in this season's title race.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
wenger wants todo something very quick or he can forget all about forth place the team are like midgets running around anything in the air they can forget it their still a good side but not premiership leaders
I am an Arsenal supporter and have been for forty years. I am getting very fed up with this 'pure football' concept. It has been obvious for two or three years that some strong players are needed to put a backbone into the team. The result against Stoke was absolutely predictable, I am not sure that we would have even won at home! Today's result was the most predictable in the whole British game this season Chelsea to win and Drogba to score! Wenger did some wonderful things, five years ago. His attitude at the moment is, we are building a team.(Or we are waiting for injured players to return - well so is every other team!) We are not interested in unfinished teams, we want points and if teams like Stoke, Hull, Everton and Fulham can get points by ugly muscular play, let us have some ugly play and ugly players or there will be no 4th place and in 2011 onwards we will be a regular mid table team. No F.A. Cup, no premiership again. Why were there no new players in January? Why let good players go out and then watch them return and humiliate us?