Arsenal Rubs Salt into Chelsea Wounds

Just a few months back Arsenal were finding it hard to put a decent team on the pitch but with their spree of summer signings and Robin Van Persie in prime form the Gunners are again regaining their role in the English Premier League. Last week was marked by the big clash between Chelsea and Arsenal. While Arsenal had their morals high with decent performances in domestic and European league matches, Chelsea on the other hand were plagued by one problem after the other. It has been a horrific time for Chelsea veteran John Terry. If the police probe wasn’t enough, fresh allegations over his racist comments against Anton Ferdinand have called for hearing from the English Governing body. Some of their key players such as Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba are yet to fire. Thus clearly Chelsea coach Andre Vilas Boas was under immense pressure to win this contest. Before the start of the match there was much support shown to the Chelsea skipper shown by the home side fans, they wore shirts supporting his case against the racist allegations. Arsenal fans on the other hand ridiculed and booed him.

Van Persie Celebrates his Hat-trick

Once the match got off all these trivial things were forgotten. Many experts believed they had not seen a match with such frantic pace and attacking football for some time now. In the opening encounters Chelsea seemed to be having the upper hand. Ashley Cole got in behind the Arsenal defence a couple of times. On one instance he even had three Chelsea players waiting in the penalty box. But one of his crosses was kicked straight at the Gunners custodian Wojciech Szczesny. Arsenal defence was able to resist the Chelsea attacks for first 13 minutes.  On the 14th minute Juan Mata went past the Arsenal skipper Van Persie and sent a right wing cross which Frank Lampard headed home to take Chelsea to a 1-0 lead. Then in the 29th minute another opportunity presented itself but unluckily Sturridge got it all wrong and kicked wide. Just 7 minutes later Arsenal got into the action. Ramsey picked up Gervinho on his run. Petr Cech was forced to come out of his goal. Gervinho gentle squared the ball for Van Persie to equalise. On the stroke of 40 minutes Sturridge thought he had put Chelsea in front again but he was sadly ruled offside. But in the last minute of the first half Chelsea got in front. Terry scored on a good header from Frank Lampard’s well directed corner.  This was a much needed respite for the Chelsea skipper who had been under severe criticism in the last few weeks. 

Theo Walcott After Scoring Third Goal for Arsenal

But Chelsea’s lead did not last long. Van Persie and Ramsey squandered chances right at the start of the second half. Then three minutes into the half Andre Santos equalised after receiving a ball from Gervinho and sending it through the legs of Cech. It was followed by a wave of Chelsea attacks, and one instance Szczesny even seemed to be lucky at not being sent off. He tipped down Joe Cole who was rushing towards the goal mouth. The resulting free kick was kicked wide by Lampard. On the stroke of 55th minutes Theo Walcott made one of his trademark runs through the middle and netted the ball past Cech to take Arsenal into the lead for the first time. This was remarkable turnaround for Arsenal within the span of 10 minutes. Both the sides brought on many changes but the attacking end to end football continued. Ramsey missed some chances for Arsenal as they were gaining the upper hand. There was also a heated clash between the Arsenal skipper Van Persie and Branislav Ivanovic. Both were cautioned with a yellow card. In the 80th minute Juan Mata let one of his deadly shots fly and it found its place into the Arsenal net. Chelsea had again levelled the scores. But the scores lasted for only 5 minutes before John Terry slipped while chasing a back pass from the Chelsea substitute Florent Malouda. Van Persie grabbed the opportunity and went past Cech to get his second goal. Juan Mata had two shots blocked by the Arsenal custodian. And in the injury time after first half Van Persie piled on the agony even further with his third goal.

Dejected Chelsea Players after Conceding Final Goal

The result sees Chelsea slip out of the top three in EPL 2011-12. They are presently placed at fourth position behind Newcastle with 19 points from 10 matches. Arsenal has managed to come up to 7th position after their dismal start to the season. While Arsene Wenger felt confident that his side have finally overcome the loss of key players such as Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri and are on their winning ways. Andres Vilas Boas on the other hand was frustrated at this loss. He fumed in the dressing room and the Chelsea players had to face his wrath after the match. He even set the Chelsea players a gruesome post match practice session of 30 minutes.