Chelsea 3-0 Arsenal
10' Lampard
60' Toure OG
65' J.Cole
MOTM: Essien
Chelsea were in control from the start at a sun-drenched Stamford Bridge. From their first attack they won a corner on the left, only for it to be headed wide by a high-climbing Michael Ballack. Shortly afterwards, Florent Malouda found himself with too much room on the edge of the Arsenal box, allowing him to cut inside onto his weaker right foot and unleash a rasping drive just over bar and post. Minutes later, a deep cross from Joe Cole found Didier Drogba who's powerful header from 10 yards was superbly saved by Manuel Almunia. Arsenal had what turned out to be their only effort of the half when they broke from the resulting goal kick, however it was straight down Petr Cech's throat and easy pickings for the tangoed Czech 'keeper. The opening goal came when Joe Cole picked out the lively Drogba. The Ivorian talisman had made a run into the right channel - dragging Kolo Toure with him - which allowed Frank Lampard to make one of his trademark late runs into the opposition box. He got the jump on former teammate William Gallas and headed home on 10 minutes. Chelsea continued to press for the remainder of the half but were unable to grab that second goal.
After two failed attempts during the first half, Setanta Sports reporter Dan Rowan tried to grab a word with the Chelsea boss at half-time, only for him to declare that he would give interviews to Rebecca Lowe and nobody else. With Ms Lowe on duty at Plainmoor for the vital Blue Square Premier clash between Torquay and Woking, viewers were left to ponder just what was going through Lewis' mind. Frank Stapleton, resident Setanta pundit and commenting in a studio probably hundreds of miles away from London, stated he was of the belief that Chelsea would want to get that vital second goal as early as possible. Angus, Sir Les and Macca were giving their expert analysis on the south coast in contrasting weather, of course.
The second half began in the same vein as the first with Chelsea in the ascendancy and The Gunners on the backfoot. Chelsea eventually doubled their lead on the hour mark through an unfortunate defensive mix-up. Cole's cross from the right was aimed for Drogba again, but it found Toure who nodded past the committed Almunia. With England manager Fabio Capello in the stands (Yes, he gave Torquay-Woking a miss), it's unlikely Almunia will be getting his much-craved England call-up anytime soon. Just 5 minutes later, neat build-up between the outstanding Michael Essien and Ballack allowed the German to slide in Cole. The England international needed just one touch and a curled right-footed effort into Almunia's top corner to make it 3-0. Arsenal did almost grab a late consolation through Theo Walcott, but Cech was there to parry it to safety.
Good game, TheArsenal.
