English FA Premiership Arsenal 0-2 Chelsea: Having dominated the Premiership, Chelsea are now winning the struggle with themselves. Their quality of play is on the rise again and while they were lucky not to fall behind to a Robin van Persie goal that was mistakenly ruled offside, Jose Mourinho's side was superior to Arsenal in all areas.
The Highbury team, beaten in a third consecutive Premiership fixture for the first time in Arsene Wenger's reign, will fear sloping despondently into their new stadium.
They have now lapsed into eighth place, with a strong revival necessary if they are not to be left with the hazardous Liverpool route, of lifting the trophy itself, to get them back into the Champions League next season. Chelsea, nine points clear and quoted at 40 to 1 on to retain the title, have a habit of leaving despondency in their wake. They struck a well-gauged balance yesterday that made them simultaneously secure and dangerous.
There were fewer ventures into attack than usual from Frank Lampard, but then there did not need to be. He could hold his ground more often when the three-pronged attack, at differing times, kept the Arsenal defence off balance. The heft and aggression of Didier Drogba made them wobble at the start, when he appealed for a penalty after being touched by Jens Lehmann as he sought to burst through, and the growing impact of Joe Cole polished off Arsenal.
And then there was Arjen Robben. For as long as the two of them are at Stamford Bridge, there will be the occasional barbed comment from the manager and the odd inscrutable display by the Dutchman. The relationship between them is charged, though, because they are both conscious of the effect he can have. No one else at Chelsea undoes a defence with quite such smooth economy.
Even if he was not the outstanding performer, it was Robben himself who determined whether or not he would succeed. It had nothing to do with the Arsenal back four that, after the interval, he should make the unwise choice to try and find Cole with a cut-back when he could have finished himself or, conversely, to decide against releasing Drogba as he continued on a run of his own.
He had been utterly composed, however, when scoring the opener after 39 minutes. At the second attempt, following a William Gallas throw-in, Drogba pushed the ball through to Robben. Kolo Toure had left him unescorted while Sol Campbell played him onside and the winger glided through from the left to strike a finish that bounced into the net off the inside of the far post.
The victory was clinched in the 73rd minute. Lauren mis-controlled when he intercepted a pass by Lampard and was robbed by Cole, who then sidestepped Campbell and slotted a low finish into the far corner.
Arsenal were simmering long before then with all manner of regrets and grievances. Thierry Henry, in the 20th minute, had gathered Alexander Hleb's pass and, as Ricardo Carvalho slipped, surged beyond Paulo Ferreira to place a shot wide of John Terry that bounced off the far post. If they cursed their own bad luck then, there were soon officials to be sworn at instead.
After 21 minutes, Van Persie tidily slipped home a pass from Freddie Ljungberg only to learn that the linesman, unable to see that Gallas had kept him onside, had mistakenly raised his flag. Henry had been positioned well behind Chelsea's defence but, under the modern interpretation, he was assuredly in a passive position. Eleven minutes before the interval, the referee decided that the swing of Michael Essien's arm at Lauren was not violent enough to merit more than a yellow card. The Ghana international was at even greater risk following a foul on Van Persie in the 52nd minute, when a caution would have seen him ejected from the match.
Essien has become notorious since his onslaught on Dietmar Hamann and it was intriguing that Mourinho did not opt to replace the player. The manager had a residual faith in Essien's capacity to keep himself out of further trouble and, just as tellingly, was adamant that he would not undermine his team in that area.
The centre of the pitch had been critical. Arsenal, with Patrick Vieira gone and Gilberto Silva suspended, were either callow, in the case of Cesc Fabregas, or outmatched, as Ljungberg and Mathieu Flamini were.
A first Premiership win at Highbury was always on the horizon once Van Persie's goal had been disallowed. That statistic, however, counts for less than the fact that Chelsea have completed all the league business with Arsenal for the season and have ticked off their trips to Old Trafford, Anfield and White Hart Lane as well. The remainder of the fixture list must look as comely to Mourinho as the Premiership table.
Guardian Service
