SOCCER/Chelsea - 1 Arsenal - 0: Having trounced the opposition last season, Chelsea, for the sake of variety, have taken to teasing them. For the second week in a row the champions have performed drably before winning 1-0, almost despite themselves.
Chelsea would not have struck terror into many hearts with this display. While the Stamford Bridge players wait to retrieve their best form, they were able to while away an afternoon by beating Arsenal in a league fixture for the first time in 10 years.
Didier Drogba settled the encounter with a goal characterised by luck and, as in the Community Shield, a capacity for paralysing Arsenal's young Swiss centre-back Philippe Senderos with apprehension.
Arsene Wenger, therefore, marked his 500th match in charge of Arsenal by shedding three points to Chelsea for the first time. But he was much too annoyed by proceedings to slink into self-pity. He was a picture of discontent in front of the dug-out, muttering to himself and gesturing in exasperation.
There are some compromises in the Frenchman's thinking as he reacts to Chelsea's domination. His Arsenal were defensive. Wenger had turned to what might have been termed the Keegan Protocol. Last season, while in charge of Manchester City, Kevin Keegan had used an attacker to stifle Chelsea and glean a draw from Stamford Bridge.
Claude Makelele is the starter motor of Jose Mourinho's team, but the ignition kept cutting out in that game as Antoine Sibierski carried out his mission. Wenger wanted Robert Pires to undertake a similar job yesterday, but he had to be reassigned to the wing following an early injury to Freddie Ljungberg. Robin van Persie came on but did not hamper Makelele much.
The Frenchman and others guaranteed Chelsea were marginally the better of two sides who succumbed to mediocrity. In the first minute, Frank Lampard released Damien Duff and the Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann had to be smart in his response to touch the ball away from the area. A corner ensued and Asier Del Horno's header was prevented from reaching the net by the chest of Ljungberg.
It could even have been the visitors who opened the scoring after 12 minutes, but Ljungberg lashed high from an angle.
As champions, it will be Chelsea who are under under review. While Lampard, for instance, ran and crossed well in the 42nd minute for Arjen Robben to hit a bouncing finish against the head of Lehmann, there was some disquiet about the midfielder.
Here, as at Wigan, he bore no resemblance to the enterprising plunderer of defences who was so admired last season. It could be he is still to reach peak condition after a foot operation in the summer.
Mourinho will not be anxious and he must be more perplexed by the fashion in which Hernan Crespo conducted himself. He was listless for as long as he lasted and when a questioner suggested Crespo had lacked support the manager's contempt for such an explanation was unmistakable.
Drogba, despite his harrying of Senderos in the Community Shield, had surprisingly been named among the substitutes, but that may only have seen the neurosis in the 20-year-old Swiss expand as he awaited the introduction of his nemesis.
Drogba, by and large, was not intimidating and Mourinho probably trembled with frustration when the Ivory Coast international sliced a first-time shot foolishly off-target. After 73 minutes, however, Lampard chipped a free-kick into the right of the penalty area and Arsenal, possibly aiming to operate an offside trap, did not get the benefit of a decision too tight for the officials to guarantee the geometry had been assessed perfectly. The attacker deserved to be allowed to proceed.
Senderos had let Drogba elude him by a couple of yards. The ball then bounced against the knee of the attacker and, with Lehmann wrong-footed, Chelsea had their lead. The most disappointing aspect of Arsenal's efforts was they never looked liable to score before or after that breakthrough by Drogba, even if Ashley Cole did claim to have been bowled over in the penalty area early in the afternoon.
Chelsea should take pride in that and also John Terry and William Gallas. During the 21 matches of Mourinho's tenure in which the English man and the Frenchman have been together at centre-back, they have conceded only two goals. Maybe the excellent Ricardo Carvalho should not be so confused by his current exclusion from the line-up.
Even if they did not need to do so, Chelsea could have scored a second in stoppage time after Senderos had knocked the ball into Drogba's path, but the shot went straight to Lehmann. Michael Essien, Chelsea's record signing, had made his debut by then as a substitute. The Ghana midfielder dispossessed Cole and the left-back was booked for the foul that followed.
Guardian Service
