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29 March 2024

Chelsea vs Arsenal, Premier League: Chelsea beat Arsenal to go five points clear

Cesc Fabregas of Chelsea gestures during the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and Leicester City at Stamford Bridge on August 23, 2014 in London, England. (GETTY)

Published
By Football Correspondent and Agencies

Chelsea stretched their lead at the top of the Premier League to five points on Sunday when they beat London rivals Arsenal 2-0 as surprise package Southampton went down 1-0 at Tottenham Hotspur.

Unfancied Southampton's first defeat since the opening day of the season allowed champions Manchester City to stay second, while neighbours Manchester United returned to the top four for the first time in more than a year by beating Everton 2-1.

Diego Costa scored his ninth goal in seven league games to tie up the points for Chelsea after Eden Hazard had converted a first-half penalty.

Costa's strike was set up by a perfect pass from Cesc Fabregas, the former Arsenal midfielder who joined from Barcelona in the close-season.

The victory extended Jose Mourinho's unbeaten record against Arsenal's Arsene Wenger to 12 meetings, the two managers being briefly involved in a spat on the touchline when Wenger pushed his opposite number in the chest.

"He was coming to my space," Mourinho said. "If it was to give an instruction to a player I say OK, but to press the referee to give a red card to an opponent is not fair.

"I don't think that is the image of Arsene Wenger as an advocate of fair play."

Wenger said he was responding to a bad tackle, adding: "I went out of my technical area because I wasn't happy with the challenge and I wanted to see what happened.

"Someone stood in front of me and that was it. I say absolutely nothing else on that."

Christian Eriksen scored the only goal after 40 minutes as Tottenham won in the league for the first time since Aug. 24, giving manager Mauricio Pochettino a triumph over his former club and successor Ronald Koeman.

Eriksen's goal enabled Spurs to move up to sixth place.

They are level on points with fourth-placed Manchester United, who shot up six positions with an eventful success against Everton.

Goalkeeper David De Gea saved a penalty from Leighton Baines and earned the gratitude of manager Louis van Gaal with three more fine saves as Everton pressed hard at the end of a feisty affair.

Steven Naismith had equalised for them in between goals by Argentina's Angel Di Maria and Colombia's Radamel Falcao -- his first for the club.

Everton remained in the bottom four ahead of the final Premier League contest of the day between West Ham United and bottom club Queens Park Rangers.

Reuters

Full-Time

Arsenal 0 Chelsea 2 (Hazard 26" Costa 77")

94" The whistle goes off and Chelsea have maintained a good record.

91" Costa is pulled up for off-side after he was set up nicely in front of goal. The Spanish forward however shot over.

90" Four miinutes of stoppages time added.

90" YELLOW! Welbeck is yellow carded for a tackle on Fabregas.

89" Cech denies Rosciky.

86" Oscar comes off the field to a standing ovation and Willian takes his place with four minutes to go for the final whistle.

82" Chelsea concede a corner but nothing is working Arsenal's way as the ball is cleared.

79" Rosicky comes in for Wilshere.

78" Podolski replaces Sanchez.

Arsenal 0 Chelsea 2 (Hazard 26" Costa 77")

77" GOAL! Long ball from Fabregas and Costa chest-traps it first then beats the Arsenal defence with his run and onrushing Szczesny to tap it over the goalkeeper.

75" Neat work by Costa on the left of the box and on seeing Hazard coming darting in relays it to him but the Belgian's left-footed shot balloons over.

75" Arsenal have pushed nine players upfront but the goal continues to elude them.

73" Chambers ovelaps on the right and from a rebound sends a scorcher just sailing over the crosspiece. 

68" YELLOW! Schurrle gets a yellow and is later replaced by John Obi Mikel. 

68" Cazorla makes way for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

65" Oscar makes a superb block of a Flamini shot which was headed goalwards. Arsenal are breathing down the Chelsea goal more often now.

63" Wilshere has a powerful shot at goal -- the ball hits Fabregas on the hand and goes over the goal, but the ref awards only a corner kick.

62" Oscar helps the last line of defence with a desperate clearance from a Sanchez cross.

60" Diego Costa has been kept relatively quiet but Hazard is keeping the Arsenal defenders on their toes.

56" Goalkeeper Szczesny makes a lucky stop after Hazard's pass deflects off Chambers.

52" YELLOW! Ivanovic booked.

49" Cazorla again in the thick of action after Wilshere sells a dummy to the Chelsea defenders but his grounded shot is just off the mark by inches even as Cech dives.

47" Cazorla moves dangerously into the Chelsea area but loses his way and the ball.

HALF-TIME

Eden Hazard scored from the penalty spot to give Chelsea a 1-0 lead at half-time against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on Sunday evening.

The Belgian weaved his way from 25 yards out past three players and as he entered the Arsenal box Koscielny stuck his leg out to send the player tumbling. Of the resultant penalty Hazard sent Szczesny the other way.

Arsenal 0 Chelsea 1 (Hazard 26")
49" Referee Martin Atkinson, who has had a busy day so far, blows the half-time whistle.

47" Confusion in front of Chelsea goal as Sanchez, Welbeck and Wilshere run round in circles with none of them able to aplly the finishing touch.

45" Four minutes added.

43" Schurrle brought down by Chambers just outside the box. The Arsenal player is lucky not to have been sent off.

40" Chelsea look more hungrier to get the ball while Arsenal seem to be losing possession despite doing well at times.

37" Koscielny and Oscar get into a nasty head-on collision. The Brazilian seems ok but Koscielny gets treatment.

35" Ozil free-kick and Sanchez makes a valiant attempt getting his outstretched leg to it but the bvall rolls over the touchline.

33" Szcsesny makes a timely charge to make a diving collectiong from the foot off Nemanja Matic.

29" Cech gets his first touch and it was timely denying Wilshere from close quarters.

Arsenal 0 Chelsea 1 (Hazard 26")

26" YELLOW! Koscielny sticks his leg out to deny Hazard a superb run in front of goal and is rightly punished. A penalty is given and Hazard sends Szczesny the wrong way.

23" Goalkeeper Courtois seems to have injured his ear in that clash with Sanchez as blood ooozes out. He is replaced by Petr Cech to a loud applause.

22" YELLOW! Chambers gets a yellow for pulling down Hazard from behind. The match is getting out of hand.

19" YELLOW! Cahill cautioned as the heat in the middle and between Wenger and Mourinho hots up with some pushing and shoving. 

18" The pace is fast with the action shifting from one end to the other but no goalworthy moves yet.

15" Sanchez and Welbeck have been giving the Cheslea defence a hard time but Courtois stands tall.

12" Gibbs brings down Hazard and the ref is quick to blow the whistle but he overlooked an earlier tackle from Cheslea.

9" Another Wilshere long ball and Sanchez beats the off-side trap but Coutois is quick to charge out but collides with Sanchez, he needs treatment but is able to resume.

8" Easy collection by the tall Courtois after Wilshere floated it into the box.

5" Mourinho plays the role of a balboy by handing the throw immediately to Arsenal players to save on time.

2" Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez has the first shy of the game forcing Thibout to dive but the ball is a way too far from the target.

Chelsea set the ball rolling in a near capacity Stamford Bridge.

The 15 minute delay seems to have been caused by Arsenal fans who engaged in some fireworks. However, both teams are out in the middle now.

The stage is set between table-toppers Chelsea and Arsenal at Stamford Bridge for another cracker of a match after Manchester United pulled off a 2-1 win over Everton to move to fourth spot (11 points) from seven matches. Everton are on six points from seven games.

Arsenal's Jack Wilshere who had hurt his ankle last weekend was given the nod by Arsene Wenger as he takes the field against Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge this evening.

For the Blues Diego Costa will be playing his third match in a week despite concerns over a hamstring problem.

TEAMS

Chelsea: 13 Courtois, 02 Ivanovic, 24 Cahill, 26 Terry, 28 Azpilicueta, 21 Matic, 04 Fabregas, 14 Schurrle, 08 Oscar, 10 Hazard, 19 Diego Costa. Subs: 01 Cech, 03 Filipe Luis, 05 Zouma, 12 Mikel, 17 Salah, 18 Remy, 22 Willian.

Arsenal: 01 Szczesny, 21 Chambers, 04 Mertesacker, 06 Koscielny, 03 Gibbs, 20 Flamini, 10 Wilshere, 19 Cazorla, 11 Ozil, 17 Sanchez, 23 Welbeck. Subs: 07 Rosicky, 09 Podolski, 15 Oxlade-Chamberlain, 18 Monreal, 26 Martinez, 28 Campbell, 34 Coquelin.

Chelsea's Diego Costa is set for his third start in the space of nine days despite an ongoing hamstring problem.

Loic Remy is the club's only other fit striker as Didier Drogba is sidelined by an ankle injury, while midfielder 

Ramires is out with a groin strain.

Arsenal remain without Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey because of respective calf and hamstring problems but Nacho Monreal may return from a back injury.

Jack Wilshere should be fit to start despite hurting his ankle last weekend.

Abou Diaby will not be risked because of a hip problem, while Mathieu Debuchy and Olivier Giroud are long-term absentees.

STAT ATTACK

Chelsea: The Blues have netted 19 league goals in their opening six games - it took them 12 matches to reach that mark last season.

Diego Costa has scored eight goals in his first six Premier League appearances, a figure only Micky Quinn, with 10, can better in the division's history (Sergio Aguero also hit eight).

Chelsea have kept nine clean sheets in their last 11 Premier League home games.

They have scored with 26% of their shots this season, the best chance conversion rate in the Premier League prior to this weekend's fixtures.

Arsenal: The Gunners are unbeaten in their last 11 league games (W7, D4), although they have drawn four of their last five top-flight fixtures.

Seventeen of the 41 league goals (41%) conceded by Arsenal in 2013-14 came in defeats away to the three sides that finished above them - at Manchester City (6-3), Liverpool (5-1) and Chelsea (6-0).

Five of the seven league goals they have conceded this season have arrived before half-time.

Head-to-head (last 5 meetings)

Chelsea 6-0 Arsenal

Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal

Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal

Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal

Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal

PROBABLE FORMATIONS

Chelsea: 4-2-3-1

Arsenal: 4-1-4-1

Reuters

Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero struck late as Premier League champions Manchester City climbed within two points of table-topping Chelsea thanks to a patient 2-0 victory at a resolute Aston Villa on Saturday.

Toure curled home a beautifully placed low shot in the 82nd minute before Aguero thundered in a second six minutes later after the visitors spurned a host of chances in what had been a dominant yet wasteful display.

City climbed to second with 14 points, one point ahead of third-placed Southampton and two behind Chelsea who host Arsenal in a London derby on Sunday.

Cesc Fabregas will look to make Arsenal pay for their failure to re-sign him when he faces his old club in their match against Premier League leaders Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Once the jewel in the crown of Arsene Wenger’s squad, Spain midfielder Fabregas left the north London side to join boyhood club Barcelona in 2011.

But he was never quite so central a figure with the star-studded Catalan giants and Arsenal had the option to buy back their former captain in pre-season.

However, with Arsenal’s squad now featuring a clutch of midfield playmakers in Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey, to name but three, veteran French boss Wenger — who this week celebrated his 18th anniversary in charge of the Gunners — felt he could do without his one-time talisman.

Chelsea, by contrast, were happy to spend £27 million ($46 million) to bring Fabregas back to London, with Blues manager Jose Mourinho boasting it took him just 20 minutes to seal the deal.

So far Chelsea’s investment has been rewarded with seven Fabergas ‘assists’, the latest in this week’s 1-0 Champions League win at Sporting Lisbon, while Mourinho’s men have won five and drawn one of their six Premier League matches to open up a six-point lead on the Gunners heading into this weekend’s matches.

“Fabregas has made a huge impact. I know you kind of expect that from him but most of our chances come from him opening up defences,” Chelsea captain John Terry told the London Evening Standard.

“Not a lot of people can see the passes he does let alone make it.”

Meanwhile Fabregas brushed aside all talk of a conflict of loyalties in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais.

“I remind you that I played the Champions League final against Barcelona (with Arsenal) and I swear I would have done anything to win that game — and I have been a Barcelona fan since I was a kid,” Fabregas said.

“So I know that when I play against Arsenal I will know who is my (current) team, who are my colleagues and who I defend.”

Arsenal have won just six points taken from 20 matches away to teams finishing in the eventual top five during the last five Premier League campaigns.

But fresh from seeing former Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck score a hat-trick in the Gunners’ 4-1 Champions League rout of Galatasaray, Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker believes the club are ready to break out of their rut.

“We know we can do better than the two consecutive seasons (at Chelsea) before and I think we will try new things on Sunday to get a better result than last year,” he said.