Arsenal sink Chelsea to stay top Monday, December 17, 2007
Arsenal have returned to the top of the Premier League after William Gallas scored the only goal of the game against his former club Chelsea.
A rare Petr Cech error left the Arsenal skipper free to head home from a Cesc Fabregas corner in the last seconds of first-half stoppage time.
In a pulsating contest that could have gone either way, Arsene Wenger's side earned the three points against Avram Grant's Chelsea at the first time of asking having never beaten the Blues while former manager Jose Mourinho was at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea had been lucky not to go behind when a misdirected header from Alex had Cech rushing back to his line to see the ball over the crossbar.
Wasted efforts from Shaun Wright-Phillips and Frank Lampard followed, while John Terry was booked after going head-to-head with a fit-again Fabregas.
Arsenal continued to dominate possession in the first half without creating any clear openings. It was from their first shot on target however that the deadlock at the Emirates was broken.
Fabregas' corner was uncharacteristically missed by Cech, with Gunners captain Gallas heading home into an empty net.
The former Chelsea player's celebrations was respectfully restrained, but it came as scant compensation to Grant, whose team went in at the break a goal down and without injury-victim Terry.
After the restart the Blues began to test Manuel Almunia, first through Mikel Jon Obi and Wright-Phillips again.
But the England winger fluffed his chance to get his side level and keep them in the title race when he blasted over from four yards out after a Claudio Pizarro header.
Robin van Persie came off the bench for Arsenal to make his first appearance for two months and shot over when sliding in after a typical counter-attack from the home team.
Cech, whose error had let Arsenal get in front, kept his side in the game with a double save from Emmanuel Adebayor and Van Persie, but Chelsea began to dominate as the clock ticked down.
In a frantic last period the largely-ineffective Andriy Shevchenko forced Almunia into a string of smart saves, while both Adebayor and Van Persie had goals ruled out by referee Alan Wiley for off-side.
Five minutes of injury time afforded both sides the chances to dig out several more chances, with Fabregas booked late on following a confrontation with former Arsenal left-back Ashley Cole
