Chelsea clinched an automatic spot in next season's Champions League on Sunday with a 4-1 win against an Arsenal side that still looks ill-equipped to challenge for the Premier League.

Alex and Nicolas Anelka scored first-half goals at the Emirates Stadium before an own goal by Kolo Toure and a late strike by Florent Malouda sealed Arsenal's first loss in 22 Premier League matches.

The Gunners had been the only team that could have overtaken Chelsea for third place in the English standings but failed to turn their long periods of possession into goals and are now certain to finish fourth -- forcing them to play an early season qualifying match to get into the Champions League.

Chelsea, which like its London rival had been knocked out of the Champions League semifinals in midweek, moved to 77 points with two games remaining. Although that is nine ahead of Arsenal, Chelsea has just about no chance of catching leader Manchester United and is almost as unlikely to overtake second-place Liverpool -- which is three points ahead and has a better goal difference.

"Until the end of the season we are focused on trying to be runners-up," Malouda said. "We know it'll be difficult because Liverpool are playing very well."

But whatever happens in Chelsea's last two games and in the May 30 FA Cup final against Everton, Hiddink has now done what club owner Roman Abramovich asked him to do when he drafted him in to replace Luiz Felipe Scolari -- make sure Chelsea is in the Champions League.

"It gives me and everyone inside the club great satisfaction considering how things were in February," Hiddink said. "The team was struggling for fourth or fifth place."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had already acknowledged his desire to bolster his young side with experienced players during the offseason and the need looked even more urgent after the Gunners struggled to hurt Chelsea with their intricate passing.

With the out-of-form Emmanuel Adebayor on the substitutes' bench, Arsenal lacked a cutting edge in attack, while a central defense of Toure and Mikael Silvestre was unable to contain Anelka or withstand the surging runs of Malouda and Frank Lampard.

Arsenal had dominated possession and missed a cluster of half-chances when Alex put Chelsea in front in the 28th minute. Didier Drogba floated in a free kick that he had won out on the right and the Brazil defender jumped highest to head the ball in off the bar from about 12 meters (yards).

"I don't think the free kick should have been given but it does not mean we did not have to win the header after," Wenger said.

The Gunners' defensive frailty was exposed again 11 minutes later when Anelka spun away from a challenge near halfway and ran with the ball to the edge of the area. With Silvestre failing to close him down, Anelka unleashed a shot that bent away from goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski and went just inside the post.

Any hopes of a comeback were ended four minutes after halftime when Toure redirected a cross by former Arsenal fullback Ashley Cole, whose every touch was loudly jeered by the home fans, past his own goalkeeper at the near post to make the score 3-0.

Although Nicklas Bendtner got a goal back, Malouda completed the scoring in the 86th with a close-range finish after Anelka had hit the post.

Wenger's introduction of Adebayor and Bendtner had immediately improved the home team, with the latter getting his goal with 20 minutes left when he headed in a cross by Bacary Sagna.

Adebayor and Bendtner, who almost scored with another header four minutes later, were the only Arsenal players to trouble the powerful Blues team -- suggesting that is an aspect that Wenger may address when it comes to deciding which players he wants to sign.

Theo Walcott, who made way for Adebayor in the 67th, had until then been Arsenal's most dangerous player -- putting two shots wide with the outside of his boot and another over the bar in the first minute -- but his slight build put him at a disadvantage against the likes of John Terry and Alex.

Chelsea had few chances other than those it scored from, although it could have scored another goal in first-half injury time when Fabianski blocked a low shot by Anelka with his legs.

"We started with a kind of hangover from Wednesday," Hiddink said. "Given the fact that Arsenal could play it's beautiful game, it was because we didn't play well in the first 20 minutes."

April 2010 News