Chelsea 1 Arsenal 2

Two goals from Robin Van Persie were enough to hand Chelsea a second home defeat of the season and give the Gunners a title life-line.

Team News - For the fixture Luiz Felipe Scolari had to do without the injured quartet of Michael Essien, Ricardo Carvalho, Franco Di Santo and Joe Cole, whilst Didier Drogba was absent through suspension.

Although Alex was declared fit, Scolari chose to keep his recent centre back partnership of John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic intact whilst Deco, who was suspended in midweek, returned at the expense of Joe Cole who picked up an ankle knock in France. Salomon Kalou made the starting eleven ahead of Florent Malouda who had to be content with a place on the bench. Also on the bench was our promising youngster Miroslav Stoch

First Half - Arsenal got the action underway in what was to be a scintillating first forty-five minutes. Chelsea had an early appeal for a penalty turned down when Anelka tumbled after a Fabregas tackle but Mike Dean probably called it right.

Arsenal then went on the attack and Van Persie won a corner that Chelsea were forced to clear at the near post. Chelsea responded with an Anelka shot, after a great Kalou run, that was deflected for a corner but the Arsenal defence easily cleared it.

Ivanovic, playing his fifth consecutive game, then conceded a corner but once again it was cleared at the near post. Cech then produced a save after the ball was played back in but the lurking Gallas couldn`t force the rebound home.

Arsenal, thankfully, were playing football instead of parking the bus and Cech had to react smartly to save from Fabregas from twenty-five yards. Denilson then fired over from a decent position before Bosingwa, on a great forward run, skipped past two defenders but made a hash of his cross.

Chelsea were, by now, matching Arsenal and a great ball from Deco saw Almunia rush out to smother the danger, before another swift attack saw Almunia save smartly after Lampard had headed a great cross from Bosingwa straight at the keeper.

Arsenal were struggling to contain Chelsea and Kalou was fouled on the edge of the box but Balalck saw his shot cannon off the wall. As the half hour mark approached, Chelsea opened the scoring.

Almunia caught a Lampard corner but hastily threw it out and Chelsea regained posession. Some slick passing saw Bosingwa fire in a good low cross and Djourou turned the ball into his own net.

Chelsea pushed on, Deco won a corner but it was cleared before Sagna had to react smartly to cut out a great Deco ball. Arsenal tried to get on level terms and Cech had to react quickly to save a Van Persie effort before denying Fabregas from twenty yards.

Deep into the two minutes of stoppage time Chelsea launched a quick counter attack and Anelka almost glanced a header past Almunia but it went just passed the upright.

Second Half - The second half though didn`t turn out as we planned.

Lampard had the first effort of the half but fired wide after some good approach work from Kalou and Anelka. And then just before the hour mark, the roof fell in.

Van Persie got the better deal from an offside decision that clearly saw Bosingwa play him offside before lashing the ball past Cech. Two minutes later, Chelsea conceded a free kick and when it was played into the box Adeybayor headed it down for Van Persie to spin and drill it past Cech.

The goals stunned Chelsea and, to be honest, we never looked like getting back on level terms. Lampard saw a shot blocked by Nasri before Van Persie`s dreams of a hat trick were quashed when he drilled a free kick over the bar.

Scolari tried to shuffle the pack by introducing Malouda in place of Mikel and the Frenchman showed that he didn`t have his shooting boots on by firing over on a couple of occasions. As time ran out Lampard drifted a shot wide before Deco`s last contribution was to unleash a woeful shot that went high and wide.

Miroslav Stoch came on for the last ten minutes but was never given a chance to show his skills and, in the end, it was left to Cech to deny Denilson with a smart save as Arsenal threatened to turn it into a rout.

One lasting memory on a day when Stamford Bridge showed it`s far from a fortress is the fact that we failed to test Almunia on a single occasion in the second half.

Chelsea Team - Cech, Bosingwa, Terry, Ivanovic, A.Cole, Mikel (Malouda - 68), Lampard, Ballack, Deco (Stoch - 81), Anelka, Kalou

Unused Subs - Cudicini, Bridge, Ferreira, Alex, Mineiro,

Chelsea Scorers - Djourou (og)

Chelsea Yellow Cards Terry, Ivanovic

Chelsea Red Cards - None