Arsenal	1 - 0	Chelsea
Scorers Gallas 45  Booked Adebayor 22 Eboue 35 Flamini 63 Fabregas 90	Half Time ( 1 - 0 )	Booked Terry 30 Lampard 30 Cole 67 Ben-Haim 74 Obi 84

Manchester United took top spot earlier today after they beat Liverpool, but Arsenal re-took the number 1 spot in the premier league after they won against Chelsea for the first time since February 2004.

Defender and former Chelsea player William Gallas found the back of the net (and the winner) after Petr Cech failed to connect with a corner.

Shaun Wright-Phillips missed a sitter from six yards out which would have brought Chelsea level. Andrei Shechenko also had an injury time free-kick saved by Manuel Almunia. Robin van Persie had a good chance from 14 yards out but failed to find the back of the net. Van Persie forced a good save from Petr Cech late on which would have sealed the win for Arsenal.

Chelsea went 16 games unbeaten in all events under Avram Grant until today’s match. Arsenal could not beat Chelsea during the whole of Jose Mourinho’s management of the club but have now won on the first attempt under Grant. Chelsea is now 6 points behind Arsenal.

The whole match was a tight affair, but Arsenal was more creative and made far more clear cut attacking moves on the break. John Terry had to be taken off on the 38th minute due to a broken metatarsal. Wright-Phillips should have equalized but he scuffed his shot and wasted his chance from only 6 yards.

Arsenal was energetic from the start, making some good passing moves and played as a unit throughout much of the game. Arsenal tried rigorously to find an early goal. Cesc Fabregas, Alexander Helb and Mathieu Flamini were all back in the Arsenal line-up but Chelsea had a 5-man midfield who challenged for every ball and made Arsenal work very hard to create any good passing moves. It looked like the first half would be goalless but then Gallas struck to send Arsenal 1-0 up at half-time.

Terry had to be taken off when he got injured from an Emmanuel Eboue tackle. Chelsea’s defence was now found wanting and Gallas pounced to convert a Fabregas corner to score against his old club. Cech was mainly responsible for the goal as he came off his line to collect the cross but failed to make any connection with the ball. Chelsea defender Alex came close to scoring an own goal earlier in the half when he directed a header backwards to Cech for it to loop over Petr Cech and just miss the inside of the post.

The game was fairly nervous on both sides with 10 yellow cards being issued and 2 scuffles occurring as well.

Consistent possession was hard to come by throughout as both teams gave each other no time on the ball. It suited Chelsea early on with long range strikes from Shevchenko and Wright-Phillips. Almunia made a good save in the second half to prevent Obi scoring his first goal of the season. Wright-Phillips miss from 6 yards was unforgivable in the second half.

Chelsea then began to put men forward in search of an equalizer which resulted in many gaps appearing in the Chelsea back line. Arsenal broke at pace on numerous occasions and set-up Van Persie who came close with a shot from 14 yards out. Also a goal from Van persie was ruled out for offside. Van persie had another shot stopped by Cech who also stopped Fabregas’s follow-up effort.

Shevchenko had a lasp-gasp free-kick in injury time saved by Alumnia who tipped the shot over the bar. Fabregas was then booked for a challenge on Ashley Cole, who got booed for the whole game.


Arsenal: Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Eboue (Van Persie 69), Flamini, Fabregas, Rosicky, Hleb (Silva 77), Adebayor (Bendtner 90).

Subs Not Used: Lehmann, Senderos.

Chelsea: Chelsea: Cech, Ferreira, Alex, Terry (Ben-Haim 38), Ashley Cole, Wright-Phillips (Kalou 75), Obi, Makelele (Pizarro 65), Lampard, Joe Cole, Shevchenko.

Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Belletti.

Att: 60,139

Ref: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire).

By Ronan McKitterick