The first half between Chelsea and Arsenal was an even affair, but it wasn't even on the scoreboard until just before the stroke of halftime. Fernando Torres got the Blues off to a brilliant start with an early goal, but Gervinho has pulled one back to make it 1-1 at halftime.
Arsenal vs. Chelsea: Halftime score 1-1, Fernando Torres and Gervinho the scorers
Arsenal started the match by sitting back a bit and conceding some possession to Chelsea, but the strategy appeared to be working for them until Abou Diaby pulled up with an injury. He attempted to play through what just looked to be a slight muscle pull, but Arsene Wenger insisted that he come off, and brought on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the 17th minute. That moved Aaron Ramsey to the center, and the Gunners have looked weaker in the middle since.
Chelsea took the lead after 20 minutes through Torres. On a free kick, Laurent Koscielny was all over Torres, but had his back turned when the ball came in. He didn't see Torres stick out his leg and get it around him to finish past Vito Mannone.
Two minutes later, Koscielny made another error, falling down on a ball forward to Torres. That allowed the Chelsea striker to get through one-on-one with the keeper, but he completely fluffed his shot. At live speed, it looked like Torres had won a penalty, but he actually managed to trip himself by mis-kicking the ball.
The Blues looked like the better of the two teams towards the end of the second half, as Arsenal struggled to deal with Oscar and Eden Hazard, but they pulled a very nice goal out of nothing in the 42nd minute. Oxlade-Chamberlain set it up with a low ball into the box towards Gervinho, who made an uncharacteristically composed first touch, turn, and finish into the roof of the net from 12 yards.
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