If you believe all of the papers you will inevitably read on Monday morning, Chelsea are now completely out of the title race while Arsenal are heavy favorites for fourth place. Okay, so the hyperbole train probably shouldn’t get running in Week 10, but this was an interesting result nonetheless. Chelsea are now in a bad run of form and Arsenal are on the rise following a 5-3 Gunners win at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea Vs. Arsenal Live, 2011 Premier League: Full Time, Gunners Win Thriller 5-3
Both teams defended poorly, but Chelsea defended even more poorly, as the score indicates. Theo Walcott was magnificent on the night, scoring a fantastic goal and creating a couple more that Arsenal couldn't finish off. The defending on both sides was bad enough that both teams could have easily scored three more goals.
Chelsea were on top early in both possession in chances, and scored the opener in the 14th minute. Frank Lampard scored it with a header, nodding in a cross by Juan Mata, who was Chelsea's best player on the night. Per Mertesacker got his feet tangled and let Lampard by him, just the first of many questionable moments for him and the rest of the Arsenal defense.
Robin van Persie scored a tap-in in the 36th, set up by Aaron Ramsey and Gervinho, but Chelsea had the lead back before long. Terry, who let Ramsey's through ball into the box for Arsenal's goal go right by him, quickly redeemed himself by scoring on a corner kick just before halftime, sending Chelsea into the locker room up 2-1.
Things got a little nuts right after halftime, with Arsenal quickly turning the game on its head. Andre Santos scored in the 49th minute with both Jose Bosingwa and Daniel Sturridge nowhere to be found, then Theo Walcott scored an absolutely incredible goal in the 55th, falling down with the ball at his feet, then getting up and powering through four defenders before blasting a shot past Petr Cech.
Juan Mata, Chelsea’s man of the match, would find an absolutely stunning equalizer in the 80th minute, placing a fantastic shot into the top corner from 25 yards out. It felt like the equalizer, but Chelsea would throw the game away late.
In the 85th minute, Florent Malouda and John Terry made unthinkable errors to gift Arsenal the winner. Malouda played a terrible back pass to Terry with van Persie close by, but it appeared that the Blues' captain would be able to clear the ball. Instead, he flipped and fell flat on his face, leaving van Persie one-on-one with Cech with no Chelsea defender for 50 yards. He won that one-on-one battle and scored his second of the match, putting Arsenal up for good.
With Chelsea pressing forward, Arsenal were able to get numbers on the counter in stoppage time and added another for good measure. Mikel Arteta provided the assist to van Persie in a four-on-two, and the Dutchman finished to give himself a hat trick and his team an insurance goal, sealing a 5-3 victory.
For more on these two teams, check out Chelsea blog We Ain’t Got No History and Arsenal blog The Short Fuse. We’ll have coverage of all of the action in England in our Premier League Week 10 StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.
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