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![Marcel Desailly](images/1117177.jpg) |
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Desailly
watches his own goal fly in |
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Arsenal |
3-2 |
Chelsea |
Desailly og 9
Van Bronckhorst 81
Henry 82 |
|
Stanic 85
Petit 86 |
Barclaycard Premiership, January 1 |
Stephen Turner reporting
Arsenal emerged from a frantic final ten minutes at
Highbury with a narrow victory and an eight-point lead over Claudio
Ranieri's Chelsea.
Marcel Desailly's own goal had separated the Premiership's top two
since the ninth minute, and when substitute Giovanni van Bronckhorst
and Thierry Henry scored within the space of 60 seconds, the upstarts
seemed to have been put firmly in their place by the champions.
But the Gunners went to sleep after Henry's 18th of the season and
allowed the Blues a lifeline in the shape of a soft Mario Stanic
header, and when Emmanuel Petit bundled in a second at his old
home, the most unlikely of comebacks was on.
Highbury then had to endure a tortuous four minutes of stoppage
time as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink just failed to touch in Jesper
Gronkjaer's shot before over-zealous whistle-blower Uriah Rennie
finally signalled the end, leaving Manchester United - five points
behind - as the last remaining side clinging to Arsenal's coat-tails.
Arsene Wenger's double-winners have come through Christmas and the
New Year with seven points from nine despite failing to hit the
heights of late summer, when a second successive title seemed a sure
thing.
But two potential heirs to the throne - Liverpool and Chelsea -
have been negotiated with minimal damage and there were signs against
their west London neighbours that the old swagger will surface before
too long in 2003.
In an enthralling first-half of real quality, Arsenal largely kept
Chelsea at arm's length, though David Seaman produced a greeat stop to
keep out Graeme Le Saux's left-foot thumper.
And the goal which split the sides at the break was beautifully
engineered, if fortunately executed, as Desailly beat Dennis Bergkamp
to get on the end of Ashley Cole's cross - only to see his attempted
block fly over Carlo Cudicini.
Chelsea persisted with their patient passing despite the deficit,
but although their possession was plentiful and their play often
pretty, the home side had the top performers in all the key areas.
Patrick Vieira was magnificent before half-time, leaving Frank
Lampard - in the middle of an excellent season personally - looking
like a fresh-faced first-former swinging at the school bully.
One dribble from the Frenchman left several opponents on the seats
of their pants, though the closest Arsenal came to a second was
Sylvain Wiltord's drive.
Gilberto Silva missed from six yards for the second time in a
week at the resumption as the second half settled into a pattern of
Chelsea probing and Arsenal waiting to pounce on the break.
Gianfranco Zola's departure after a reckless Lauren lunge hardly
helped Ranieri's side, and Cudicini beat away Henry's shot at the end
of one lightning surge before van Bronckhorst got on the end of the
striker's pass to hammer an emphatic second Gunners goal from 25
yards.
The Italian keeper then uncharacteristically blundered to let
Henry's near post effort squirm past him before Stanic capitalised on
some loose marking to nod in
Petit gobbled up a chance following Seaman's spill to make the
scoreline a narrow one - but there remains a wider gap in the title
credentials of London's top two teams and Ranieri has work to do yet
if Chelsea are stand a chance of capturing a first crown since 1954
come the summer.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Ashley Cole (Arsenal)
- the Gunners' most consistent performer all season was excellent
again
Arsenal: Seaman, Cole,
Campbell, Keown, Luzhny, Wiltord (Lauren 69), Silva, Vieira, Pires
(van Bronckhorst 56), Bergkamp (Toure 79), Henry
Subs Not Used: Jeffers, Taylor.
Chelsea: Cudicini,
Melchiot, Gallas, Desailly, Babayaro, Le Saux (Gudjohnsen 70), Petit,
Lampard, De Lucas (Gronkjaer 56), Zola (Stanic 79), Hasselbaink.
Subs Not Used: de Goey, Terry.
Att: 38,096
Ref: U Rennie (S
Yorkshire).
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