Football Live

Sunday March 23, 2008 Finished Stamford Bridge

Chelsea 2 - Logo 1

Chelsea

  • Drogba 73’, 81’

Arsenal

  • Sagna 59’
  1. Drogba fires Chelsea to win

    Drogba fires Chelsea to win

    Chelsea emerged as major title contenders after Didier Drogba's brace gave the Blues a battling 2-1 win over rivals Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. More

  • Live Commentary

    Time:90'
    • Chelsea
    • Arsenal
    • 90'+5 There it is! All over in London and Chelsea's title bid has been given a massive boost! 2-1 it finishes, Drogba getting both the goals as Chelsea move to second place, five points behind Manchester United!
    • 90' Five minutes of added time to be played.
    • 89' And Chelsea make a final substitution... Joseph Cole off, Mikel on.
    • 88' Arsenal make another change... Flamini off and Bendtner on.
    • 86' Arsenal are heading to just their second Premier League defeat of the season so far...
    • 83' Oooh! Drogba nearly gets a hat-trick with an instinctive first time effort! But he's denied by a great save from Almunia!
    • 81' GOAL! CHELSEA TAKE THE LEAD! Anelka flicks on to Drogba, who controls, spins and fires past Almunia, despite the Arsenal keepers' best efforts! What a turnaround!
    • 77' So far, it's perfect for Manchester United - but there's more goals in this one.
    • 76' Arsene Wenger makes another change... Walcott replaces RVP.
    • 74' Drogba enjoyed that one... so much so he gets booked for taking his shirt off in celebration...
    • 73' GOAL! DROGBA LEVELS THINGS UP! The Ivorian chests down a long ball... he loses control momentarily before the ball comes back to him... he unleashes an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner! 1-1 now!
    • 72' Sagna actually is really injured... he doesn't come back on. Diaby does in his place.
    • 72' And now the home crowd are singing Jose Mourinho's name! Grant can't seem to do any good at the moment.
    • 71' The crowd aren't happy about that change either... 'you don't know what you're doing' they sing.
    • 70' Here's a big moment for Avram Grant - it's time he makes a change, so on come Anelka and Belletti... off goes Makelele and Ballack... the German shakes his head on his way off.
    • 68' The ball falls to Ballack at the far post, but he doesn't catch it right and Almunia saves!
    • 66' Carvalho is also in trouble... he's busy getting stitched up on the sidelines following a collision of heads with Flamini.
    • 65' Sagna's taken a knock here... he looks in pain, although it could be a time wasting tactic...
    • 63' Chelsea have to come out and attack now - they have no choice. And that should make for an entertaining final half hour.
    • 61' Immediate chance for Chelsea to equalise! But Ashley Cole's back stick header goes wide of the mark!
    • 59' GOAL! ARSENAL TAKE THE LEAD! It's Sagna who scores a rare, rare goal as he sneaks in ahead of Lampard to head home a near post corner! That's the Frenchman's first of his Arsenal career, and it could well prove to be very significant!
    • 56' Adebayor brings Cudicini into action with an effort from outisde the box, but it's easy for the Italian...
    • 52' Makelele finds Drogba with a punt forward! Must be! No! Gallas gets back just in time to put the Chelsea man off and his effort flies wide!
    • 48' Much better start to the second half! We could have a decent half on our hands now!
    • 47' Flamini! Great save from Cudicini to deny Arsenal the opener early in the second half!
    • 46' Here we go again! Second half underway in west London!
    • 45'+2 There goes the half time whistle... and Almunia hobbles off...
    • 45'+1 Cole drives a cross into the mixer! Almunia stretches and ends up repelling the ball with his foot! He may have pulled his groin there!
    • 45' One minute of added time to be played at the end of the first half.
    • 43' Toure clashes with Kalou in the Arsenal box... the Gunners shout for a penalty, but referee Mark Clattenburg waves play on!
    • 41' And straight down at the other end, Kalou puts in a decent effort for comedy miss of the season! The ball falls to the Ivorian six yards outÂ… he spins and swings his boot at it, only to connect with nothing but air!
    • 40' Oooh! Gallas hits the post, when he should really score! Toure flicks on to the Frenchman, but he can only direct his sliding effort against the upright!
    • 38' Lampard upends Fabregas in the centre, prompting loud shouts of 'you fat so-and-so' (or words to that effect) from the visiting Gunners fans!
    • 35' Adebayor skins Terry for pace on the near side... but Carvalho is there to hack away his cross.
    • 33' And Ballack joins Cole in the book soon after for a tackle from behind on Hleb...
    • 32' Joseph Cole loses possession to RVP... he chases after him the hacks him down, earning himself a shiny yellow card.
    • 31' Drogba delivers a superb ball into the centre! Eboue half thinks about dealing with it, but opts not to... Ballack nearly slides in at the far post!
    • 29' Chance for Arsenal! Adebayor swings a foot at Clichy's deflected cross but doesn't get decent contact on it... it breaks free... Eboue's there! Cudicini sticks out a leg to push the ball away! All very scrappy, but a chance nonetheless!
    • 25' Real chance for Drogba now! Terry humps the ball upfield and the Ivorian finds himself baring down on goal... oh dear! His touch is terrible and the ball runs through to Almunia!
    • 24' Fabregas finds RVP on the edge of the box... and he brings a save out of Cudicini with a snap shot following a near turn!
    • 22' Brilliant approach play from Chelsea here! Lampard, Kalou and Drogba are all involved, but the final ball is missing and all that neat work goes to waste.
    • 19' Arsenal are playing the ball around nicely at the moment...
    • 18' Drogba just seems to be limping a little now... he'll be alright, surely. He does this every game.
    • 17' Ballack brings Almunia into action again, this time with a cross shot from the right hand side, which the Gunners keeper deals with easily.
    • 15' Van Persie! Oooh! He drops his shoulder to lose Essien on the edge of the box, but his effort is over the bar! Good approach play from Arsenal there...
    • 13' Essien breaks free now... but he opts for the wrong pass and his attempted cross field pass to Drogba goes out of play.
    • 8' Gallas gets the ball to his feet and the boos ring out round Stamford Bridge!
    • 7' Joseph Cole and Lampard link up well to play in Ballack... but there's no way through this time and the Arsenal defence clear.
    • 6' Ballack steps up to meet the second attempt... and his curler brings a save out of Almunia! Not a bad effort from the German!
    • 5' Eboue charges down Drogba's free kick... and he gets booked for his eagerness...
    • 4' Drogba wins a free kick out of Gallas, doing what he does best - giving opposition defences a headache.
    • 3' Ashley Cole gets an early run... and the Chelsea fans cheer him loud enough to drown out the Arsenal fans' boos...
    • 2' Just like at Old Trafford, there's a great atmosphere at Stamford Bridge...
    • 1' Here we go! The final installment of Super Duper Sunday! Let's hope for an exciting game!
    • - Today's referee is Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear).
    • - And the Gunners: Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Eboue, Fabregas, Flamini, Hleb, Adebayor, Van Persie - Subs: Lehmann, Diaby, Senderos, Bendtner, Walcott
    • - The teams are in... here's how the hosts will line up: Cudicini, Essien, Carvalho, Terry, Ashley Cole, Ballack, Makelele, Lampard, Joe Cole, Drogba, Kalou - Subs: Hilario, Obi, Alex, Belletti, Anelka
    • - With Manchester United beating Liverpool earlier, three points for both sides is imperative. And that could mean we might be in for an interesting, attacking game...
    • - Hello and welcome to eurosport.yahoo.com's LIVE coverage of today's second big game!

  • Team Stats

    Chelsea Stats Arsenal
    52% Possession 47%
    13 Shots 12
    7 Shots on target 6
    4 Saves 3
    4 Corners 2
    13 Fouls 10
    5 Offsides 1
    3 Yellow cards 1
    0 Red cards 0
    26 Tackles 23
    361 Accurate passes 314
    53 Bad passes 57

  • Player Stats

    G =
    Goals
    S =
    Shots
    SoT =
    Shot on Target
    F =
    Fouls
    FW =
    Fouls Won
    O =
    Offsides
    A =
    Assists
    AP =
    Accurate Passes
    BP =
    Bad Passes
    T =
    Tackles
    • Chelsea
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      23 Carlo Cudicini 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 0 0
      6 Ricardo Carvalho 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 41 0 6
      3 Ashley Cole 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 28 15 3
      26 John Terry 0 1 0 1 3 0 0 35 8 1
      10 Joe Cole 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 33 0 3
      4 Claude Makelele 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 38 6 1
      13 Michael Ballack 0 4 4 4 2 0 0 25 4 1
      8 Frank Lampard 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 32 7 3
      5 Michael Essien 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 39 5 3
      11 Didier Drogba 2 5 3 1 1 2 0 24 2 2
      21 Salomon Kalou 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 26 5 2
      35 Juliano Belletti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0
      33 Alex da Dias Costa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      12 John Obi Mikel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0
      40 Henrique Hilário 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      39 Nicolas Anelka 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 9 1 1
    • Arsenal
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      24 Manuel Almunia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 1 0
      5 Kolo Toure 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 27 0 4
      22 Gaël Clichy 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 31 10 5
      3 Bacary Sagna 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 20 0 1
      10 William Gallas 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 24 0 1
      4 Francesc Fabregas 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 56 10 1
      16 Mathieu Flamini 0 3 2 1 0 0 0 27 6 1
      27 Emmanuel Eboue 0 2 1 1 1 0 0 27 0 3
      13 Alexander Hleb 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 38 10 4
      25 Emmanuel Adebayor 0 2 1 6 0 0 0 32 5 2
      11 Robin Van Persie 0 3 1 1 1 0 0 17 13 1
      6 Philippe Senderos 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      2 Vasiriki Abou Diaby 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 7 2 0
      1 Jens Lehmann 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      32 Theo Walcott 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      26 Nicklas Bendtner 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0

  • Summary

    • 83' Oooh! Drogba nearly gets a hat-trick with an instinctive first time effort! But he's denied by a great save from Almunia!
    • 81' GOAL! CHELSEA TAKE THE LEAD! Anelka flicks on to Drogba, who controls, spins and fires past Almunia, despite the Arsenal keepers' best efforts! What a turnaround!
    • 73' GOAL! DROGBA LEVELS THINGS UP! The Ivorian chests down a long ball... he loses control momentarily before the ball comes back to him... he unleashes an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner! 1-1 now!
    • 68' The ball falls to Ballack at the far post, but he doesn't catch it right and Almunia saves!
    • 61' Immediate chance for Chelsea to equalise! But Ashley Cole's back stick header goes wide of the mark!
    • 59' GOAL! ARSENAL TAKE THE LEAD! It's Sagna who scores a rare, rare goal as he sneaks in ahead of Lampard to head home a near post corner! That's the Frenchman's first of his Arsenal career, and it could well prove to be very significant!
    • 52' Makelele finds Drogba with a punt forward! Must be! No! Gallas gets back just in time to put the Chelsea man off and his effort flies wide!
    • 47' Flamini! Great save from Cudicini to deny Arsenal the opener early in the second half!
    • 41' And straight down at the other end, Kalou puts in a decent effort for comedy miss of the season! The ball falls to the Ivorian six yards outÂ… he spins and swings his boot at it, only to connect with nothing but air!
    • 40' Oooh! Gallas hits the post, when he should really score! Toure flicks on to the Frenchman, but he can only direct his sliding effort against the upright!
    • 29' Chance for Arsenal! Adebayor swings a foot at Clichy's deflected cross but doesn't get decent contact on it... it breaks free... Eboue's there! Cudicini sticks out a leg to push the ball away! All very scrappy, but a chance nonetheless!
    • 25' Real chance for Drogba now! Terry humps the ball upfield and the Ivorian finds himself baring down on goal... oh dear! His touch is terrible and the ball runs through to Almunia!
    • 24' Fabregas finds RVP on the edge of the box... and he brings a save out of Cudicini with a snap shot following a near turn!
    • 15' Van Persie! Oooh! He drops his shoulder to lose Essien on the edge of the box, but his effort is over the bar! Good approach play from Arsenal there...
    • 6' Ballack steps up to meet the second attempt... and his curler brings a save out of Almunia! Not a bad effort from the German!

Live Team Line-Up

  • Referee: Mark Clattenburg

  • Chelsea

    Manager: Avram Grant

    Captain: John Terry

    On the Field

    • Cudicini
    • Essien
    • Terry
    • Carvalho
    • Cole
    • Makelele Substitution Out (70′)
    • Lampard
    • Ballack Yellow Card Substitution Out (70′)
    • Kalou
    • Cole Yellow Card Substitution Out (89′)
    • Drogba Goals×2 Yellow Card

    Subs

    • Anelka Substitution In (70′)
    • Alex
    • Belletti Substitution In (70′)
    • Mikel Substitution In (89′)
    • Sampaio

    Injured

    • Cech

    Suspended

    None

  • Arsenal

    Manager: Arsene Wenger

    Captain: William Gallas

    On the Field

    • Almunia
    • Sagna Goal Substitution Out (73′)
    • Toure
    • Gallas
    • Clichy
    • Eboue Yellow Card
    • Flamini Substitution Out (88′)
    • Fabregas
    • Hleb
    • Adebayor
    • van Persie Substitution Out (76′)

    Subs

    • Lehmann
    • Senderos
    • Diaby Substitution In (73′)
    • Bendtner Substitution In (88′)
    • Walcott Substitution In (76′)

    Injured

    • Rosicky
    • Djourou
    • Eduardo

    Suspended

    None