Phil Thompson, the former Liverpool defender, said on Gillette Soccer Saturday yesterday that Arsenal should give Roman Abramovich a medal if they win the Premier League on the account of the Chelsea owner selling them Petr Cech in the summer. Yet the chances of the Premier League trophy remaining in London and moving to the north of the capital reduced significantly this afternoon after the Blues completed the league double over the Gunners.
Chelsea are not going to retain the league crown but with results like this, secured by an eighth goal of the season from Diego Costa, and with Manchester City and Leicester City, who they play on the final day, to play at home, Guus Hiddink’s improving and more cohesive side will have a firm say on who follows them as champions.
It is now seven games unbeaten for Hiddink since he replaced Jose Mourinho yet it doesn’t matter who is in charge of the Blues when they meet Arsenal – the Gunners have not beaten them in a league game since December 2010, which is so long ago that Cesc Fabregas was on the scoresheet for Arsenal that day.
And today’s lively events at the Emirates shows how Mourinho doesn’t need to be on the touchline for there to be drama. Under his reign, Kieran Gibbs was sent off after just 15 minutes of the 6-0 thrashing at Stamford Bridge in March 2014 while Gabriel and Santi Cazorla saw red in the tempestuous clash at the Bridge earlier this season. It was Hiddink this time who benefited from another red letter day for Arsenal, Chelsea afforded the luxury of playing more than 70 minutes with a man advantage after Per Mertesacker was rightly sent off for bring down Costa when he was charging through on goal from the most sumptuous of defence-splitting passes from Willian. The decision by Mark Clattenburg looks smarter every time you see it.
Willian didn’t manage to score from the resulting free-kick, which was something of a surprise given his expertise from dead-ball situations this season, but five minutes later Costa, you guessed it, brilliantly got in between two defenders to sweep in at the near post. It was classic Costa and his sixth goal under Hiddink who has given the Spain international a new lease of life.
Chelsea are the only Premier League team this season not to drop any points from winning positions away from home and they never looked like doing so here. Arsenal’s best chance fell to Mathieu Flamini who was the last player the Gunners wanted their most-giltedged opportunity to fall to on the stroke of half-time. The Frenchman could only lift a lofted pass from Aaron Ramsey over the bar of Thibaut Courtois when eight yards out.
Either side of that, Costa forced Cech to save smartly at his near-post to keep out an instinctive effort while Fabregas had huge grounds for a penalty when he was barged over by Laurent Koscielny in the second half.
The one downside for the Blues was the sight of Costa limping off with what looked like more hamstring trouble but there was the welcomed return of Eden Hazard as a late second-half substitute. Arsenal, who sacrificed Olivier Ground after Mertesacker was sent off, threw on Alexis Sanchez and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain but, despite the odd anxious moment, there was no way past the imperious John Terry and Kurt Zouma.
