WTTGT Reporter: Tashan Deniran-Alleyne
CHELSEA 3-5 ARSENAL
Arsenal prevailed in an amazing London derby to triumph 5-3 over Chelsea and secure their first away win since April as Robin van Persie netted a hat-trick.
There was one change from last weekend’s win over Stoke as Captain van Persie replaced Marouane Chamakh in attack.
Arsenal were carved open twice in the opening minutes but survived thanks to some last ditch defending. The gunners themselves should have taken the lead when Theo Walcott raced down the right and squared for Gervinho but he somehow contrived to miss from close range. Walcott then found van Persie who could only fire over from a good position.
But Chelsea took advantage of those missed chances when Juan Mata picked out Frank Lampard who headed the Blues into the lead.
The game was still very wide open though with Arsenal creating some good openings but failed to take their chances. Chelsea then almost grabbed a second when Daniel Sturridge missed the target when clean through on goal from a Lampard through ball.
Arsenal did make it 1-1 when Gervinho squared for van Persie to tap home after some beautiful work by Ramsey. Chelsea also had a goal ruled out for offside but slack defending again cost Arsenal as John Terry met a Lampard corner to put his side ahead just before half-time.
Arsenal had the first chances of the second half, as van Persie was denied by Petr Cech at the near post and then Aaron Ramsey saw his lob beat Cech but also clear the bar. It wasn’t long before Arsenal got back on level terms though as Andre Santos ran onto a Song pass to slot home confidently his first league goal for the club.
Wojciech Szczesny then rushed out of his goal to foul Ashley Cole but luckily only saw yellow. Theo Walcott then put the gunners ahead with a well taken strike. He tumbled but was quickly on his feet which took the Chelsea players by surprise and they were rooted to the groung as Walcott finished emphatically past Peter Cech.
With 10 minutes to go a Mata strike from 25 yards out that took a deflection off Song beat Szczesny at the far post. Arsenal complained about a foul on Santos by Lukaku in the build up but the goal stood.
But that just spurred the gunners on and when Terry slipped, it allowed van Persie to have a clear run on goal and the Dutchman kept his cool to round Cech and put his side 4-3 up.
Then in injury time with Chelsea pushing for an equaliser, the visitors broke and van Persie lashed home for his hat-trick to secure all three points for Arsenal.
A huge test for the gunners which they have impressively passed as the revival at the club shows no sign of slowing down. It was also another milestone for Arsene Wenger as the win became number 500 in his glorious Arsenal career.
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