Chelsea vs Arsenal
Match pulse
CHEAttacking pressure by 5 minutes
Who won: Chelsea 1-0
Chelsea beat Arsenal 1-0 on Sunday, August 21, 2005 at Stamford Bridge. Goals for Chelsea: Didier Drogba (73').
Play by play
- 92'
FULL-TIME: Arsenal had much more of the ball, but they couldn't create any meaningful opportunities to test Cech in the Chelsea goal.
- 91'
Oooh! Senderos' header back to Lehmann is well short, but Drogba - one-on-one with the goalkeeper - can only scuff the ball straight at Lehmann. He should have done much better there.
- 90'
The Arsenal players are starting to lose their discipline; first Senderos is booked for kicking the ball away, then Pires needlessly brings down Duff in the corner.
- 89'
Wenger is quite animated on the touchlines; Mourinho seems to be signalling for his players to take the ball in to the corner to waste a few more valuable seconds.
- 88'
Cole is booked for a cynical, late kick on Essien after the Chelsea man had robbed him of the ball 35 yards out. The Arsenal man was perhaps lucky not to be sent off.
- 87'
Henry does very well to go around the outside of Ferriera, but there is no-one in the penalty box to take advantage of his prodded cross.
- 86'
SWP robs Henry of the ball deep inside the Chelsea half, though his attempted pass down the line to Drogba is a little over-hit.
- 85'
Essien has been quite impressive since his introduction; he is very energetic and determined, and shown some nice touches on the ball, too.
- 84'
SUB: Flamini on, Fabregas off. One inexperienced midfielder replaces another for Arsenal, highlighting the problems they face ahead this season.
- 83'
Del Horno is down again after attempting to break through a couple of Arsenal challenges. He requires some treatment for what seems to be a knee injury.
- 82'
Henry collects the ball 30 yards out, spins, and fires a left-foot shot straight at Cech.
- 80'
Del Horno cooly heads back to Cech, though Henry was only a couple of yards from intercepting it.
- 79'
Arsenal are starting to show a few signs of frustration; Lauren is lucky not to get booked for a show of dissent when a handball decision goes against him.
- 78'
Arsenal enjoy a good spell of pressure, but Cole's sloppy pass in to the feet of Hleb almost allows Drogba a clear run at Senderos through the middle of the field.
- 77'
Terry and Del Horno combine to snuff out a Van Persie foray down the right channel. The goal has lifted the Chelsea crowd, and they're right behind their men now.
- 76'
A swift counter-attack from Chelsea ends when Gallas lashes an optimistic 25-yard shot straight at Lehmann.
- 75'
Oooh! Henry cuts in from the left wing, and fires a low shot goalwards, which Cech rather makes a meal of turning around his near post.
- 74'
Essien shows great strength and determination as he holds off Cole down near the corner flag. His low cross is cleared by Senderos, but Chelsea's new signing has shown some promising signs.
- 73'
Drogba should be embarrassed to claim that goal; the ball bounced off his shin without him knowing anything about it, and before he knew it the ball was dribbling past Lehmann and crossing the goal-line.
- 72'
GOAL! Drogba makes the breakthrough for the home side. He bursts in to the area, attempting to get on the end of Lampard's chipped pass, mis-controls the ball and it bobbles past Lehmann off his shin. Very lucky.
- 71'
Oooh! Tour surges down the right wing, evading a couple of challenges before clipping a low cross in to the middle. Van Persie gets in front of his marker, but flicks wide of the near post from a tight angle.
- 70'
The Chelsea fans show their frustration as another tame free-kick decision goes against SWP.
- 69'
Oooh! Cech collects the ball under his cross-bar after a flat, hard free-kick had been flicked goalwards by Senderos.
- 67'
Del Horno curls a great ball in to the penalty area towards Drogba, though Lehmann is alert enough to come off his line and collect before the cross reaches the Chelsea striker.
- 66'
Del Horno injures himself in putting out the ball for a corner; with Chelsea having already used all three of their substitutions, the Spanish left-back seems resigned to playing on through the pain.
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