Chelsea are back at the top of the table and Arsenal are now nine points adrift from the top, thanks to Didier Drogba’s two goals last night in Chelsea’s 2 - 0 win over the Gunners.
The Ivory Coast forward scored both goals inside 23 minutes, and Chelsea then successfully contained Arsenal at Stamford Bridge despite the Gunners enjoying the majority of possession in the second half.
“Didier is in a good moment, he’s come back from the African Cup with fantastic motivation,” Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said.
“The game was not easy because Arsenal played fantastic attacking football. We deserved to win because you can’t speak about a match only about the possession. Maybe they did have more possession than us, but football is about attack—and defense.”
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Jermain Defoe of Tottenham Hotspur scored a hat-trick at Elland Road to help Harry Redknapp’s side overcome Leeds and book a place in the FA Cup fifth round with a 3-1 win on Wednesday.
England striker Defoe missed a host of good chances but still managed to come up trumps for the Premier League side with strikes in the 37th and 73rd minutes before putting the result beyond all doubt in the fourth minute of stoppage time to take his tally for the season to 22 goals.
Luciano Becchio had equalised for Leeds on the stroke of half-time as Simon Grayson’s League One side threatened to pull off another shock in front of a partisan home crowd.
But Defoe secured a trip for Tottenham to top-flight rivals Bolton in the last 16 and kill-off the Cup dreams of Leeds, who had knocked Manchester United at Old Trafford out of the competition in stunning style in the previous round.
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Didier Drogba celebrated his return from the African Cup of Nations by scoring his 20th goal for Chelsea against Hull City last night, saving at least a point from the match.
Hull centre-back Steven Mouyokolo headed the Barclays Premier League strugglers in front, but Drogba, in his first Blues match for a month, snared a point for the table-toppers when he drilled home a contested free-kick just before the interval.
Hull started confidently, winning corners on the left and right inside two minutes.
Chelsea repelled them safely but Stephen Hunt’s delivery looked dangerous and the home side were assured in the opening minutes.
In the ninth minute Frank Lampard had the first chance of the match, capping a nice passing move with a swerving shot at goal. Boaz Myhill could only parry it to Nicolas Anelka 10 yards out but the Frenchman fluffed his finish.
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Manchester United humbled Arsenal yesterday by beating them 3 - 1 at the Emirates Stadium.
Naniforced Manuel Almunia to concede an own goal before setting up Wayne Rooney for a second. Park Ji-Sungscored early in the second half to end the game as a contest. Thomas Vermaelen volleyed home a consolation for Arsenal in the 80th minute.
Arsenal had started brightly, and Andrey Arshavin had an early opportunity. He broke down the left flank and burst into the left hand side of the penalty area. Cutting inside of Wes Brown, he aimed a shot for the far corner of the goal with his right foot, but it was loose and went wide.
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Egypt looks on course to win their record seventh title as they crushed Algeria in the semi-final of the African Cup of Nations.
Egypt assistant coach Chaouki Gharib said: “We’ve played against three World Cup qualifiers in our five matches here, we’ve beaten them all and scored ten goals against all of them.
“It’s thanks to our [...]
Chelsea beat Birmingham City 3 - 0 at Stamford Bridge to go to the top of the English Premier League again.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side brought an end to Birmingham’s 15-match unbeaten run thanks to an opening goal by Florent Malouda and a brace from Frank Lampard. The win put Chelsea one point clear of Manchester United at [...]
Liverpool’s hopes of returning to the Champions League next year was dealt another setback whilst Tottenham retained their spot in the top four by beating Fulham 2 - 0.
Despite the return of club captain Steven Gerrard from injury, Rafael Benitez’s men were listless in a goalless stalemate at struggling Wolves.
But the Liverpool manager was defiantly [...]
Wayne Rooney says he is humbled by interest from other clubs, but insists that he will stay at Manchester United.
The England centre-forward has been in scintillating form this season, notching 19 Premier League goals to lead the way for the Red Devils as they adapt to life without Cristiano Ronaldo.
Portuguese star Ronaldo left Old Trafford [...]
Arsenal became the latest member of the Premier League’s elite to suffer an early exit from the FA Cup as Ricardo Fuller’s double strike inspired Stoke’s 3-1 win over the Gunners in the fourth round on Sunday.
Manchester United, humbled by League One Leeds, and Liverpool, shocked by Reading, both perished in the third round and [...]
Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez called former Manchester United teammate Gary Neville a “boot-licker” and an “idiot” on Argentinian radio, reigniting the former feud between the two players.
Tevez and Neville exchanged gestures during the clubs’ Carling Cup semi-final clash at Eastlands on Tuesday night after Neville claimed in an interview at the weekend that United [...]
