Captain Robin van Persie’s hat trick and a catastrophic mistake by John Terry continues Arsenal’s climb up the Premier League table with an exhilarating 5-3 victory at Chelsea.
After a wide-open first half display Chelsea went into half time leading 2-1 thanks to goals from Frank Lampard and Terry.
Van Persie scored Arsenal’s first half goal.
However, once the second half began Arsenal took control of the match and quickly found themselves leading 3-2 within the first ten minutes of the second half.
Arsenal’s equalizing goal came from new signing Andre Santos, the very attack minded leftback, in the 49 minute. In a move that started on the right side of the field, Alex Song spotted Santos’ run down the left hand side and a quality first touch put him clear through on goal. Santos calmly passed it under Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal to make it 2-2.
Six minutes later Arsenal took the lead. After winning a freekick Theo Walcott took it short and dribbled at the Chelsea defense only to trip and fall from challenge by Ashley Cole. However, as Chelsea’s defense froze, Walcott quickly got back up dribble past two Chelsea defenders, and unleash an unstoppable shot past Cech at his near post. 3-2 to Arsenal and Chelsea were in a state of shock.
This truly was end-to-end action and you could sense that another goal could come at any moment.
Eventually that goal came in the 80 minute from Juan Mata of Chelsea with an unstoppable strike from 25 yards out. At 3-3 with ten minutes remaining it was obvious that there would be a tense and exciting finish to this match.
Yet the turning point came not from a moment of brilliance but from suicidal defending from Chelsea. Florent Malouda played a horrendous pass to Terry, and in his attempt to reach the pass he slipped and fell, leaving van Persie one-on-one against Cech. Van Persie calmly rounded Cech to score one of his easier goals of the season. 4-3 to Arsenal in the 85 minute.
Chelsea continued to attack with Terry even playing a bit in attack. Yet after having played two minutes of extra time, Chelsea’s attacking forays left them vulnerable to the counterattack and Arsenal put the final nail in the coffin.
Arsenal substitute Tomas Rosicky started the move from the edge of Arsenal’s penalty box. The ball fell to Mikel Arteta, who found van Persie on the left, and he again scored past Cech. 5-3 to the Arsenal.
Van Persie has now scored 29 goals in his last 28 Premier League matches and seven goals in his last three. If he can stay on this form then no one should count Arsenal out of a top four finish.
Chelsea have lost their last two Premier League matches and are only three points ahead of Arsenal. If they want to be considered title contenders they will need to make serious adjustments, and fast.