Robin van Persie’s hat-trick helped Arsenal secure an astonishing 5-3 victory at Chelsea yesterday as the Gunners surged back into the race for a top four spot.
Van Persie’s heroics fired Arsenal to an eighth win in their past nine games in all competitions, with Arsene Wenger’s sixth-placed side twice coming from behind after trailing to goals from Frank Lampard and John Terry.
Terry was included in the Chelsea lineup after a difficult week when he found himself at the center of an FA investigation into allegations of racial abuse directed at Qeens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand last weekend.
Photo: AFP
However, the afternoon belonged to Dutch forward Van Persie, who struck twice in the final five minutes to clinch the points after Juan Mata had leveled the scores at 3-3.
Andre Santos and Theo Walcott also scored for the Gunners and the manner of their victory will strengthen Wenger’s view that his side have moved on from a difficult start, which included a traumatic 8-2 defeat at Manchester United.
Terry was always going to be the focus of attention and he might have allowed himself to be distracted by the off-field saga, but his goal on the stroke of halftime confirmed his attention was trained solely on the game.
However, the same could not be said for a number of other defenders on both sides whose lapses in concentration contributed to a hugely entertaining game.
From the moment Ashley Cole eased his way past Arsenal’s makeshift right back Johan Djourou to set up a second-minute chance for Fernando Torres, it was clear this would be an open game.
Lampard gave the home side the lead with a 14th-minute header from Mata’s cross, immediately after Van Persie and Gervinho had spurned glaring opportunities for the visitors.
However, with chances appearing at either end, it was quickly apparent that that would not be the final goal of the game.
Daniel Sturridge wasted a good chance to double the home side’s lead in the 29th minute and once again the miss proved to be costly, with Van Persie responding with the equalizer seven minutes later.
The goal came from a swift, incisive passing move between Aaron Ramsey and Gervinho that ended with Van Persie slotting in his 10th goal of the season.
Chelsea then gained their reward for shading the first half when Lampard’s corner was turned home by Terry.
However, Arsenal forced their way back into the game at the start of the second half.
Santos made up for his poor first-half showing four minutes after the break, taking advantage when Jose Bosingwa was caught out of position to fire home from just inside the area.
Then six minutes later the Gunners were ahead when Walcott was allowed to recover his footing work his way through a knot of Chelsea defenders, before drilling a right-foot shot past Cech.
The momentum of the game had swung Arsenal’s way and Chelsea appeared to be fast running out of ideas.
However, Mata, so often Chelsea’s creative force this season, dragged them back into the game with a long-range effort that flew past Wojciech Szczesny.
Chelsea coach Andre Villas-Boas would have expected his side to press on and clinch all three points.
Instead, the opposite happened. Terry slipped as he attempted to recover a misdirected pass from Florent Malouda, allowing Van Persie to slot in Arsenal’s fourth in the 85th minute.
Then the Dutchman completed his hat-trick in added-time with a powerful left-foot.
Man UNITED 1, EVERTON 0
AFP, LONDON
Manchester United bounced back from their derby humiliation against Manchester City with a 1-0 victory over Everton at Goodison Park yesterday.
A first-half goal from Javier Hernandez secured all three points for United, who had been desperate to atone for their 6-1 mauling by City at Old Trafford last weekend.
Sir Alex Ferguson made five changes to the side humiliated by City.
The introduction of Hernandez reaped rewards for United after just 19 minutes, with the prolific Mexican international tapping in after good approach play by Tom Cleverley, Danny Welbeck and Patrice Evra.
Everton might have equalized shortly before halftime, only for Leighton Baines’ free-kick to crash back off the underside of the crossbar.
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