Chelsea regained its nine-point lead in the English Premier League on Sunday, beating Arsenal 2-0 on goals by Arjen Robben and Joe Cole.
The victory maintained the Blues' mastery over the Gunners, and ended Arsenal's string of 13 league victories at Highbury.
In their first league showdown this season, Chelsea defeated Arsenal 1-0 at Stamford Bridge for its first league win against the Gunners since 1995.
Chelsea also defeated Arsenal 2-1 in the preseason Community Shield.
"This is always a great game to play, and we have to continue like this," Robben said. "As a team we needed a good game because the last two games we didn't play well. Today we showed everybody in the country why we're top of the league."
Added Cole: "Chelsea are flying at the moment and it's all good for us."
Chelsea has 46 points and has allowed only seven goals in 17 league games. Manchester United is in second with 37 points, followed by Liverpool and Tottenham with 31 each. Arsenal stayed in eighth place with only 26 points -- 20 behind Chelsea.
Robben scored Chelsea's first goal in the 39th minute after Arsenal missed two earlier chances. Following a throw-in from midfield, Robben raced down the left side and left-footed the ball behind diving Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.
Cole sealed the win in the 73rd, breaking from the right wing and beating Lehmann from 18m.
"It was very a big disappointment to lose this game, but we will try to fight as well as we can -- but it will be difficult for us," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.
missed opportunities
Chelsea applied all the early pressure, but it was Arsenal that had the best two early scoring chances. In the 20th, Thierry Henry skipped into the area and rolled a shot on the ground from 15m that hit the post to the left of 'keeper Petr Cech.
A minute later, Arsenal's Robin van Persie put the ball into the net off a left-wing shot, but the play was ruled offside. A TV replay showed Persie was onside, but Henry was offside.
"I feel that goal was just onside," Wenger said. "We were playing well when we scored the goal."
The Gunners never recovered, although Henry had a couple more chances, including a close-in header in the 67th that Cech dived to save.
Middlesbrough 3, Tottenham 3
In the day's other Premier League game, Mido scored an 83rd-minute goal to rally Tottenham to a 3-3 draw at Middlesbrough.
Tottenham took a 1-0 lead in the 25th, thanks to a mistake by Middlesbrough 'keeper Mark Schwarzer. The Australian came out to catch a high cross, but the ball bounced off his hands with Robbie Keane dribbling a weak shot into an empty net.
Middlesbrough leveled five minutes later when Aiyegbeni Yakubu scored on a powerful 10m volley that slipped inside the post. Yakubu was also involved in the go-ahead goal in the 43rd when James Morrison's shot deflected off him and into the net behind Paul Robinson.
Spurs equalized in the 63rd when Jermaine Jenas' free kick from 20m curled into the net and beat Schwarzer diving to his right.
Middlesbrough went ahead again in the 69th when Franck Queudrue scored on a 10m header that dropped over the line behind Robinson. This set the stage for Mido's 83rd-minute equalizer.
"If we are a bit cleverer we can win these sorts of games," Tottenham coach Martin Jol said. "Last year we could not do it and I think we have improved in certain areas and it showed."
Morrison was knocked unconscious in a collision with Keane five minutes from the end. He was taken off the field on a stretcher, but did not need hospital treatment.
John Hartson equalized in the 21st minute to give leader Celtic a 1-1 draw at Inverness.
Craig Dargo gave Inverness the lead after only 31 seconds. Craig Brewster flicked on a throw-in from Ross Tokely to Dargo, who turned and scored behind Celtic 'keeper Artur Boruc.
Hartson leveled when he took a pass from Ross Wallace and scored from 8m.
Dargo had a chance to give Inverness the lead after 30 minutes, but Boruc stopped his penalty attempt.
Celtic leads the Premier League with 45 points, followed by Hearts with 41, Hibs with 37 and Rangers with 30. Inverness has 24 points in sixth place.
Roberto Soldado scored an 84th-minute equalizer to earn Real Madrid a 1-1 draw with a 10-man Osasuna at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, dropping the powerhouse eight points off the lead.
Soldado, who entered the game as a substitute 12 minutes earlier, tapped the ball into an empty net after Zinedine Zidane diverted a floated forward pass by Jose Maria "Guti" Gutierrez out of the reach of Osasuna goalkeeper Ricardo Lopez.
Savo Milosevic had put the visitors in front in the 76th, nodding in an attempted clearance header by Madrid defender Ivan Helguera.
The draw left Madrid in third place and marked the home debut for manager Juan Ramon Lopez Caro, who became the team's fifth coach in the past 2 1/2 years when he replaced the fired Vanderlei Luxemburgo on Dec. 4.
Lopez Caro said the game had been "tough" and Madrid's play hadn't flowed.
In other 16th-round games, Juan Roman Riquelme and Diego Forlan scored a goal each in Villarreal's 2-1 win over Getafe, while Valencia edged lowly Alaves 1-0.
Also, it was: Racing Santander 1, Malaga 1; Sevilla 3, Real Sociedad 2; Espanyol 2, Zaragoza 2; and Mallorca 2, Atletico Madrid 2.
FC Barcelona won 3-1 at Cadiz on Saturday to improve to 37 points. Osasuna has 35 while Madrid, Villarreal, Deportivo La Coruna and Valencia have 29 points each.
AC Milan and crosstown rival Inter Milan each won 4-0 to move closer to Serie A leader Juventus.
Ivan Cordoba, Obafemi Martins, Adriano and David Pizarro scored a goal each to lift Inter into sole possession of second place after beating Reggina. Luis Figo set up the last three goals.
Milan moved into third place by topping Messina with two goals from Andriy Shevchenko and one each from Andrea Pirlo and Alberto Gilardino.
Juventus, which was held to a 1-1 by Lazio on Saturday, leads the league with 43 points. Inter is next with 35 points, followed by Milan with 34 and Fiorentina with 33.
While Inter and AC Milan won easily, Fiorentina struggled to a 1-1 draw at Empoli as striker Luca Toni was unable to score for the third straight match.
Toni, the league leading striker with 16 goals, still helped his team in the 70th when his shot struck the post and Giampaolo Pazzini tapped in the rebound.
AC Milan, which was coming off consecutive defeats, got its first goal on a dubious penalty converted by Shevchenko.
The Ukraine striker scored his eighth goal of the season to make it 2-0 in the 47th with a left-footed shot off a heel assist by Kaka.
Pirlo scored with a free kick and Gilardino added the other late in the match at San Siro.
Werder Bremen and Hamburger SV drew 1-1, leaving Bayern Munich with a six-point lead going into the winter break.
Hertha Berlin and Nuremberg also drew 1-1 in another game before the five-week break.
Bayern played Saturday and beat host Borussia Dortmund 2-1 on goals from Ali Karimi and Claudio Pizarro to finish the first half of the season with a record 14 wins.
That gave Bayern 44 points and six-point cushion over Hamburg after Sunday's game. Hamburg now has 38 points and Bremen 36.
In match pitting the league's top attack against the stingiest defense, Bremen hit the post early in the game and Johan Micoud wasted a first-half penalty when Hamburg goalkeeper Sascha Kirschstein stopped his shot.
But the Frenchman hit home with time running out in the first half, aiming a free kick over Kirschstein and inside the far post.
Germany midfielder Torsten Frings missed an open net early in the second half and Hamburg raised its game to earn the draw.
Substitute Mustafa Kucukovic scored from close range in the 66th. Hamburg which has conceded only nine goals, held on against the team that leads the league with 46 goals.
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