The Blues were comfortably beaten by Arsenal, 1-3. Arsenal’s Alex Song, Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott scored the goals for the Gunners. Carlo Ancelotti’s team have managed just six points from the last 24!

Theo Walcott and Cesc Fabregas celebrate a goal.

Branislav Ivanovic pulled one back for the visitors but to no avail.

“We have matured, I have said that many times. Let’s hope it strengthens our belief for the championship and our belief that we are on the right track,”

said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

“Today we were disciplined, mature and we played for each other. There’s still some room for improvement and I’m confident the team will continue to train hard and focus well together.” Arsenal have moved to 35 points from 18 games with unbeaten leaders Manchester United on 37 having played a game less. Chelsea, who started the season in scintillating form but have forgotten how to win, remain in fourth place on 31.”

“The table is not good but this is the reality,” Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti told Sky Sports. “We have to play better and wake up. I am not worried. I have to work and you will have to ask the owner (Roman Abramovich about my future).”

The defeat leaves Chelsea 10 points worse off than at this stage last season and their title chances looking slim.

Ji Sung Park must be feeling on cloud 9 right now as he helped The Red Devils secure a win over rivals, the Gunners.

United scored with four minutes to go before halftime. The South Korean midfielder, Park headed in a Nani cross which caught a deflection off Arsenal defender Gael Clichy.
They missed a chance to go 2-0 up when Wayne Rooney fired a penalty over the bar.
The hosts remained unbeaten in the league this season with the best home record. Arsenal’s performance lacked any luster, they are now two points behind United in the league table.
The Gunners struggled to keep possession when they got near the box and the usually devastating combination of Marouane Chamakh and Samir Nasri looked disjointed.
United were keen to test young Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, making his first Premier League appearance. Szczesny made some excellent saves, first from Anderson and an attempted lob by Rooney.

Arsenal fans started chanting; “We want Cesc Fabregas” at the start of the second half and with less than half an hour to go manager Arsene Wenger consented. The skipper was out with a hamstring injury came on with Robin van Persie. But it was United who created the better chances.

However, Arsene Wenger did not react to the insults. This war of words comes right before the clubs match up on Monday at Old Trafford.

Evra called Arsenal a ‘training centre’ and a club in ‘crisis’ in an interview with television channel Canal+. Wenger had an opportunity to counter the spew of words but decided not to give it too much attention, during a press conference on Friday.

Arsene Wenger - Arsenal Manager

The Gunners manager said:

“He gave you some good stuff to make it all hot before the game.”

“We are guided by the way we want to play football and not by the statements of anybody who plays against us.”

“Personally, I believe if you are a big player you always respect your opponent and that is what we try to do.”

When asked if Evra was being disrespectful, Wenger was again reserved:

“I leave that judgment to you. We do not want to go into any unneeded talking before a game like that. We want to focus on the way we want to play and ignore any provocation before a game. We are motivated by the desire to win the game and by the quality of the football we want to play.”

Lee Bowyer’s opening-half goal – his first for nearly 12 months – earned Alex McLeish’s side a shock victory.

But their hero was Foster who bounced back from his error on England duty in midweek with a series of stunning saves.

Chelsea dominated proceedings for the entire 90 minutes but they could not find a way past the former Manchester United player.

It was a vastly improved performance by Chelsea compared to their 3-0 home defeat by Sunderland last weekend.

But they tasted defeat in back to back league matches for the first time since the end of the 2005-2006 campaign and they now only lead Manchester United on goal difference.

In addition to Foster, City centre-backs Scott Dann and Roger Johnson were outstanding.

Chelsea were quickly into their stride and Salomon Kalou missed an early chance to put them ahead.

Didier Drogba’s flick found Kalou with only Foster to beat but his shot went through the legs of the keeper and just past the post.

Foster made a fine save to keep Birmingham on level terms after Drogba was sent clear by Kalou.

It was the kind of chance Drogba would normally convert but Foster raced off his line to reduce the angle and saved low to his left.

Arsenal missed the chance to go top of the Barclays Premier League as Tottenham Hotspur fought back from 2-0 down to record a remarkable first victory at Emirates Stadium.

Samir Nasri and Marouane Chamakh had put the Gunners in complete control as they looked set to leapfrog Chelsea, who play Birmingham City later in the day.

However, Spurs – who had just one Premier League away victory over their old rivals, in May 1993 – regrouped for the second half following the introduction of fit-again England striker Jermain Defoe.

Gareth Bale pulled a goal back on 50 minutes, before a handball from captain Cesc Fabregas from a free-kick gave away a penalty, which Rafael van der Vaart converted.

Arsenal were then condemned to successive home league defeats for the first time in 13 years when Younes Kaboul headed in a dramatic late winner.

Samir Nasri and former team-mate William Gallas clashed within the opening few moments when Nasri raced clear, only to be halted by a fine saving tackle from the former Gunners defender.

It was a positive start for Arsenal, with Fabregas getting into the right side of the Spurs penalty area, but opted to shoot across goal rather than pull the ball back for Nasri.

Fabregas’ chip split the Tottenham defence, but Nasri’s touch into the penalty area was just too heavy, which should have allowed Gomes to come off his line to collect.

However, the Spurs keeper hesitated and failed to gather the ball on the penalty spot, which then bobbled wide.

The return of Wayne Rooney made it a perfect day for Manchester United as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side took full advantage of their title rivals’ misfortunes.

United brushed aside Wigan Athletic, who self-destructed in the second half with two unnecessary red cards, but perhaps more importantly Rooney made his first appearance since the contract saga that saw the England striker threaten to leave before signing a new five-year deal.

The setbacks suffered by Arsenal and Chelsea made it imperative that United did not slip up too and they made no mistake as headers by Patrice Evra and Javier Hernandez ensured Ferguson’s men second spot in the Barclays Premier League table, behind Chelsea only on goal difference.

Rooney should have put the icing on the cake by scoring too but passed up a glorious opportunity.

For Wigan, red cards for Antolin Alcaraz and Hugo Rodallega virtually ensured they would get nothing from the match.

Source: Premier League

The season opener for Liverpool ended with disappointment. Earlier in the match Joe Cole was sent off on his debut for the Reds for a clumsy challenge on Arsenal debutant Laurent Koscielny who was himself dismissed just before the end for a second yellow card.

Liverpool were given the lead by David Ngog just after half time. Arsenal had a lot of possession but created few chances. They would have surely been thankful to Reina, his mistake helped them equalise when Chamakh headed against the post which Reina spilled into his own net with just 15 seconds of normal time remaining.

Pepe Reina reacts after fumbling the ball into his own net.

Hodgson was disappointed with the draw and commented on the match:

“It was a bit disappointing to lose two points so close to the end, but it was a remarkable performance having to play the whole of the second half with 10 men. There was no intention from Joe Cole to foul the player, he threw himself in to try and block the ball.. but when players try to block the ball, the referee often sees it as a worse foul than it was.”

On the other hand Arsene Wenger was naturally pleased to grab a point and said:

“We had a lot of possession but Liverpool defended very well and we did not create many chances,” he said. “We kept going and did not give up and in the end came back to 1-1 which is a very good result at Liverpool.”

World Cup winner Fabregas was a youth player at Barca before moving to the English Premier League club in September 2003 and the player has made it clear he wants to return to the Catalan capital.
Local media reported on Monday that Barca’s new president, Sandro Rosell, would travel to London this week to try to strike a deal but Guardiola was downbeat about the chances of success.
“I think that getting Cesc will cost a lot,” Guardiola told a news conference at the club’s training ground on the outskirts of the city.
“He is an important player for Arsenal,” he added. “We want him to come but if Arsenal don’t want to negotiate he won’t.”
Barca, who have already added Spain striker David Villa and versatile Brazilian midfielder Adriano Correia to their squad, have about 40 million euros ($52 million) more to spend on players, club officials have indicated.
As well as Fabregas, who is more of a playmaker, they would probably need to buy a holding central midfielder to replace the Manchester City-bound Yaya Toure.
Asked about the possibility of Zlatan Ibrahimovic leaving, Guardiola said he wanted the Swedish striker to stay but it was up to the player to decide.
Mexico captain Rafael Marquez was in the same situation, the coach added.
Ten of Barca’s first-team squad began pre-season training on Monday, with internationals including Andres Iniesta, Villa, Xavi, Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique still on holiday.

Source: Reuters

Already goals have been scored in the five games out of eight games with the most thrilling match being that of Marseille versus Real Madrid.

Marseille 1-3 Real Madrid

Talisman Cristiano Ronaldo opened the score for the visitors in the 5th minute. However, six minutes later Lucho equalized for the French team. Raul Albiol gives his team the lead right on the hour mark!

Ronaldo adds another for Madrid.

Chelsea 2-2 Apoel Nicosia

Apoel Nicosia scored through Marcin Zewlakow in the 6th minute. The home team levelled in the 19th minute through Michael Essien and later took the lead from a Drogba(26′) goal. Apoel level in the dying minutes from a Nenad Mirosavljevic goal.

Juventus 1-4 Bayern Munich

Like the other matches played in the Champions League, Juventus took the lead in the 19th minute after Trezeguet scored. The Germans came from a goal down to level from a 30th minute penalty, converted by Jans-Jorg Butt.

After the break Olic gives Munich the lead.

Munich have gone back to their winning ways, after being 1-0 down they made a comeback to finish with four.

Maccabi Haifa 0-1 Bordeaux

Jussie brought Bordeaux on the scoreboard with a 13th minute goal.

Besiktas 1-2 CSKA Moscow

Milos Krasic netted a goal right before half time to give his team an advantage before the break. The final minutes of the match got interesting after Bobo(86′) equalized for Besiktas but Evgeni Aldonin scored the winner for CSKA Moscow in the 90th minute of the match. A very close finish for Moscow.

VfL Wolfsburg 1-3 Manchester United

Michael Owen helped Man U secure the lead minutes before the break.

Manchester United and Arsenal’s transfer target- Edin Dzeko scores for Wolfsburg, to get them level with United.

Michael Owen scores a hatrick and secures a comfortable lead for Man U.

Atletico Madrid 0-3 FC Porto

Bruno Alves has become a scoring defender, netting one for his country in the World Cup 2010 qualifiers and now getting one in the second minute of the match. His goal was followed by Falcao in the 14th minute.

Chelsea target Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan need to come to the party.

Hulk adds the third for Porto.

Zurich 1-1 AC Milan

Milan trail Zurich after Milan Gajic gets a goal.

A 64th minute Ronaldinho penalty saved Milan.

Bottom placed Portsmouth played well to earn a victory over Burnley. It was the first match for Avram Grant as Portsmouth manager, and it was a delightful welcome for him.

Brunley squandered quite a few opportunities to go ahead and will surely regret the missed chances.

Portsmouth didn’t give up and kept pushing forward. Portsmouth had a great chance to go one-up from a penalty but Dindane managed to miss it. However, later in the game he scored adding to the lead given to the home team through Hermann Hreidarsson’s brilliant left-footer.

Portsmouth are now temporarily off the bottom place.

Blackburn 0-0 Liverpool

Liverpool earn another frustrating draw. The first half had nothing interesting happening. Both teams evenly matched up until the break.

At the start of the second half Blackburn had some great opportunities, through Chelesa’s loan signing- Di Santo. The youngster played well.

Liverpool also had decent opportunites, the most tlling one being a terrific run by Glenn Johnson to put N’gog on goal, but N’gog somehow skewed the shot on the top-bar. The rebound was hit off target.

Liverpool surely looked like they were missing Torres, The Reds were just unable to put the ball in the back of the net.

Wonder why Benitez wasn’t looking to bring Aquiliani on as a substitute, Nabil El Zhar was brought in as a late substitute.

Blackburn were also suffering from some kind of jitters in front of goal, like their counterparts. They also had numerous opportunities to seal the deal, but were unsuccessful.

Although Blackburn will be happy to gain a point after a rigorous mid-week game.

West Ham 0-4 Manchester United

It was a thumping win for the defending champions. Scholes opened the score just before half-time.

Wonder kid- Darron Gibbson scored another glorious strike just over the hour mark and added to the lead.

The Hammers had decent chances as well but couldn’t convert. Diamanti had an awesome shot on goal, but Kuzczak pulled an even better save.

Two quick goals were scored by Valencia and Rooney which took the match away from the home team.

Arsenal 2-0 Stoke City

Prior to the match Arshavin had stated that Arsenal were missing Van Persie upfront and also some tall statured players(Arshavin himself being around 5′ 8″).

Arshavin looked lively on the field and managed to win a penalty after forcing an error from Delap. Skipper Fabregas came up to take the spot-kick but Sorensen saved it.

Arshavin scored another brilliant goal from a Fabregas cross.

Ramsey scored the second to give Arsenal a 2-0 victory over Stoke City.

Wigan 2-3 Birmingham

Wigan took the lead in the first half through N’Zogbia’s 33rd minute strike.

Sebastian Larsson equalized for the visitors in the 61st minute and five minutes later Christian Benitez gave Birmingham the lead. Later Larsson extended the lead by scoring his second goal in the game.

Jordi Gomez pulled one back late in the match, but it was just too late for the homeside.

Until today’s loss, Wigan were undefeated at home after leading 1-0.

Aston Villa 3-0 Hull

Villa scored early in the game through Richard Dunne from a Milner assist. 15 minutes later Milner celebrated his own strike and also Villa’s 2-0 lead.

Aston Villa kept attacking Hull City, they won a penalty which was taken by Carew.

Wolves 2-1 Bolton

The fastest goal of the day was scored by Wolverhampton’s Jody Carddock in the 3rd minute.

Nenad Milijas added to the lead. Bolton struck a late goal through Johan Elmander.

Both sides looked to attack but the game ended 2-1 to Wolves.

Manchester City 2-1 Chelsea

The final match of the day was the most exhilirating encounter. Both sides were looking to attack from kick-off.

Chelsea took the lead when Anelka’s shot could have been saved by Given, but unfortunately the ball bounced into the net off Adebayor back. Adebayor took revenge later in the half, scoring from a corner.

The second half got into a high-tempo mode. Both sides were driving players forward and referee came into action many-a-times producing yellow cards and giving free-kicks. Chelsea and Man City had good chances, Chelsea didn’t manage to capitilize. City were awarded a free-kick just outside the box, which was wonderfully converted by Tevez to give City the lead.

Drogba won a penalty for Chelsea after drawing a foul from Onuoha, late in the game. Given came to City’s rescue by saving Lampard’s penalty and thus ensuring a win for Man City.

Shay Given saves Lampard's penalty

City’s Micah Richards and Wayne Bridge both seemed to be injured, Bridge was carried off on a stretcher after a sliding tackle from Belletti. Chelsea’s Terry also limped off late in the second half.

Barcelona 2-0 Inter Milan

Pique puts Barca ahead in the 10th minute and Pedro added another in the 26th minute.

Debrecen 0-1 Liverpool

David N’gog nudges in the ball from Fabio Aurelio’s corner, in the 4th minute.

Liverpool won’t be too thrilled even after leading at half-time, since Fiorentina have taken the lead against Lyon. This squanders “The Reds” chances of going to the next round.

Fiorentina 1-0 Lyon

Juan Manuel Vargas smashes in a penalty at Stadio Artemio Franchi. The score is now 1 – 0.

AZ 0-0 Olympiacos

The score remains all square at half-time.

Arsenal 2-0 Standard

The Gunners take the lead at home through Samir Nasri, followed by Denilson, to extend their lead.

Sevilla 0-1 Unirea

Sevilla’s Ivica Dragutinovic heads into his own goal.

Rangers 0-2 VfB Stuttgart

Sebastian Rudy(16′) scores for Stuttgart.  Zdravko Kuzmanovic heads in to extend VfB Stuttgart’s lead at Ibrox.

Tottenham Skipper - Robbie Keane

Robbie Keane made a bold statement- that Tottenham have a squad that is at least the equal of Arsenal’s. Tottenham have not defeated Arsenal in almost a decade, a run of 19 matches without a win.

Last season Arsenal 4 Tottenham 4

Interesting Facts

• Tottenham have not beaten the hosts in the Premier League since November 1999 and have not won a league encounter at Arsenal since May 1993

• Arsenal have conceded 13 goals so far this season, their worst ever defensive record in the Premier League after nine matches

• David Bentley has not scored a league goal since opening the scoring for Tottenham against his old club in this fixture last season

• If the hosts win this match they will claim their 1,000th Premier League point with Arsène Wenger as manager

Arsenal’s Manuel Almunia could be set for a recall to the starting line-up for the derby with Tottenham. Several changes will be made from the young side who beat Liverpool in the Carling Cup. Lukasz Fabianski (thigh), Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott (both knee) miss out. Samir Nasri is likely to be on the bench tomorrow, he had earlier started in the mid-week League Cup clash against Liverpool after recovering from a broken leg.

Tottenham’s Jermain Defoe serves the final part of his three-match suspension and will miss the match. Aaron Lennon (ankle), Giovani dos Santos (ankle) and Luka Modric (fractured leg) are also out but Peter Crouch has recovered from a groin problem. Carlo Cudicini (knee) and centre-backs Jonathan Woodgate (head) and Ledley King (illness) should be available and Niko Kranjcar is back after being cup-tied.

Arsenal (possible team): Mannone, Clichy, Gallas, Vermaelen, Sagna, Eboué, Song, Fábregas, Diaby, Arshavin, Van Persie, Almunia, Eduardo, Vela, Gibbs, Silvestre, Wilshere, Ramsey, Bendtner.

Tottenham (possible team) : Gomes, Cudicini, Button, Hutton, Naughton, Corluka, Assou-Ekotto, Bale, Woodgate, King, Bassong, Dawson, Huddlestone, Jenas, Palacios, Kranjcar, Bentley, Keane, Crouch, Pavlyuchenko.