Arsenal shake off inferiority complex to heap misery on Blues

Arsenal 3 Chelsea 1

(GETTY IMAGES)

At this time of year one imagines that Roman Abramovich's yacht is moored somewhere warm, quiet and expensive, far away from the bone-chilling cold of a Premier League Christmas programme.

But no matter how remote, Chelsea's owner is never too far away to eject his managers from Stamford Bridge should he deem it necessary. Claudio Ranieri, Jose Mourinho, Avram Grant and Luiz Felipe Scolari have all been jettisoned without warning or explanation from the Russian billionaire and this morning, the club waits with trepidation to see whether Ancelotti will go the same way.

A manager who has already been undermined by the sacking of his assistant is now struggling with four defeats in the last eight league games and could see his team go fifth in the table should Tottenham Hotspur win this afternoon. In the golden years of the Abramovich era at Chelsea this is uncharted territory. Neither does it help that Chelsea are six points behind the leaders, Manchester United, who have a game in hand.

This victory for Arsenal was a bold statement about their intentions in the title race and it lifted a Chelsea hex over them that has lasted more than two years and four league meetings. As for Chelsea it is a full-blown crisis and should Ancelotti's team fail to beat a buoyant Bolton Wanderers tomorrow it is hard to see the Italian surviving in the job.

Last night the big players who won him the double last season were overwhelmed by Arsenal. Didier Drogba, ineffective for much of the game, had not been on the losing side against Arsenal before last night. He has now. Frank Lampard and Michael Essien never came close to controlling the match. Only John Terry looked up to it.

Ancelotti says that his team are "sleeping" but it is starting to feel more like a whole winter hibernation. If the manager can be grateful for one thing it is that his side's game against Manchester United nine days ago was postponed because of the weather. On this evidence they would have lost that one, too.

This turned into an occasion on which Arsène Wenger's team played according to their manager's grand plans, those plans that so many at the Emirates struggle to buy into after five seasons without a trophy. Wenger's team were fluent, composed and one step ahead of their opponents.

It was in the space of 90 compelling seconds before the hour mark that Arsenal finally shedded their inferiority complex about Chelsea with two goals that decided the game. Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott both plundered a goal each. It was not the sort of humiliation that Chelsea are accustomed to having to bear.

There were influential performances from the likes of Fabregas and Robin van Persie but it was also the Englishmen in red shirts – Walcott and Jack Wilshere – who caught the eye. This was a big night for Wilshere, a teenager up against the intimidating reputations of Lampard and Essien, and he came through it impressively.

Walcott, selected ahead of Andrei Arshavin, did not get the better of Ashley Cole in the first half but when Chelsea were more stretched in the second half he came into his own. Over the past 12 months, Walcott has demonstrated a newly-acquired calmness about him in front of goal and his finish for Arsenal's third, his first league goal since August, was particularly well done.

It is too soon to make the kind of bold claims that this is the end of an era of dominance of Chelsea over Arsenal but it certainly had the feeling that something had ended. Perhaps it will turn out to be Ancelotti's 18 months at Chelsea but it also might be the psychological advantage – two Arsenal victories aside – that the champions have exerted over Wenger's team since Mourinho arrived more than six years ago.

The first half was a messy game that was difficult to make much sense of until Samir Nasri's shot four minutes before the break. That was pushed over by Petr Cech. By then Arsenal had imposed themselves on the game.

The breakthrough was not long in coming. Alex Song played the ball into Wilshere who was looking for Fabregas with his return pass. As the Arsenal captain lunged for the ball, he blocked Paulo Ferreira's attempt to get it and Song, who had continued his run, was given time and space to beat Cech.

It was a big moment for the Emirates who, for the first time in a long time, sensed a weakness in their old enemy. They departed at half-time with a spring in their step and came back out in the mood to kill the game.

First Walcott seized upon a loose ball from a tackle by Essien on Van Persie which turned into an inviting pass through Chelsea's defence. The England winger carried the ball into the area and released just as Cech closed down on him, allowing Fabregas a clear sight of goal and a chance he could not miss.

Walcott bettered that 90 seconds later when he beat Cech himself with a sweet finish into the far corner. It had been Walcott who had robbed Florent Malouda in the middle of the pitch and then run on to Fabregas' return ball.

On the touchline, Ancelotti will have felt that shiver of dread. He substituted Malouda almost immediately and the Frenchman's rapid trot to the bench told you that he knew he deserved it.

Chelsea scored before the hour, a long free-kick from Drogba that Lukasz Fabianski got nowhere near and was headed in by Branislav Ivanovic. On another night this would have been the cause for much moaning and groaning at the Emirates but this was no ordinary night.

Ancelotti's team were now forced to stretch themselves against an Arsenal side full of confidence on the counter-attack. Nasri and the substitute Abou Diaby both had chances to score and gradually the trepidation at the Emirates that had followed Ivanovic's goal gave way to something else. They realised Chelsea were spent. Now it is Abramovich's decision as to just how radical the remedy must be.

Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Fabianski; Sagna, Djourou, Koscielny, Clichy; Song, Wilshere; Nasri, Fabregas (Rosicky, 88), Walcott (Diaby, 73); Van Persie (Chamakh, 76). Substitutes not used Squillaci, Arshavin, Bendtner, Szczesny (gk).

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Ferreira (Bosingwa, 61), Ivanovic, Terry, Cole; Essien, Mikel (Ramires, h-t), Lampard; Kalou, Drogba, Malouda (Kakuta, 56). Substitutes not used Turnbull (gk), Van Aanholt, Bruma, McEachran.

Match rating 8/10.

Man of the match Wilshere.

Referee M Clattenburg (Tyne and Wear).

Booked Arsenal Fabregas, Van Persie; Chelsea Cole, Lampard, Kalou.

Attendance 60,112.