Chelsea 1 - 1 Arsenal

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'78 Flamini
'84 Essien

I'm really surprised this game didn't end in a win for somebody. Chelsea had a lot of good shots go wide, and Drogba couldn't get anything on target to save his life. Arsenal's shots were few, and generally didn't have enough on them to challenge Hilario, but the goals were certainly nice. Alexander Hleb came down the right side before passing to Mathieu Flamini at the top of the box, and when Flamini passed it back to him, Hleb charged forward taking most of Chelsea's defenders with him before passing back to Flamini for the open shot for Arsenal's goal. Chelsea's goal was a wide-open shot by a trailing Michael Essien, fired from long distance with a lot of power just inside the far post, completely indefensible by any keeper in the world. Hleb got himself a wide-open shot not long after that should have been the winner, except he punted it over the crossbar. Arsene Wenger was so visibly angry at this he punched the ground and fell back into the dugout.

Sadly the most memorable part of the game was the idiocy. One of the numerous times Drogba was sent flying into the air because somebody brushed his shorts, he got up waving hysterically for a penalty, and after the ball was cleared, Jens Lehmann's trick brain kicked in again and he ran over to give Drogba a light nudge upfield, patting him in the small of his back. Drogba of course was sent flying forward like he'd been struck by a moving car, and went back to check Lehmann, who also went down like he'd been tasered. Yellow cards were issued to both, frankly I would have been just as happy to see both go. This isn't the stupidest thing Lehmann's done, his red card for his desperate grab at Samuel Eto'o's ankle in the Champions Leauge final last year, but my god, of all the players in the world to raise a hand to, he goes after Drogba, one of the most notorious divers outside of Portugal. Earlier in the game Drogba was lifted off his feet and thrown backwards when Cesc Fabregas unwittingly stepped on his toe after winning a ball from him, which is why I'd always be happy to see Drogba tossed, talented as he is.

Chelsea's notoriously batty manager Jose Mourinho is fuming over the result. He feels that Arsenal played for a draw, but not to try and get a point in a tough game to help contend for a spot in Europe next year. According to Mourinho, Arsenal's best move would have been to attack recklessly since their only chance for a title is to get maximum points, and the fact that Arsenal scored first obviously in no way suggests that they went for a win and came up short. His claim is Arsenal played for a draw because that was the surest way to help Manchester United, by taking points off of Chelsea. This would be funny, if not for Mourinho's paranoid fabrication about referee Anders Frisk fixing matches against Chelsea, which forced Frisk's retirement when rabid Chelsea fans started threatening his life. Since then, Mourinho's paranoia is a lot less amusing.