Arsenal fall to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea returned to winning ways at their home ground at Stamford Bridge on Sunday as they churned out a 2-1 win over London rivals Arsenal.

The Blues have been win-less in their last three outings at the Bridge and had to work extra hard on Sunday to get all three points on offer against the misfiring Gunners.

The Rafa Benitez side got themselves in front when Azpilicueta’s pass found Juan Mata, who controlled and finished superbly to score the first goal, minutes after Arsenal’s Oliver Giroud missed target.

With the snows dropping fast on the pitch, both teams pressed for more goals.

The early goal by Chelsea seemed to destabilize the visitors as then went on a long period of pressing, trapping the bewildered Gunners in their half.

The pressure paid off 10 minutes later, when Arsenal keeper, Wojciech Szczesny, brought down Ramires in the 18 yard box. Frank Lampard stepped forward to take the penalty and calmly scored his 195th goal for Chelsea.

The Gunners went into half time trailing 2-0, but it was a different Arsenal that emerged after the break.

The visitors seized the advantage from their hosts, and started playing football the Arsenal way.

Their improved play was rewarded when Theo Walcott ran onto a Santi Carzola pass in the 58th minute, and pulled one back for the Gunners.

Fernando Torres, who got the starting slot for Chelsea ahead of Demba Ba, did not make his presence count before he was pulled off for the new arrival in the 81st minute as they made sure they held on to their slim victory and three points till the end of the game.