Chelsea 2 - 0 Arsenal

What looked like a difficult tie against a so called resurgent Arsenal, whose boss was convinced their thumping by Man U was just an aberration - see more comments below, turned into another thumping albeit without much possession.

The Blues stated with Drogba and Anelka in front of a Lamps, Ballack and Jedi diamond with Ricky joining JT at the back. In a week that saw way too much written about JT's off field situation, it was, as ever, the returning Drog that did the damage in a 25min spell of clinical finishing and sweeping counter attacks. That Arsenal had almost 65% of subsequent possession was of little consequence as the Blues could have had three with Drogba clattered the crossbar with a second half free kick. Havinng promised not tweet as this was supposed to be a nail biter, I soon scummed so here are the in match items

• 16:10 The Blues are ahead in 7mins. Inevitably its JT who connects with a corner from Malouda and his goal bound header is tapped home by the Drog
• 16:30 Arsenal have responded well with plenty of possession as you'd expect but in a sweeping Blues counter attack Lamps find the Drog for 2-0
• 16:50 Again Arsenal have responded with lots of possession (a lot of it being given away by Ballack tho) but the half ends with the Blues ahead.
• 17: 35 The rain is teaming down & Arsenal are having a real go as the Blues sit back too deep. With 20mins to go Arsenal thro on Eboue & Rosicy
• 17:55 Joe Cole is on for the last 5mins & Kalou joins him for added time. A new front 2 but its the Blues back 4 who won this today. It ends 2-0

As often happens, the post match Daily Bung in the Telegraph captured the mood of on Mr Wenger perfectly ..

"....yet despite seeing his side once again defend with all the intelligence of a Tony Cascarino column ghostwritten by George W. Bush, Wenger insisted he was "completely happy" with the performance at Stamford Bridge.

Really Arsene? Were you completely happy with Gael Clichy, who moved off the far post and shuffled nervously along the goal line for Drogba's first goal like a toddler who has just wet themselves and is trying to avoid showing their parents? Were you completely happy with Manuel Almunia, who did a marvellous impression of a waxwork figure as he stared ahead with the cold, dead eyes of a bedraggled sniper as Drogba fired past him for the second goal?

Wenger also found the time to have a dig at Carlo Ancelotti's table-topping side, for apparently not winning with the requisite flair. Shame on them, that successful, winning team: they must learn to pass, rather than shoot, ad infinitum. The bounders.

"You have to congratulate Chelsea but we didn't get a demonstration of football," the Frenchman screeched haughtily. "We had 70 per cent possession of the ball. We were not running after the ball. They [Chelsea] did not dominate.

"We were always in an attacking position. We were always risking everything going forward and they were good on counter-attacks. We were a bit uncertain at the start, but when we got into it we were completely dominant (one problem Arsene: at that point you were two goals down and playing against a confident, powerful team that do not like to hand goals to their opponents on a plate, all without the help of a recognised striker on the pitch. Still at least you dominated possession)."

When asked about his opposite number's comments, Ancelotti could barely disguise his confusion. After all, for all these years he has been labouring under the misapprehension that football is about winning matches. Silly sausage.

"Maybe Arsenal had more possession than us, but that is not football," he said. "Football is about results. I think we deserved to win. When you speak about a match, you can't speak only about possession of the ball. No. You have to control the attack and defence.

"When we went ahead, it was very important to play on the counter-attack. Our second goal was an unbelievable goal. Fantastic movement, fantastic pass and a fantastic shot from Didier. This is football."

That's you told, Arsene.