Drogba gives Arsenal blues, Liverpool humbled

LONDON, (Reuters) – Chelsea’s Didier Drogba proved  Arsenal’s nemesis again as he inspired the champions to a 2-0  win over their London rivals and Blackpool pulled off a stunning  2-1 victory at Liverpool in the Premier League yesterday.

Chelsea bounced back from defeat at Manchester City to  overpower Arsenal at Stamford Bridge and move four points clear  at the top as Liverpool slumped into the relegation zone  following Blackpool’s triumph on their first league visit to  Anfield since 1971.

Liverpool’s day started badly when more than 2,000 fans  marched from the city centre to protest against the ownership of  Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett and the defeat left new  manager Roy Hodgson with just one league victory in seven  matches.

Manchester City beat Newcastle United 2-1 to leapfrog  Manchester United and Arsenal and move into second place.
Chelsea, who have beaten Arsenal in their last four league  matches, top the table with 18 points, followed by City on 14,  United on 13 and Arsenal on 11.
The victory was Chelsea’s sixth in seven league games and  Drogba again proved an unstoppable force against Arsenal, giving  his side the lead with a stunning flick on the turn after 40  minutes to notch up his 13th goal in 13 appearances against  Arsene Wenger’s team.

Defender Alex sealed victory with an unstoppable free kick  after 85 minutes, ending a difficult week for Chelsea, during  which manager Carlo Ancelotti’s father died, on a high.

“For the last two days the players have trained  exceptionally well — the day after Carlo’s father’s death was a  bit lacklustre,” Chelsea assistant coach Ray Wilkins told a news  conference.   “We were disappointing against Manchester City last week and  we did not perform all that well today. You saw not a fantastic  performance but a different performance in that we ground out a  win. The three points was what we went for and that’s what we  got.”