Chelsea deny Arsenal top spot, Swansea win for Guidolin

Arsène Wenger admitted Arsenal fell foul of Diego Costa once again after the Chelsea forward scored the only goal of the game to seal victory at the Emirates after sparking the first-half dismissal of Per Mertesacker. At least we don’t have to play Chelsea, Liverpool or Stoke again this season….

As well as Vardy becoming top scorer in the Premier League the Foxes also went three points clear of Manchester City and Arsenal – The Gunners face Chelsea later today to see if they can regain top spot.

Following the weekend’s results, the top four teams are separated by only four points, and Henry admits that Tottenham are very much in the title race. They are now without a Premier League goal against Chelsea in more than nine hours of play and three years.

“I don’t know if it’s slight or more severe, but we’ll check on it”, said the Dutchman.

Meanwhile, interim Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink will hope that his side can build on their win and start to gain some consistency in the coming weeks. The biggest challenge, however, is likely to come in the Champions League against Alexis’ former employers Barcelona.

Leicester are leading the Premier League table after 23 matches.

Arsenal finally got in behind Chelsea in first-half stoppage time when Aaron Ramsey clipped a pass into the area for Flamini, but the Frenchman; not renowned for his penalty-box prowess jabbed a volley over.

When asked if he thought it was a penalty, Fabregas said: “In my opinion yes, but I don’t know”.

“It [the title race] will be very tight until the end and many teams will be involved in it. We focus on the next one, but it is a shame to put such energy into a game and come out without the points”. “You always follow the captain”, Hiddink said in response. We were unbeaten in seven before this but it was not satisfying because a lot were draws.

Mertesacker was caught flat footed when Willian, Chelsea’s best player this season, threaded a ball in the direction of Costa. “We are still a big team and we can win something”.

Costa was a constant thorn in the side of Arsenal’s defence, relishing the physical battle on the pitch and appearing to revel in the home fans’ abuse directed at him before he went off injured in the second half.

Costa gave the visitors the lead five minutes later and Arsenal, who have now not beaten Chelsea in their last nine Premier League meetings, struggled to muster a response. It’s part of Diego’s game, he is always playing this way and if you take that away from Diego he is not the same player.