Arsenal vs Chelsea - Highbury, London - Sunday 18th December 2005

Of all the times you could choose to play the reigning Champions and runaway league leaders, you probably wouldn't fancy your chances after you've just lost 2 in a row, and when you haven't scored a goal all month. So, some trepidation all round for this one.

The atmosphere inside Highbury was electric from before the players even came out - it seems after all that we can rouse ourselves for big important games like this, we just can't be arsed against the likes of Blackburn. Oh, and when we start losing big, important games like this, we all shut up again quicksharp.

First half, Arsenal came out strongly I thought, with an obvious game plan to get men behind the ball when Chelsea had it, and not to let them play too much. We made one mistake in trying that, and were punished with the only goal of the half. We also hit the post, and had the ball in their net (which was wrongly ruled out for offside). All in all a good first half performance.

After that, it started to go downhill - when we failed to make early progress in the second half, we quietened down, and in the end Chelsea were easily the better team.

I'm OK about being gracious and admitting all that - we didn't deserve anything from the game overall. But, the way that Chelsea play football really sticks in the throat - 5 players in the referee's ear after every decision; players doing sneaky fouls when they know the referee isn't looking; players going down and rolling around at every opportunity; and the constant moaning, fouling, diving, and, well basically its called cheating.

All very unsportsmanlike, and it stinks. No wonder Chelsea have no respect, when it is clearly a tactic running throughout the club to take advantage of every opportunity, no matter how petty, to possibly gain some advantage. It really takes football to its base level, and that's not something the majority of football fans want or like to see.