Chelsea vs Arsenal - Stamford Bridge, London - Sunday 30th November 2008

A thoroughly fantastic afternoon in West London, made all the better because it was so unexpected. Going into the game, expectations of a decent result were pretty much as low as they could have been, given recent form, injuries and internal strife. Coupled with that, Chelsea are obviously a tough team to play at any time - although they have not been quite firing on all cylinders recently, they had Anelka in form, and of course are dangerous.

I got to the ground about 20 minutes before kick off, just in time to see and hear the Chelsea stadium announcer do his stuff. This odious little tosser should really be banned from doing what he does, so much of a windup merchant he manages to be. Today, he was fairly restrained, a sarcastic "welcome back" before he introduced William Gallas, a big build up for Ashley Cole, and a mention that Wayne Bridge "once scored a goal at Highbury". No other club seems to have so little class - but then Chelsea are of course a breed apart from normal, decent clubs.

Apparently, things were not much more sporting in the Sky Sports studio for this game - always an organisation that loves it when Arsenal have a bad time. Their pundit panel was made up of former Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit, and Jamie Redknapp - the man whose Dad manages Spurs, whose cousin plays for Chelsea, and who used to turn out for Liverpool and Tottenham. He hates Arsenal, and is barely able to disguise it. Added to Andy Gray, it was a hostile panel at best - thanks as ever to the Arsenal haters at Sky.

The first half seemed to last for about 5 hours from where I was standing - which was high up in the corner of the away end. Chelsea had the better of the first 15 minutes or so, having lots of possession but not creating a great deal. Midway through the half, Arsenal created a couple of decent chances, but then seemed to fade and let Chelsea take control again. The referee seemed to be giving a number of soft decisions to Chelsea, but I guess that is to be expected when you are at Stamford Bridge, and when the referee has Terry and Lampard in his ear all the time. The Chelsea goal was unfortunate - mainly because Djourou had a very good game apart from scoring it - luckily he didn't end up as the fall guy for another defeat. The only other incident of note in the first half was when Ashley Cole came over to pick the ball up from near the Arsenal fans, and had lighters, coins and kitchen sinks galore thrown at him. No less than the little twat deserves.

So, at half time, we went in with an uphill task. The second half started much the same - Chelsea seeming to be in control possession-wise, but not really creating anything. The Arsenal defence of course played their part in that, mopping everything up excellently at the back. The Arsenal equaliser came after about 10 minutes, Van Persie firing an excellent shot into the top of the net. Immediately, I started getting texts saying that he had been offside, but who cares. He added a second, which was definitely not offside, about 5 minutes later, and it sparked the most mental goal celebrations I have experienced for a while - both on the pitch, and in the away end.

When the second Arsenal goal went in, quite a few around me were starting to say "oh shit, we have quite a while still to go". But, the team kept their discipline and resolve, and saw the game out. Despite a total lack of running (or in fact any movement at all) from Adebayor, and some shocking refereeing decisions (of course not mentioned by Scolari when he was moaning about the Van Persie offside), the job was finished. Talking of the referee, Branislav Ivanovic must be getting him a fantastic Christmas present! How he stayed on the pitch, after a number of clumsy and cynical challenges, was a mystery - but referee Mike Dean spinelessly failed to book him on a number of occasions.

So, a very useful win, and if that doesn't give our players confidence, nothing will. We even did it despite being 1-0 down at half time, despite Adebayor being anonymous throughout, and despite Almunia's distribution playing us into trouble on more than one occasion. It was strange how little Chelsea managed to create in the game, and it is notable how their new manager has failed to beat a "Big 4" team in his 3 attempts. All good news, and the celebrations amongst the away fans continued for some time after the final whistle. Of course, none of this will help us beat Wigan next weekend, but it does at least provide a day in the sun for the time being.