How many times have Arsenal been left to rue a poor refereeing decision after playing Chelsea? Last season, the season before that we paid the price of a poor offside call. Yesterday the call went in our favour, and it’s about time we got one of these. So a 2-1 win over Chelsea and we’re back in the title race. . . but are we?

Wenger is visibly relieved after a famous win over Chelsea

Winning at Stamford Bridge yesterday doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things, like I said after the Manchester United win, None of us should doubt that this team can beat any team in the world, what the fans really want to see is some sort of consistency. We didn’t get it, after that game we lost against Villa and Manchester City. This time around it’s Wigan and Middlesbrough, two games that we should win but so far this season we haven’t been able to.

Wenger claims to have an intelligent team and that they have learnt about the need to focus in every game. I would very much like to believe that, as a fan there is the need to have faith in your team no matter how tough things may get. I still think we can go on a big winning spree, I still believe that we have enough quality to beat the likes of Hull, Stoke and Fulham, I still think we can win the title – after all we were at least 5 points ahead of Man Utd. at this time last season – but it can be wearing when we are told one thing and the performances prove to be another.

Our performance yesterday wasn’t vintage wengerball, unlike the Man U win the football wasn’t top class. At times there were misplaced passes, sloppy defending, and lack of effort by some. Once we got our noses in front the change in the quality of play was noticeable, suddenly the passes were sharper, the defence was tighter and the general level of play moved up a gear or two.

What was evident is that generally there seemed to be a feeling that if we just play as we know we can, then we will win. Whilst Chelsea were good in spells they did not trouble our goal that much, 2 shots on target tells the story. In stark contrast to the Chelsea of recent years when we took the lead they slumped. It was as if they thought 1 goal was enough and struggled to mount a riposte.

Van Persie gets my vote for Man of the match, he looked up for it from the whistle. His movement and timing was sharp and his two goals was reward for his endeavour. From dressing room knave to saviour in 4 glorious minutes.

It was a win we deserved, a win to savour, no one gave us a chance, Chelsea was to strong they said, world class in every position, too much strength in depth, champions elect they say. So I say good on you guys, thanks for lifting the spirits of everyone around the club giving us a wonderful end to the weekend.