Chelsea now maintains a five point lead in the table over Manchester United after their win today over Arsenal at the Emirates. Just one more feather in the team's collective hat, ending Arsenal's home winning streak with the 3-0 victory.

Speaking of hats, did you like Carlo Ancelotti's Keebler Elf look? Neither did I.

                                               


The scoreline probably doesn't tell the whole story as Arsenal deserved one early in the second half. A GOALMOUTH SCRAMBLE (see what I did there?)caused by a poor clearance from Petr Cech lead to what appeared to be the Gunners' first, but was called back as Eduardo was incorrectly adjudged to have impeded the fortunate Blues' goalkeeper. Speaking of Eduardo, it doesn't seem that he's the answer Arsenal are looking for as they face the long term absence of Robin Van Persie. When you're counting the days until the return of Nicholas Bendtner, you have issues up front. Arsenal maintained consistent pressure nearly the entire game but lacked a finish as they did at Sunderland last week.Two straight games without a goal is just not something you expect to see from Wenger's side.

                                        
Chelsea worked hard on defense as every shot was contested by a blue shirt. They've been doing the little things you like to see in a side in the driver's seat for a league championship. Joe Cole and Frank Lampard appeared to have very little impact on the match, but I guess these are things you can get away with when you have Didier Drogba. The Ivorian collected his 13th and 14th in impressive fashion. Manuel Almunia could do nothing about either goal(you can't put a free kick in a better spot than that), and it was his presence on Ashley Cole's cross that forced the Thomas Vermaelen own goal. With his current form of 14 goals in 13 league games, Chelsea will surely miss him when he leaves for the African Cup of Nations in January.

It's easy to forget that this is the same team that lost to Wigan, albeit in extraordinary fashion. Many landmines remain with less than two-thirds of the schedule remaining, and next week's match at Manchester City could qualify as such with that side looking to break a seven match string of draws. They have also been bolstered,in a way, with the return of Robinho. He's a world class player but he      really picks and chooses when he wants to perform. Against world-class competition it's hard to imagine he will take the night off, especially after being pulled off for Craig Bellamy at the 76-minute mark this weekend. Chelsea will need to replicate today's defensive performance to keep City frustrated for another week.

It will be interesting to see what kind of side the Blues will field for their midweek League Cup tie with Blackburn. In a fairly meaningless group stage match at Porto, Chelsea fielded a side that contained only one uncommon starter in Yuri Zhirkov. I'm expecting much of the same this week, but I'm very excited to see who plays in the now extremely meaningless Champions League match against Apoel Nicosia at home. I would love to see Gael Kakuta and Fabio Borini get a start in that one, especially after Kakuta showed great quality in the second half against Wolves.There's a lot to look forward to if you're a Chelsea fan. It's hard not to feel like it's our year again but there's a lot of football left to be played, especially with the likes of Manchester United at the chase.

Written by Nick Degel, The Official Chelsea Blogger of the Goalmouth Scramble