On 7 Chelsea won a corner through some trickery by Zola, who then took it. Hasslebaink got a free header from about 10 yards but directed it straight down into the ground and it bounced high over the bar.

There were few clear cut for a long time chances after that. Chelsea kept the pressure up but Arsenal were defending well, and playing out of defence well, while failing to make anything of note happen in Chelsea's half. Lampard had a shot on 21 minutes which was too close to Taylor and the keeper got down well to hold onto it as Hasselbaink was poised to follow in.

Straight after, Pires made a great tackle deep in our half and as we broke Wiltord gave the ball away cheaply with a crazy and unnecessary first-time pass. But we won it back and this time Wiltord got his head down and ran towards goal from the centre circle. With Vieira making a run to his right and Jeffers running right to left in front of him, Wiltord made a good choice and slipped it wide to the skipper. His low drive of a cross, aimed for Jeffers on the far side of the 6 yard box or Wiltord in the centre, was turned into his own net by John Terry's lunge. He had to try, as Cudicini was coming out by too slow. It was our first attack of any note.

Hasselbaink took a free-kick from centrally a few yards outside the box which was arcing for the top right corner which took a slight touch off a head in the wall, sending it closer to Taylor in the middle of his goal. Despite the deflection it was still heading just under the bar, and Taylor did well to reach up and tip it over.

Once we went ahead Arsenal relaxed and started threatening more. We broke from deep on the right. It came to Wiltord near the halfway line on the right and he flicked it into space in the centre circle. Vieira picked it up and strode forward. As he reached the D he picked out Wiltord's run on the right and found him with a perfect pass which Sylvain whacked past Cudicini for 2-0. And we'd only had one attempt on target!

Cheslea made an attacking change at half time but surprisingly it wasn't Gudjohnson. Instead Zenden came on for Jody Morris. The home side started quickly. Taylor had to save from an overhead kick near the penalty spot. He probably should have held rather than palming it donw and out for a corner but it's hard to criticise becasue it bounced up awkwardly in front of him. Straight after, Hasselbaink had a shot from distance which flew just outside the top of Taylor's left hand post.

Gudjohnson did come on, for Petit, with half an hour to go. 5 minutes later he had the ball in the net with a nice first-time shot when found in space on his left hand side of the box. But the linesman ruled it offside (a close call, but probably wrong).

With 25 minutes left, Cygan was sent off. He miscontrolled an overhit pass from Edu, about halfway into our half of the pitch and as he scrambled to catch up with Hasselbaink who had leapt on the chance, he pulled him back. Not much of a touch but enough for Hasslebaink to take advantage of by going down. I'm not complaining, mind, that's what everyone does these days and Arsenal are no exception. Stanic had been lucky not to get a second yellow card in the first half for a similar foul on Pires, the differences being first that Hasselbaink was in a more dangerous position and second that Stanic's second foul had come sooner after his first booking.

Anyway, off went Cygan (putting him out of the semi, I reckon). Gio came on for Jeffers and Zenden blasted the free-kick high and wide. Gio went to left back and Toure moved into yet another position in Cygan's place alongside Campbell.

With 15 minutes left Freddie came on for Pires and Henry for Wiltord. We got a bit lucky on 78 when Campbell and Taylor got in a bit of a mix-up (not for the first time). The ball ricocheted off Campbell and out for a corner. It was played back up their left wing and the cross found Terry whose stooping header just forward of the penalty spot glanced inside the far post. Arsenal were pushing up for offside and one or two may have been, but Terry definitely wasn't.

Lauren got hismelf booked for time-wasting with 10 minutes to go. But he used it to his advantage just a minute later when he appeared to be taking the ball into the right corner to use up some more time. Instead he cut inside, beating his man and hitting it with his left foot from just inside the box. Cudicini may have been unsighted by Terry (who stood and watched from 10 yards away instead of closing Lauren down) and got down too late to stop it floating inside the near post.

Eidur Gudjhonson had a couple of chances soon after. First a header from the penalty spot which went wide, then a low shot from inside a crowded box: he'd done well to create space for the shot but Taylor was equal to it, getting down to make the save. Then Gallas had a free header at the far post when Zola crossed from their left, but got too much of a contact on it and ended up playing it back across goal to Zola. Then Lampard hit a good shot which was deflected wide to Zola in a very dangerous position but fortunately he was offside.

In injury time Taylor got a good block on a long-range free-kick. It came out to Gudjohnson right in loads of space right in front of the keeper, but Taylor did really well, staying on his feet to make it hard for the striker and making a second block.

So, a great recovery from disappointment in the Champs League. First a slightly dodgy but well-fought win at home to Everton, now a fantastic defensive performance capped by 3 good goals away to a Chelsea side whi must have fancied their chances. There's still a long way to go but now we must be stronger favourites for the cup than we are for the league.

Finally, congratulations to Tottenham for managing to delay St Totteringham's Day a full 5 days later in the season than last year. Bolton's late penalty last night means that Spurs cannot finish above Arsenal this season. So we can all cash in on any bets of that nature with over-optimistic Tottenham fans, as can Aidan O'Byrne who created the St Totteringham's Day spreadsheet to work out his April Fool's Day bet (a bet won in the last possible minute).