Arsenal:
                           Lehmann
                   Lauren Toure Cygan Cole
Ljungberg (van Persie 73) Vieira Cesc (Flamin 81) Pires (Bergkamp 73)
                        Henry Reyes

What's really disappointing is the shots ratio between us and the home side, but being unable to convert a large enough percentage of the chances we create shouldn't come as any surprise to anyone who's been watching a lot of Arsenal over the last few years.

Reyes had the first shot on 6 minutes. He was given lots of space 25 yards out and accepted the invitation. It was well struck but straight at the keeper.

A minutes later Henry hit a good snap shot from the edge of the box after great interplay between him and Cesc. The daisy-cutter went just wide.

We had virtually all the play for the first 20 minutes, and then the home side started to settle and get more adventurous. Cygan gave Lehmann a bit of a problem with a short-range bakpass onto his left foot, with Andy Johnson in close proximity. Lehmann hit it quick and was fortunate that the ricochet off the striker didn't go in. Johnson was the only Palace player anywhere close, so if either Cygan or Lehmann had just played the ball towards a wing there'd have been danger.

Toure was a bit lucky not to get booked after a couple of bad fouls, then went on a rampaging run and saw his long-range shot saved when the keeper dived late to tip it round the post.

A few minutes before the break a nice Arsenal move created a half chance when Vieira played the ball wide left to Pires and he played a nice reverse pass into Henry's path as Henry made a diagonal run in front of him. Henry took it to the goalline on the left and squared across the face of goal. Freddie slid in at the far post but couldn't quite get there.

Cygan got himself booked just after the break for a silly unnecessary foul right in the corner. Then Reyes was nearly in up the other end after a cure one-two with Cesc, but as the ball came back to him a defender got the slightest of touches, causing Reyes' first touch to be just strong enough to be too strong.

We had corner on the hour which was cleared towards the edge of the box. Cesc charged in and won the header which Pires tried to divert into the net, but it was a hard chance and went over.

Two minutes later we were ahead. Freddie got the ball wide on the right and played it infield to Cesc. He knocked it forward into space for Freddie to run onto, he crossed, and Henry bundled it in from the 6 yard line.

Another 2 minutes later they were level. There was some dodgy defending from Arsenal as a few players had chances to clear the ball halfway into our half but they all tried to control hard-to-control balls instead of knocking them clear. Palace won it back, the ball went wide to Lakis and his cross was turned in well by an unmarked Rihilahti at a stretch. It was their first effort at goal (and we'd had 10 or more). There looked to have been an obvious foul on Vieira just before, which the ref missed, but it's no excuse for the shoddy defending.

Toure went on another run and the ball was worked left via Henry to Pires, only a last ditch challenge preventing a dangerous cross from the by-line. Cesc had a good effort from outside the box from the resulting corner.

Leigertwood headed a good chance wide from a Johnson cross. Then Vieira was slow and lost possession in their half. It was hoofed upfield and only Lehmann's advanced positioning and run out of his box to clear prevented a superb chance falling to Johnson (worth noting that he gets these things right quite a lot).

Wenger tried to pep things up a bit by bringing the Dutch pair on for Freddie and Bobby, and it certainly worked (raising questions about why it didn't happen earlier). Van Persie in particular looked dangerous. A great turn and shot from the left hand corner of the box, with 15 minutes to go, forced a good save, and Henry mis-hit hsi shot on the rebound.

Bergkamp took the ball to the goal-line on the left and back-heeled it for Reyes who side-footed it across the face of goal. A defender did well to get a foot in before van Persie could pounce on it.

Then van Persie did really well to beat a defender to a looping ball over the top, and tried to poke it over the keeper but the latter had come out and managed to reach up and stop it.

Chelsea's win means that we're not top anymore. But there's only 2 points in it and if we can keep in touch after the traditional dodgy November we'll still be well poised. Normally I'd have said that everyone has to have a bad spell at some point, but I'm mindful of the fact that we didn't last season.