Arsenal:
            Almunia
   Lauren Campbell Toure Cole
Pires Cesc Flamini Reyes (Clichy 83)
  Henry Bergkamp (van Persie 83)

Despite his terrific performance against Rosenborg, Bergkamp was virtually anonymous in this game. But the young midfield hardly needed bolstering so impressive was their partnership. Do we even have room for Vieira anymore?

Despite rumours to the contrary, Almunia played in goal as Wenger always said he would. And there was none of the nerves that marred his previous outings, so it could be that Lehmann's days are truly numbered.

Arsenal got off to a great start with a beautiful goal. Cesc pinged it forward from the centre circle and Henry rose in the box to nod it square to his left, to Reyes. Jose in turn headed it straight back to Thierry and he controlled it with one touch before whipping it across the keeper and inside the right hand post.

Chelsea soon had a goal disallowed for offside, but overall they were on the back foot for a while. Terry was on top form though and sniffed out a few half chances including a Reyes ball over the top for Henry on 10 minutes. Toure mugged Lampard and he responded by fouling Lauren on the right wing, Campbell coming close to knocking in Bergkamp's resulting free kick.

Then the visitors started attacking more. On 16 minutes a cross was half-cleared to the box where Lampard blasted it goalwards only to force a good save from Almunia. But when the corner was taken by Duff Terry rose unmarked at the near post to head it in.

Straight away Arsenal were on the attack again, with Henry getting a bit tangled up in Cole's cross from the left. And then it was up our end again and it was pretty much end-to-end stuff for the rest of the game. Almunia was called into action a few mores times. First he did well to come out and claim a dangerous ball, then Gudjohnson beat Cole on the left flank and hit a powerful shot at the keeper which he did well to bat away, with Sol clearing it for a corner. And Almunia ran out to get a nice punch on the corner (nice to see none of that flapping any more).

Duff didn't have such a great game but on the other wing Robben was very impressive. Haven't seen him in the flesh before and have to say it was a bit scary. A terrific run on 25 minutes ended with a cut-back to Tiago in the D who hacked it high over the bar under challenge.

Then just before the half hour Pires went on a great run through the middle and was brought down for a free kick about 25 yards out. Henry asked the ref if he could take it and when he got the ok he hit it inside the left hand post, with Cech struggling to get close to it as he'd been lining up his wall still. There were claims from Chelsea that Gudjohnson (who'd been standing in the way but stepped away just before Henry struck) was told by the ref that he'd whistle to re-start, but it sounds very much like the excuse of a man who knew he'd screwed up.

5 minutes later we came close to a chance when great chasing from Bergkamp forced a dodgy clearance by Cech. Reyes collected it well on the wing and then slipped it forward towards Bergkamp. A defender should have intercepted, and Dennis probably thought so too as he was clearly not expecting the ball when it got through to him.

Campbell cleared well from a corner and Henry broke down the left. He hit a fantastic long pass to the far post where Pires managed to strike a difficult volley. Ir bounced up off the turf and Cech did well to claim it before Reyes nipped in. Up the other end, Gallas' cross was just hit too strongly for Robben, who looked a bit silly jumping underneath it.

More good chasing by Bergkamp led to another dodgy clearance by Cech, and again it came to Reyes on the wing. This time the keeper was well out of goal so Jose tried a shot, but he mishit it completely and it went out halfway to the corner flag for a goal kick.

5 minutes from the break Cole got caught by Robben but recovered well and clattered him back. Then we had a couple of half chances through Reyes. First he combined well with Cole but after a one-two his shot was easy for the keeper, and then he nutmegged Ferreira but the defender recovered and did well to get a legal tackle in from behind.

30 seconds in the second half Chelsea were level again. A free kick was floated in from their left and Gallas headed it back across goal from the far post. Gudjohnsen and Toure were running in and the Chelsea striker managed to get a glancing header on it that took it out of Almunia's reach. In fact, it was only because of Toure's nudge in his back that the goalscorer got the touch on it that he did.

Henry responded with a trademark run up the left. He crossed into the box for Reyes who slipped it to Pires. One of them probably should have had a go at goal because the third lay-off was one too many and it was cleared.

Bergkamo took a free kick from wide right and Drogba did well to get a foot up to stop Henry's stooping header. As usual, we wasted the corner (they hit the defender at the near post, every bloody time).

On 52 minutes Lampard hit a free kick that was deflected off the wall for a corner, and from that corner Lampard again got a free header 5 yards out and somehow managed to place it over.

Arsenal passed the ball brilliantly out of (considerable) trouble in their own right hand corner, then broke through Henry. Cole made a run ahead of him which helped create space for Henry to have go, but the shot caught Cole on the way through and went out for a goal kick.

Almunia did well when he came out to claim a punt forward and had to re-think because the back-spin took it away from him, managing to hoof it clear instead of catching it like he'd first thought. Then he made a terrific cathc from a free kick, and threw it out to start a threatening break which was ended by Drogba fouling Pires (and getting a yellow card for it).

Robben went on a terrifying mazy run into the box and we were lucky to see him hit the side netting in the end. More end to end stuff followed, with Terry cutting out Henry's cross in one box and Toure pulling off a crucial tackle seconds later in the other.

With just less than a quarter of an hour to go Henry should have had his hattrick at the end of another great move also involving Cesc and Pires. Cesc and Henry started it with an exchange of passes outside the box, then Cesc tapped it forward for Pires to run onto. He got to the ball and squared it for Henry who was right in front of goal a few yards out. It wasn't an open goal, wuith a couple of defenders there, but it was as good a chance at a hattrick and winning goal as you could have asked for and Henry showed that he's only mortal by skewing it wide.

We got lucky too though, when Terry headed a croner goalwards onyl to see Gallas, practically on the line, get his head to it and put it high over the bar.

With 7 minutes to go Clichy came on for Reyes and van Persie for Bergkamp. I'm sure most Gooners will be wondering why it took so long for the latter change. Sure enough, the young Dutchman was involved straight away, and before long he was placing a shot narrowly wide of the left hand upright after great play from Cesc had created a half chance for him.

So, Chelsea still 5 points clear, and Everton moved into 2nd. Let's not worry about the latter, it won't last.

This draw means that we've equalled our own record for home games unbeaten in the Premiership: 30 in a row. See record-breakers page