The Hindu : Sport / Football : Robin van Persie is Arsenal’s hero

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Robin van Persie is Arsenal’s hero

Manchester United is just five points behind Chelsea with a game in hand
Tottenham lost its first home match under
new manager Redknapp

— PHOTO: AFP

LETTING IT RIP: Robin van Persie slams in Arsenal’s equaliser past Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech. The Dutch player added one more to clinch the tie for the Gunners.

LONDON: Arsenal stunned Premier League leader Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday as two Robin van Persie goals earned the Gunners a 2-1 victory.

Johan Djourou’s own goal gave Chelsea a halftime lead but Dutchman van Persie struck twice in three second-half minutes as Chelsea slid to a second home league defeat of the season.

Champion Manchester United is just five points behind Chelsea with a game in hand. Tottenham Hotspur was beaten 1-0 at home by Everton while Portsmouth beat Blackburn Rovers 3-2 at Fratton Park.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had refused to concede that his side’s title challenge was over despite five league defeats and a 10-point deficit to the leader.

Falling behind

The Frenchman’s claims seemed wildly optimistic after 31 minutes when Arsenal went behind. Goalkeeper Manuel Almunia was guilty of a careless throw-out and after Chelsea won possession Jose Bosingwa’s cross was turned in past Djourou.

Chelsea, already beaten at home by Liverpool, should have added to its lead before and after halftime with Frank Lampard twice going close.

Arsenal was going nowhere until the 59th minute when Chelsea failed to clear and an offside-looking van Persie turned and smashed a shot past Petr Cech.

There was no doubt about van Persie’s second as he spun on the edge of the area and hit a low left-foot shot past Cech into the corner of the net.

Tottenham lost its first home match under new manager Harry Redknapp.

Everton scored the only goal in the 51st, when Steven Pienaar turned in Mikel Arteta’s pass.

The results:

Chelsea 1 (Djourou 31-og) lost to Arsenal 2 (van Persie 59, 62).

Portsmouth 3 (Crouch 49, Defoe 53, Davis 79) bt Blackburn 2 (Derbyshire 62, Tugay 67).

Tottenham 0 lost to Everton 1 (Pienaar 51). — Agencies

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