7 May 2007, by Sean Gillen

Heroic ten-man Chelsea rally not enough

Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea

Manchester United were confirmed as Premiership champions after ten-man Chelsea could only manage a draw in their must win game with London rivals Arsenal, despite a heroic second half performance at the Emirates stadium.

Jose Mourinho’s men had Dutch defender Khalid Boulahrouz sent off shortly before half time as they fell behind to a Gilberto penalty, but the outgoing champions rallied in the second half and could easily have added to Michael Essien’s 70th minute equaliser.

Already without Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Ballack and Andrei Shevchenko, Mourinho had further injury problems as Didier Drogba and Ashley Cole were deemed unfit for the trip across the capital.

Missing Drogba’s presence upfront, the visitors struggled to create any real chances to open the scoring during a quiet first half hour, despite dominating possession. Joe Cole dragged a long-range shot wide in the 31st minute, before the skillful midfielder’s ball across the face of goal narrowly evaded Frank Lampard just moments later.

Boulahrouz blunder

Arsenal began to play their way into the game in the final stages of the first half, and the key moment of the half arrived just minutes before the break. Boulahrouz badly misjudged a long ball over the top of the Blues’ backline, allowing Julio Baptista to wriggle past him and find himself through on goal. In desperation to make up for his mistake, the Dutchman brought the forward down to concede a penalty.

As he was the last man, Boulahrouz was dismissed by referee Alan Wiley before Arsenal captain Gilberto Silva stepped up and sent Cech the wrong way to leave the champions with an uphill task in the second half.

Knowing that they needed to win the match to maintain any hopes of a third successive title, Mourinho’s side produced a marvelous effort after the interval. Adebayor flashed a shot wide of Cech’s post in the early stages of the second period, but Chelsea dominated the majority of the half, showing fantastic desire.

The Blues’ incredible efforts brought them an equaliser on 70 minutes, with inspirational midfielder Michael Essien the goalscorer. Shaun Wright-Phillips picked up possession on the right, and his pinpoint cross was met by Essien at the near post, the Ghanaian glancing the ball across Lehman and into the far corner.

Joe Cole had a superb effort correctly ruled out for offside and Essien was off target when well placed inside the box as Chelsea flooded forward in search of the goal that would keep the title race alive. Paulo Ferreira, who impressed at right-back, then swung in a deep free-kick for captain John Terry to head over. Lehman was then called upon to push Lampard’s 20-metre effort wide.

As the clock ran down and the game became wide open, both sides had chances to snatch the win. Arsenal substitute Alexander Hleb was denied by Cech, before a swift Chelsea counter attack created a chance for Kalou, only for Lehman to react well and tip the Ivorian’s effort over.

The home side rattled the crossbar in injury time when right-back Emmanuel Eboue struck a vicious drive from inside the area, but the full time whistle sounded to end Chelsea’s period of dominance in England under Mourinho, and hand Manchester United their first title in four years.

Arsenal:
Lehmann, Eboue, Gallas, Toure, Clichy, Diaby (Hoyte 79), Fabregas, Silva, Denilson (Hleb 59), Adebayor, Julio Baptista
Yellow Cards: Adebayor (49)

Chelsea:
Cech, Ferreira, Boulahrouz, Terry, Bridge, Mikel (Diarra 74), Essien, Lampard, Wright-Phillips (Sinclair 80), Joe Cole, Kalou
Yellow Cards: Mikel (31), Essien (92)

Goals:
[1-0] Gilberto, 43 (pen)
[1-1] Essien, 70