Arsene Wenger was fuming with referee Andre Marriner after his
decision to rule out a goal from Andrey Arshavin ended Arsenal's
hopes of a second-half fightback against Chelsea.
Wenger's side were trailing 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium on
Sunday when Arshavin lashed home from close range early in the
second half.
Marriner ruled that Arsenal forward Eduardo had been guilty of
dangerous play as he flicked the ball away from Chelsea goalkeeper
Petr Cech's grasp moments before Arshavin struck.
With that decision went Arsenal's last chance of a lifeline and
Didier Drogba scored his second goal of the game late on to seal
Chelsea's 3-0 victory.
"How can he see Eduardo kicking the ball from Cech when it was a
Chelsea player kicking the ball? That was a very important goal in
this kind of game and it was big mistake by the referee," Wenger
said.
"What can you say about referees this year? The Chelsea v
Manchester United game was clearly decided by the referee. It is
important they don't make mistakes in big games.
"I believe he made a massive mistake at a very important part of
the game. He can't say to me that he saw Eduardo kicking the ball
out of Cech's hands.
"He told me it was dangerous play from our player. He got the
turning point of the game wrong. It was not a serious decision."
Wenger, whose side are now 11 points behind Premier League
leaders Chelsea, acknowledged that his players' sloppy defending
was also to blame for the defeat, but he refused to give Chelsea
any credit for a ruthless display.
"The score is a very unfair reflection of the game but it is the
score and we cannot change it now," Wenger added.
"I believe that Chelsea had absolutely everything for them. The
first shot on goal they scored and the second cross they scored.
"And after that it was difficult.
"They are physically strong players, but that is the impression
you get when they are 2-0 up. They just defended in their own half
and attacked on the break.
"They lost many balls and made many technical mistakes but we
couldn't take advantage."
While Wenger was left to lick his wounds, Chelsea manager Carlo
Ancelotti could savour another emphatic display that extended his
side's lead at the top to five points over Manchester United.
"It was a very good performance. If you win 3-0 at Arsenal you
have to do a good job. The defence did a fantastic job, all the
players worked for the team," he said.
"Arsenal kept the ball well in the first half but we always had
the possibility to score on the counter-attack. We stopped them in
midfield. There we won the game."
Chelsea's potent combination of power and poise proved too much
for Arsenal and Ancelotti, who revealed Ashley Cole had suffered a
slight muscle tear, admitted he was impressed with the way his
players set about the task of subduing a team who had won every
home match this season.
"Strength is a quality of this team, we have to use this. We
have a lot of different qualities, mental as well as physical,"
Ancelotti said.
"We wanted to use intelligence to defend our half and there we
won the game. Arsenal put a lot of players in midfield and
sometimes they lost the balance.
"Didier got two goals, for me it is a good job. He did a very
good job in the second half in defence as well. He helped maintain
balance in our team."
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