London: Chelsea spoilt Arsene Wenger’s 1,000th match as Arsenal manager by humiliating their London rivals 6-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday to pull seven points clear in the Premier League.
Wenger was hoping to celebrate his milestone by cutting Chelsea’s lead to a point, but instead his side were blown away by a flurry of first-half goals from Samuel Eto’o, Andre Schurrle, Eden Hazard and Oscar.
Hazard’s goal came from the penalty spot after Arsenal midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had handled the ball on the line, but a bizarre case of mistaken identity meant that his team-mate Kieran Gibbs was sent off instead.
Oscar completed his brace in the 66th minute before substitute Mohamed Salah scored to seal the club’s biggest-ever win over Arsenal and give manager Jose Mourinho his most emphatic Chelsea success.
“This defeat is my fault. I take full responsibility for it,” said a crestfallen Wenger.
“I don’t think there’s too much need to talk about the mistakes we made. We got a good hiding today.”
Mourinho, whose side had crashed to a 0-1 defeat at Aston Villa last weekend, said: “At 2-0 after seven minutes, the game is over. We were too strong.
“We had momentum, but it stopped last Saturday against Aston Villa for some reason. Now we are trying to build more momentum.”Arsenal retain a game in hand on Chelsea and have the consolation of an FA Cup semifinal to look forward to, but they are now at risk of being left behind in the title race.
Liverpool can move to within four points of Chelsea with victory at second-bottom Cardiff City later on Saturday, while fourth-place Manchester City will climb above Arsenal, with two games in hand, if they beat bottom club Fulham.
