Chelsea records ninth straight win in Premiership
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-10-16 09:37

Chelsea rallied from a goal behind at halftime to beat Bolton 5-1 and record a ninth straight win in English soccer's Premiership, while Arsenal suffered its third league defeat of the season.

Chelsea rallied from a goal behind at halftime to beat Bolton 5-1 and record a ninth straight win in English soccer's Premiership, while Arsenal suffered its third league defeat of the season. [AFP]

Chelsea, which last season won the title for a first time since 1955, now hasn't lost a Premiership game for a year. Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard each got two goals at Stamford Bridge and Eidur Gudjohnsen also scored. Arsenal lost 2-1 at West Brom.

``It was a cool meeting at half-time where I had to explain with a lot of attention what we had to do,'' Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, whose team trailed at the interval, told the British Broadcasting Corp. ``It was a question of bringing something different in tactical terms.''

Chelsea has a maximum 27 points, nine ahead of Tottenham, which defeated Everton 2-0 today. Manchester United, which has played a game less, won 3-1 at Sunderland to move to 17 points, one point ahead of Wigan, which beat Newcastle 1-0.

In other matches, Djibril Cisse's 76th-minute goal gave Liverpool a 1-0 win against Blackburn, while Middlesbrough striker Aiyegbeni Yakubu scored against his former club Portsmouth in a 1-1 draw. Gary O'Neil got Portsmouth's goal.

Chelsea, which is unbeaten in 38 games in the Premiership, allowed a goal today after only four minutes as Stelios Giannakopoulos slid the ball into the net from a cross by El-Hadji Diouf.

Drgoba, Lampard

Chelsea tied the match in the seventh minute of the second half as Drogba finished from close range after Bolton goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen was unable to hold a shot from Lampard.

Four minutes later Lampard put the champion ahead, then Bolton's Ricardo Gardner was shown a red card for handling the ball. Lampard scored from the resulting freekick. Chelsea added their fourth goal in 10 minutes as Drogba, who hadn't scored in five games, volleyed into the net. Gudjohnsen closed the scoring after 74 minutes.

Arsenal, which won the last of its three Premiership titles in 2004, suffered its third defeat in four away games to drop 14 points behind Chelsea.

Swiss defender Philippe Senderos put Arsenal ahead after 17 minutes with his first goal for the club, volleying in from close range. Former Arsenal striker Kanu fired a shot past Jens Lehmann to tie the game in the 38th minute.

West Brom, which had never beaten Arsenal in the Premiership, got its second goal after 76 minutes as substitute Darren Carter hit a 20-yard shot into the net.

``We should have won easily,'' Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told Sky Sports. ``We were punished today by a lack of luck and a great performance from their goalkeeper.''

Tottenham extended its unbeaten run to five games with goals from Mido and Jermaine Jenas against last-place Everton at White Hart Lane. Everton has lost six straight league games.

Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Giuseppe Rossi, with his first goal for the club, helped Manchester United climb one place to third. Stephen Elliott scored for Sunderland.

Wigan is one spot adrift of United following its victory against Newcastle. Jason Roberts, who scored Wigan's goal, said the players are ``not surprised'' by how well the team is playing in its first season in the Premiership.

In tomorrow's matches, Birmingham hosts city rival Aston Villa and West Ham is at Manchester City. Charlton plays Fulham on Oct. 17.