Chelsea and Didier Drogba Give Arsenal the Blues at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea move back to the top of the Premier League table after securing a convincing 2-0 victory over Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, with Ivory Coast international Didier Drogba scoring both to take his season's tally to 24 goals in all competitions.

The first opportunity of note came in the fourth minute, when Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri saw his deflected effort go wide from inside the box, with a goal-kick given instead of a corner.

However, it was Chelsea who drew blood first, when Didier Drobga finished from close range with only seven minutes of the match played.

Following a Florent Malouda corner, John Terry saw his header appearing to edge just the wrong side of the post, until Ivory Coast man Drogba came to the rescue by breaking away from his mark and sticking the ball into the back of the net, giving the home side an emphatic start so early into the encounter.

Arsenal had a great chance to level the scores on 17 minutes when captain Cesc Fabregas played a brilliant ball over the top of the defence through to Andrei Arshavin, but the diminutive Russian saw his shot saved at point blank range by Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech.

But it was to no avail as the Blues doubled their lead six minutes later, after Drogba scored his second of the match following a superb counter-attacking move initiated by Frank Lampard.

Lampard ran half way up the field before laying the ball off to the Ivorian, who cut inside the defenders before unleashing a powerful strike that Gunners' goalkeeper Manuel Almunia had no chance of saving.

Ashley Cole had a chance to make the score 3-0 against his former club on 31 minutes, when he was sent through past the hapless Arsenal defence and tried to round the keeper, but Almunia was equal to his effort and got down low to prevent any further damage to the scoreline.

Gael Clichy had a chance to put the away side back in with a shout in the 36th minute, but the France international saw his speculative long-range effort dip just wide of Cech 's goal.

Just before the break, Spain midfielder Fabregas epitomised Arsenal's first-half performance when he lashed a shot on goal in frustration. Needless to say, the shot fizzled out well wide.

The second-half started in the same vain as the first, with both sides fashioning goalscoring chances.

In the 53rd minute, Abou Diaby found space inside the box after a short corner from Fabregas, but the midfielder dragged his shot wide of the target.

Two minutes later, great work from Drogba down the right saw his cross volleyed by Malouda before Lampard flicked it goalwards; Almunia, however, saved the effort quite comfortably.

On 68 minutes, Arsenal had a brilliant chance to pull the score back to 2-1 after Fabregas saw his free-kick from the edge of the box seep through the Chelsea wall, only for Cech to get down well and deny the North London side any hope of a goal.

Eight minutes later, substitute Nicklas Bendtner had a chance as he broke wide of the defenders before shooting at the near post; the shot was saved by Cech, but emphasised that Arsenal were now starting to set the tempo in this match.

And seven minutes after that, all of Arsenal's good play was almost neutralised as Drogba was perilously close to securing his hat-trick, after he saw his superbly struck free-kick cannon off the crossbar, much to the relief of a helpless Manuel Almunia.

In the dying minutes of the game, Fabregas had a chance to salvage a consolation goal for the Gunners, but the Spaniard saw his headed effort creep just wide.

After a mammoth five minutes of injury time in an encounter watched by hundreds of millions across the world, the match finished 2-0 to Chelsea as Didier Drogba took his goalscoring tally to 19 goals in the Premier League, and 12 goals in 12 games against Arsenal.