The Whole Delivery

Enjoy the spectacle, and can't believe Messi just missed from a sitter like that.

After last week's defeat to Manchester City, Chelsea regain their mantle as best team in the Barclays Premier League with a 2-0 defeat of Arsenal at Stanford Bridge. It was their 5th straight defeat of the Gunners, as it highlighted Didier Drogba's 13 goal against Arsene Wenger's side. It seemed Arsenal could still grab a late equalizer to share the points, but a wonderful free kick from Alex late in the 2nd half secured Chelsea another big three points. The Blues move four points ahead in the standings, with their conquerors from last week in 2nd now with 4 points after their 2-1 win over Newcastle. The result of Week 7 in this league though was clearly Blackpool's 2-1 road victory over Liverpool. Dire times indeed for Roy Hodgson and the Anfield Nation.

Relief and disappointment for both teams at match's conclusion. For Liverpool, they were terrific after Joe Cole's rash challenge saw him sent off on his debut. David Ngog showed why he is still at Anfield with his brilliant goal past a still questionable Manuel Alumenia. Arsene Wenger knows that his side were fortunate to come away with a late point, as Tomas Rosicky's quality cross was helped by Jose Reina blinded by the sun, Marouane Chamakh timely jump, and the Spanish #2 keeper having the ball go into the net off the post and his hands. So one more match to go in the completion of Week one in the Barclays Premier League, as Manchester United will take on Newscastle in Monday Night Football, England's version.

Photo form Getty Images Tottenham have defeated arch rivals Arsenal for the 1st time in league play in 11 years 2-1, possibly ending the title hopes of their nemesis in the North London Derby. The 47th minute goal from Gareth Bale was the difference, as Arsenal staged a late fightback after an awful first 80 minutes with a goal from Nicolas Bendtner in the 85th minute to cancel out young Danny Rose's stunning volley strike in the 1st half. But thanks to terrific goalkeeping by Heurelho Gomes denying the returning Robin Van Persie three times in the latter stages, Arsene Wenger's side appear set for another year without silverware. More importantly for Spurs besides beating and inflicting massive damage on their rivals, they keep their serious hopes for 4th place alive, making Saturday's massive fixtures between their encounter with Chelsea and the Manchester Derby all the more enthralling.

Only five letters can describe this night: M......E..........S............S...................I Only those five, as "The Lionel Messi Club", I mean, Barcelona, handled a game but overmatched Arsenal side 4-1 on the night and 6-3 on aggregate to advance to the semifinals against Inter Milan. And it was due to the world's best player probably adding the most glorious performance to an already growing legacy of a legend. At the beginning though, Arsenal had made everyone nervous at the Nou Camp from the outset, as Nicholas Bendtner put Arsenal up across all score boards with his 18 minute rebound tap. Whistles called for offsides on Theo Walcott who set up Bendtner, but the fans were left to wonder if this would be the night where the magic of Pep Guardiola and Messi would finally not work tonight. 3 minutes latter, they need not worry any longer. Thanks to poor defending by Arsenal, a defelected shot feel to Messi, as the Argentine wunderkid scorched a left shot pa...

The soldering spirit of Cesc Fabregas was evident for all to see (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) Well it had the makings of a classic. And after 90 minutes, it was just that. Maybe even better news is the fact that another classic could be in store 6 days time. After seemingly looking out of this comepetition, Arsenal have somehow managed to show adversity once more this year and finish 2-2 with Barcelona at the Emirates. It truly exemplified a contest with major plot twists and ever changing climaxes. Thanks to the brilliance of Manuel Almunia of all people, the Spanish giants were somehow denied a goal in the first half despite a plethora of clear cut chances. But the much maligned Arsenal goalkeeper couldn't keep his opening 45 minute level up, as he came off his line too far and was caught by a cheeky chip from Zlatan Ibrahomovic to make it 1-0 Barcelona. And Ibrahamovic wasn't done, as he continued his party of finally scoring against an English team for t...

Samir Nasri's terrific individual effort help sends Arsenal flying into the quarterfinals It always is an exciting night in Champions League 2nd leg knockout stages encounters. But with a total of 9 goals on this night, it was even more so than usual. Unfortunately for Porto, they didn't contribute to those tallies, as Arsenal thrash them 5-0 on the night to win comfortably on aggregate 6-2. Nicholas Bendtner overcame his disastrous five misses on Saturday against Burnley with his first ever hat trick, while Samir Nasri brilliant effort and Emmanuel Eboue's finish round up a great day for Arsene Wenger's side and a forgettable night for the Portuguese giants. Meanwhile, Arjen Robben's terrific left strike three minutes after precocious Stevan Jovetic' second goal has led to Bayern Munich advancing on always goals against Fiorentina. The 3-2 win for the Italian club was certainly muted, as the only competition where they have performed well this season has ...

The sports thread: Photo from Sky Sports You would think for an Arsenal fan that a Manchester City 4-2 defeat of Chelsea coupled with winning 3-1 one at arduous Stoke City would be the perfect day. But telling them that another one of their players was destined to endure a horrific injury from a dangerous challenge would have dampen the celebration. Those results turned out to be the case, as Ramsey seems to have suffered a broken leg eerily similar to the one Eduardo had two years ago at Birmingham City. The man playing the role of Martin Taylor here was Ryan Shawcross, and it was just as egregious to watch. Thoughts are certainly with the talented Wales teenager, who was getting better and better as the season progressed. To Shawcross' credit, he was showing tears as he was sent off the field unsurprisingly. The emotions of the moment will certainly weigh on his head for a long while I think. Arsenal showed tremendous character to win the match, as they are without a qu...

Manchester United has come back for an enthralling victory over rivals Arsenal in the biggest match in the early 2009-2010 barclays Premier League campaign. A wonderful second half that featured an own goal from Adou Diaby that made the difference as the defending champions came back from an Andrei Arshavin strike in the first half that Ben Foster should have done much better on. The post game coverage: Watch live video from DD-Sports on Justin.tv

Donati's goal the only consolidation for Celtic . Always a tough draw for the Scottish giants here, and they were done no favors with that horrendous call of a penalty on Arthur Boruc as Eduardo basically put the tie to bed.

Photo from SkySports Brutal for Arsene Weneger and Arsenal, as their captain will be out until maybe April : Arsenal's last hopes of hauling itself back into contention for the Premier League title seemed to disappear Tuesday when captain Cesc Fabregas was ruled out for as long as four months because of medial ligament damage to his right knee. "We will miss him, of course, but how much is difficult to say,'' Wenger said. "We have to find a way and we want to find a way to compensate the fact that he is not on the pitch to give everyone a bit more.'' This club has been ravished by many injuries: Tomas Rosicky has not played for a year because of a hamstring injury, Theo Walcott is out with a dislocated shoulder, and Eduardo da Silva has only just returned to the reserve team after 10 months out with a broken ankle. I forgot about Rosicky, that's how long he has been out. And only the future can tell us whether Eduardo can come back or not. Nevertheless...