long resigned to surrendering the trophy, Chelsea made its impact on top of the table on Sunday by inflicting 10-man Arsenal's first home loss since opening day of the league season.
Arsenal appeared doomed from the 18th minute when captain Per Mertesacker was dismissed and Diego Costa scored the only goal of the game five minutes later. The 1-0 defeat saw Arsenal slip from first to third this weekend and allowed leicester to regain a lead which was as unanticipated in August as Chelsea's freefall.
It was yet another uncomfortable day for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger against Chelsea, which hasn't lost to its london rival in the league for five years.
Wenger was booed by his own fans over a bewildering substitution straight after Mertesacker's lunge on Diego Costa. Gabriel was brought on to replace forward Olivier Giroud and the defender failed to track Costa at the near post in the 23rd minute when Chelsea went in front.
Arsenal never recovered from the early double blow, giving Chelsea one of the most comfortable days of a pitiful title defense.
The result extended Guus Hiddink's unbeaten run since replacing fired Jose Mourinho to eight games, although the team has still only moved up to 13th place.
Aguero rescues City
Sergio Aguero twice came to Manchester City’s rescue with the team’s only shots on target to recover a 2-2 draw at West Ham on Saturday.
Enner Valencia put West Ham ahead only 53 seconds into the game. Aguero hit back from the penalty spot in the ninth minute after Carl Jenkinson tripped David Silva.
Hart was beaten again 11 minutes into the second half. Valencia got in front of Nicolas Otamendi from a quick throw to knock the ball past Hart.
But Aguero scored yet again with only nine minutes left.