LONDON: Chelsea dropped points for only the third time this season as the Premier League leaders were held to a 0-0 draw at Sunderland on Saturday.
Jose Mourinho’s side had swept to the top of the table with 10 wins from their 12 matches and only Manchester City and Manchester United had avoided defeat against the Blues in domestic action.
But Chelsea were unable to break down dogged Sunderland, who held the Blues without a goal for the first time in 20 matches in all competitions this season.
The west Londoners are now seven points clear of second placed Southampton, who host champions City on Sunday.
Chelsea winger Willian almost opened the scoring with a fiercely struck low shot that rebounded off a post.
Yet Sunderland were making it tough for Mourinho’s men and Santiago Vergini fired against the crossbar from 10 yards.
A tetchy encounter got even more heated when Chelsea striker Diego Costa escaped with a booking rather than a red card for an elbow on Sunderland defender Wes Brown. Danny Welbeck returned from injury to maintain Arsenal’s recent revival as the England striker sealed a 1-0 win at West Bromwich Albion.
Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal had been under pressure after successive Premier League defeats condemned them to their worst start for 30 years, but a midweek victory over Borussia Dortmund, which booked their place in the last 16 of the Champions League, had lifted spirits at the north London club.
Welbeck missed that win due to hamstring and knee problems, but he was back at the Hawthorns to net his sixth goal for Arsenal
from Santi Cazorla’s 60th minute cross, giving the Gunners only their fifth league victory of the season.
Despite the win, some Arsenal fans held up a banner at full-time calling for Wenger to quit.
Asked if he was affected by the protest, Wenger said: “I don’t want to comment on that. I try to do my best for this club that I love.
“It’s easier to deal with the upwards than the downwards, but you cannot be a manager and have only one side.”
Liverpool ended their three-match losing streak as Glen Johnson’s late goal clinched a hard-fought 1-0 success against Stoke at Anfield. — AFP