© EuroFootball.com
On Wednesday evening, there were two English "Premier League" matches where the championship favorites "Chelsea" and "Arsenal" narrowly defeated mid-table teams "Newcastle" and "Wigan".
At Stamford Bridge stadium, the hosts, as befits favorites, took initiative and attacked from the first minutes. "Newcastle" had to retreat and settle for counterattacks. However, after one of them, Antoine Sibierski hit the post.
Interestingly, "Chelsea" started the match without their currently out-of-form players Andrei Shevchenko and Didier Drogba.
However, in the second half, with their struggles to break through the opponents' defense, Jose Mourinho sent both A. Shevchenko and D. Drogba onto the field, and "Chelsea" started playing with four forwards (the attacking quartet also included Solomon Kalou and Arjen Robben). This move paid off, and soon a goal was scored by both substitutes.
In the 74th minute, D. Drogba scored the winning goal from 5 meters after receiving a pass from A. Shevchenko. By winning, "Chelsea" reduced the gap to the leader "Man Utd" to five points.
Another London team, "Arsenal", also had a hard time away before snatching victory towards the end of the match. In the 88th minute, Emmanuel Adebayor scored the winning goal after a pass from Cesc Fabregas. This Togo footballer had several great opportunities to score before that, as did his young teammate Theo Walcott.
Paradoxically, despite "Arsenal" dominance, "Wigan" had more shots at goal. The hosts almost punished them by scoring, but a poor mistake by defender Gael Clichy meant that the excellent chance was not converted by Henri Camara.
The victory allowed the Gunners to rise to third place.
1 – 0
74’ [1 – 0] Didier Drogba
0 – 1
88’ [0 – 1] Emmanuel Adebayor
