AGENCIES
LONDON
Chelsea's title defence sunk to a new low on Saturday when Bournemouth became the first Premier League newcomers to beat the west London team at home in more than 14 years.
Bournemouth’s 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge will rank as one of the biggest in the 125-year history of the south coast team, which is playing in the top flight in the first time. Having avoided defeat in its last two league games - encouraging results by Chelsea’s new modest standards this season - Chelsea’s eighth loss in 15 league games will pile the pressure back on manager Jose Mourinho. Chelsea is approaching the midway point of the season an alarming 17 points behind surprise leader Leicester.
Having repelled waves of Chelsea attacks, Bournemouth’s goal came in the 82nd minute when Glenn Murray exploited the hosts’ failure to clear a corner by heading into the net less than two minutes after coming on as a substitute.
Meanwhile, a nervy Arsenal showed the mental strength manager Arsene Wenger was looking for, even if Olivier Giroud scored for both sides, by beating Sunderland 3-1 to go second in the league. With a crunch Champions League match looming against Olympiakos Piraeus in Athens next week, and eight players currently on the injured list, Arsenal needed a win after a run of three disappointing league games.
"I was more nervous than usual today because I knew it was a very important game for our season," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told reporters. "We were edgy, nervy in the first half against a very well organised team who were very impressive on the counter attack as well," added the Frenchman, whose side avoided any fresh injuries.
"But in the second half I think we have shown mental strength and desire in our game and more fluency as well. All was not perfect of course, but the team have shown mental strength after a goal before halftime."
That was on own-goal by Giroud that levelled the score at 1-1 after Joel Campbell had put Arsenal ahead in the 33rd minute, running onto a defence-splitting pass from German World Cup winner Mesut Ozil to score from 10 metres. That was the home side's first and only shot on target in the first half, with Sunderland having the more plentiful and better chances.
Even after Giroud scored at the right end with a well-placed header midway through the second half, Sunderland still looked capable of getting a draw before Aaron Ramsey sealed the win in the last minute. Arsenal, who need to win on Wednesday by any result other than 1-0 or 2-1 to reach the knockout phase of the Champions League, did what was needed on Saturday but will have to raise their game in Greece.
