London, Nov 30 (DPA) Chelsea captain John Terry called for his team to remain focussed and not get carried away after they restored their five-point cushion at the top of the English Premier League with a well-deserved 3-0 win at Arsenal.
Two goals from Didier Drogba and an own goal by Thomas Vermaelen sealed victory for the Blues at the Emirates Sunday, moving them back to five points ahead of champions Manchester United.
“We’ve been there before and thrown it away, so we need to regroup and stay together,” Terry said.
“But at the moment you can see people throwing their bodies in front of balls and everyone fighting for each other, which is great to see.
“We’re playing really well, we have great confidence and great team spirit, and we need to continue this.”
Arsenal remain fourth, but now 11 points off the pace. Liverpool produced a smash-and-grab 2-0 win at Everton on Sunday to move up to fifth, while Birmingham City climbed to 11th with a 1-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Arsenal had the better of things for much of the time at the Emirates but two late first-half goals killed their hopes of a sixth successive home win in the league.
First Drogba ghosted in and flicked the ball into the top corner on 41 minutes and then a similar move down the left forced the second goal as it deflected off Vermaelen and past Manuel Almunia in the Arsenal goal.
Arsenal huffed and puffed in the second half but in the absence of injured striker Robin van Persie, they lacked a cutting edge, although Andrey Arshavin had the ball in the net only for it to be disallowed for a foul by Eduardo.
Drogba then made sure of the points with a free kick from more than 20 yards to put Chelsea very much in command at the top of the table.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said he thought his team were unlucky to find themselves behind at the break.
“(Chelsea’s) first shot on goal went in and for the second goal there was a misunderstanding between the keeper and Vermaelen,” he said. “We found ourselves 2-0 down at half-time and I thought we were very unfortunate.”
At Goodison Park, a deflected strike from Javier Mascherano after 12 minutes and an 80th-minute goal by Dirk Kuyt sealed three points for Rafael Benitez’s Liverpool side and left Everton still just three points above the relegation zone.
Everton dominated the match for long periods and will feel hard done-by for getting nothing out of the match as Liverpool earned their first Premier League win since their 2-0 victory over Manchester United more than a month ago.
Mascherano’s speculative shot deflected off Joseph Yobo to put Liverpool ahead on 12 minutes but Everton were on top in terms of possession and had chances to equalise.
Jo had the ball in the net in the first half but it was ruled out for offside while Dinar Bilyaletdinov missed a golden chance from close range.
Emiliano Insua had a header superbly saved by Tim Howard just before half-time but in the second half, Everton continued to dominate and it took a fantastic double save by Jose Reina to deny first Tim Cahill and then Marouane Fellaini following up.
As Everton tired, Liverpool grew in confidence and Kuyt made sure of the points when he side-footed home after a shot from Albert Riera was parried by Howard.
“We are higher in table now, everyone is happy, so we will see if we can keep winning some games,” Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez said, after his side won despite the continued absence of injured striker Fernando Torres.
“They were on top of us but we showed character, we won and scored two goals and at the end of the game maybe we had better control.”
Everton manager David Moyes said he felt his side did not “come off the pitch losers”.
“Overall I thought the players did a good job. I’ve got encouragement from today but it doesn’t change our position.”
In the day’s early start, Birmingham City won 1-0 at Wolverhampton Wanderers to move up to 11th place.
Lee Bowyer scored the only goal of the game after three minutes, much to the delight of his manager Alex McLeish.
“That is a massive win for us,” he said. “These are the games that will decide our season and to get a fantastic win and in the manner that we did it, was brilliant.
“From the keeper right through the team, it was a magnificent performance and our only disappointment was that we didn’t take the chances to put it beyond them.”
rounak