Chelsea ride their luck to seize title initiative

THE sobering thought for Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson is that Chelsea may already have had their blip before seizing a seemingly unassailable lead in the title race in characteristic style at White Hart Lane.

They may have again benefited from an element of luck, being awarded a debatable penalty when Alexei Smertin went down under Ledley King’s challenge, but two other appeals were turned down.

And with clearly the best defence in the league, Chelsea were rarely extended as they resisted the advances of an in-form Spurs side with their 17th clean sheet in just 23 league games.