Chelsea now serious contenders

Arsenal 1 Chelsea 2

Yet, if you ignore the headline-hogging antics of pantomime villain John Terry — not easy to do after a week in which his FA trial for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand reached a climax — there is so much to enjoy about the current Chelsea side that, after years of attritional football, is no longer playing to type.

When Chelsea last won at the Emirates, 3-0 in November 2009, they did so on the back of a mammoth performance from Didier Drogba, who scored twice, aided by a muscle-bound display from Michael Essien alongside Frank Lampard in midfield. Arsenal, the headlines screamed, had been bullied, brutalised, beaten up.