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| Referee Andre Marriner has apologised for sending off Arsenal defender Kieran Gibbs by mistake during the Gunners' 6-0 defeat by league leaders Chelsea. |
Chelsea handed Arsene Wenger one his most demoralizing
defeats as Arsenal manager as is 1,000th game ended in a 6—0 rout on
Saturday, and the referee also endured embarrassment at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea earned its biggest league victory under
Jose Mourinho and was up 2—0 after just seven minutes through goals from
Samuel Eto’o and Andre Schuerrle. Referee Andre Marriner then provided
the London derby’s big talking point by sending off the wrong Arsenal
player after 15 minutes.
Although Alex
Oxlade-Chamberlain blatantly handled to keep out Eden Hazard’s shot, it
was Kieran Gibbs who was dismissed despite his teammate’s protests.
Hazard scored Chelsea’s third from the resulting penalty, before Oscar
netted twice and Mohamed Salah completed Wenger’s misery with his first
goal for the leaders.
Arsenal saw its title
ambitions seriously dented at it fell seven points behind Chelsea, and
faced being dislodged from third place by Manchester City, which hosted
Fulham later in the day.
For Wenger the margin of
defeat matched the previous low-point of his 18-year reign an 8—2 loss
at Manchester United. And the humbling only served to justify Mourinho’s
recent gibe that Wenger is a “specialist in failure” as the Frenchman
went an 11th game without beating his Portuguese rival.
“Two-nil after seven minutes and the game is over, because we were too strong for them,” Mourinho said.
Chelsea took control of the game from a counterattack straight after goalkeeper Petr Cech had denied Olivier Giroud.
Schuerrle
ran through the centre from the halfway line and passed to Eto’o on the
edge of the penalty area, and the Cameroon striker controlled the ball
before curling it past the diving Wojciech Szczesny in the fifth minute.
In a near replica move, Arsenal’s defense crumbled
again inside two minutes as the provider turned scorer. Nemanja Matic
seized possession around the halfway line and fed Schuerrle, who went
past Laurent Koscielny before scoring.
Although
Eto’o was forced off injured in the 10th minute and replaced by Fernando
Torres he had already provided a key contribution to this joyous day
for Chelsea.
“Arsene Wenger we want you to stay,” Chelsea fans taunted.
It
was to get a lot worse for Wenger’s side and the referee when Hazard’s
shot was tipped away, not by Szczesny, but by Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Despite
the clearest of diving saves by an outfield player, Marriner somehow
managed to identify Gibbs as the offender despite Oxlade-Chamberlain
being seen admitting to the referee: “It was me.”
Just
before halftime, Schuerrle released Torres, who squared into the centre
for Oscar to scoop in from close range. Oscar’s second in the 66th was
in part down to a goalkeeping blunder as Szczesny allowed his curling
shot from outside the area to slip through his hands.
And Szczesny allowed Salah’s shot to roll under him four minutes later to cap an all-around dismal performance by the visitors.