21/02/2004  Chelsea 1 Arsenal 2
 
Like the Emperor's New Clothes, Chelsea's title pretensions were exposed as an expensively-assembled sham by a dominant Arsenal side at Stamford Bridge.

If this was, indeed, Claudio Ranieri's day of reckoning, it was not an auspicious one as Arsenal moved into a convincing lead in the title race, with Manchester United also drawing at home to             However, it was not just the 2-1 home defeat that left the Blues nine points behind the leaders which must have further undermined Ranieri's position in Roman Abramovich's eyes.

Rather, it was the way in which a squad assembled for £110million this season alone tamely threw away a stirring start to the game that was the real concern.

Having taken the lead after just 28 seconds through Eidur Gudjohnsen's strike, Patrick Vieira was allowed to stride through the Chelsea defence to equalise on 14 minutes.

Stand-in keeper Neil Sullivan was then guilty of a hapless blunder as Edu put the visitors ahead with just 21 minutes gone.

And if that was not bad enough for Ranieri, who had only concluded a deal to bring keeper Petr Cech to the club this summer, worse was to follow in the second-half.

Gudjohnsen was sent off with 30 minutes for his second booking and an Arsenal side which never even extended themselves coasted to victory thereafter.

Having faded badly in the second-half of their FA Cup defeat at Highbury last weekend, Chelsea once again proved to be pretenders rather than real contenders as their run without a league win against Arsenal was extended to 17 games.

Indeed, if Abramovich had been a Roman emperor sitting in the Colisseum, you could have imagined his thumb being turned firmly down at the final whistle in his executive box.

The likeable Ranieri has worked hard to transform Chelsea but they remain as they always were under Gianluca Vialli and Ruud Gullit - just short of the real deal and prone to inconsistency.

Starting slowly has been their Achilles heel over recent weeks, but at least they were ahead inside the first minute as Geremi stole the ball from a strangely hesitant Vieira and curled in a cross which Adrian Mutu flicked on.

Gudjohnsen was lurking at the far post and, with Gael Clichy slipping, the Icelandic striker was left with enough space to power his shot past keeper Jens Lehmann.

However, Arsenal were not about to be pushed aside that easily and Vieira was on a mission to make amends for that earlier mistake as he struck the visitors' 14th-minute equaliser.

Having dispossessed Claude Makelele, he strode forward and, having been picked out by an exquisite through-ball by Dennis Bergkamp, the Frenchman buried his shot past Sullivan.

Geremi's response was to charge to the byline once again and cross for Gudjohnsen at the far post, although this time Clichy managed to block the striker's header.

Arsenal, meanwhile, were not finished yet, however.

Former Spurs keeper Sullivan may have kept clean sheets in his three previous Premiership starts for Chelsea but he has rarely looked convincing.

And while Chelsea recognised the need to spend £7million on Cech to provide adequate cover for Cudicini, the Czech international does not arrive until the summer.

So when Henry's corner was swung into the area, Sullivan flapped unconvincingly and after the ball rebounded off Gudjohnsen, Edu was able to pounce from close range to put Arsenal ahead.

Back came Chelsea, albeit without ever quite managing to regain their early momentum, and their desperation showed when Gudjohnsen was booked for diving.

Although John Terry showed superb control to bring down Makelele's chipped pass, he fluffed his shot and when Mutu cut back inside Clichy, he promptly slipped at the vital moment.

Then, what had already been an uphill climb suddenly became a mountain as Gudjohnsen was sent off.

The striker was booked for needlessly bringing down Clichy from behind and could have no reasonable complaints as he was sent off by referee Mike Riley.

Ranieri, who did not even catch Gudjohnsen's eye as he walked past him, replaced Scott Parker with Jesper Gronkjaer as a result, while Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Joe Cole soon followed.

However, Arsenal never once showed signs of wilting and Gilberto was only denied by Sullivan's legs after a quickly-taken free-kick by Henry.

As a result, control of London had been firmly established. Now the title would seem to be a two-horse race but, with United also slipping up, the Premiership is Arsenal's to lose.