90+6 min Ref blows for full-time and the whistle is met by a noise that I cannot quite identify. I think it's cheers.
90+5 min Chance! Ball into Giroud, he beats Cahill to the header but can only loop the ball onto the roof of the net. He's paid the big bucks to bury those but he couldn't quite find the target on this occasion. Chelsea to sneak home?
90+4 min Chance! The ball is nodded into the mixer by Giroud and just as Walcott prepares himself to connect Cahill is there to hoof the ball safely out of play. Arsenal force another corner.
90+3 min Chance! Giroud glides into the box untouched and forces a corner after his cross is diverted out.
90+1 min We're into the first of five extra minutes.
90 min Chance! The ball falls to Bertrand in the box and he volleys the ball straight at Sagna. Cries of handball! Not given, and correctly so. There was not a hand involved.
88 min Change for Chelsea. Hazard departs and Marko Marin enters the fray.
87 min Chance! Vermaelen steps up to take the free-kick...and it's a belter! Wide. But a belter! He fizzes a low effort just wide of Cech's right post.
86 min Oooh! The ball runs into the path of Sagna and he's bearing down on goal until a cynical foul from Ashley Cole brings him down just outside the box. Free-kick to Arsenal and booking for Cole.
84 min Would Torres have buried that?
83 min Chance! Mertesacker misjudges a long ball and allows Ba in on goal. The Senegal striker rounds Szczesny but his shot on goal is stopped by Vermaelen in the six-yard box. Crucial intervention! "Off the line," according to the Sky commentators, failing to grasp the difference between a goal-line clearance and a clearance that involves an unguarded net.
82 min Don't know how to call this final 10. Arsenal have had the better of the half but some signs over the last five minutes that Chelsea fancy killing off this match with a third.
80 min Delicious flick from Hazard to Mata but the Spaniard scandalously fails to use it properly and gives the ball away. Mass outbreaks of joy and applause as Fernando Torres is substituted for Demba Ba.
78 min Arsenal give the ball away and Ramires storms upfield. He can't capitalise though and gives it away as he nears the Arsenal box. The Gunners survive that dangerous-looking run from the Brazilian.
77 min Gibbs has had a really good half. His latest contribution is to win a throw in the corner.
76 min Wilshere mugged of the ball and Mata's away! He passes to Torres to the left of him and the striker digs the ball out of his feet before scooping a tame shot towards Szczesny that the Arsenal keeper easily saves.
75 min Ramsey fouled on the left touchline just inside the Chelsea half. And who's this guy? I vaguely remember him from Euro 2008. Yes, it's Andre Arshavin on for Arsenal in place of Diaby.
72 min Ramires shoots from outside the box after the ball reaches him from a corner. Szczesny saves to his left and the ball is trickling out for a corner but an offside flag is raised after a Chelsea player claims the rebound before the goal-line.
71 min Sub for Chelsea. Oscar off for Ryan Bertrand in a defence-minded switch.
69 min Chance! Torres beats Mertesacker and then drives past Vermaelen to put himself clean through on goal but his final touch is too heavy and he's unable to fashion a shot.
68 min Some Paul Hayward analysis for you:
67 min Cazorla's free-kick deflects off the wall and out for a corner that comes to nothing for Arsenal.
66 min Gibbs drives down the left flank and squares it to Giroud. He holds it up and passes back to Cazorla, who quickly passes on to Walcott. The England winger, who recently inked a new deal at Arsenal is collared by Juan Mata and Atkinson awards a free-kick to the Gunners just outside the area.
64 min Good strength from Diaby to hold the ball up before spreading it wide to Sagna. Diaby's back on the ball shortly after but this time he's pressured into shifting the ball onto a Chelsea player.
63 min Sky have lost their score and match clock graphics. So I'm going to guess until they fix it. I don't know what the time is but I know that Arsenal are now controlling this match. They're camped in the Chelsea third trying to find an opening.
61 min Cracking counterattack from Arsenal! Walcott receives the ball just outside the box to the right. He skips inside the area and takes the shot on but slides it off-target.
60 min Sub for Arsenal. Coquelin has been replaced by Aaron Ramsey.
57 min Chance! Giroud on the end of a clipped cross from Gibbs but he can't get enough behind the header and the chance goes begging. Decent amount of pressure being exerted by Ivanovic probably did for that chance.
55 min Ian Poulter, of Team Europe, has a pop at Europeans:
54 min Hazard cuts in from the right but is prevented from going any further by a cracking challenge from Gibbs.
53 min Arsenal have settled down a bit after that lively start to the half.
51 min Giroud is down in the centre-circle receiving treatment after he receives a knee in the back from Ramires. An accidental one, not a John Terry one.
49 min Sagna does well to support on the overlap but his cross is blocked by Ivanovic and the richochet hits the Arsenal defender on its way out for a goal-kick.
48 min Chance! Walcott released into the box but his effort, like Mertesacker's, is straight at Cech. Arsenal on top this half.
47 min Now then! Arsenal coming out firing and Walcott wins a free-kick after a clumsy challenge from Ashley Cole. Wilshere takes. It's headed away and the ball drops invitingly to Mertesacker. He gets his shot away quickly but it's straight at Cech! Encouraging start from the visitors.
46 min No changes from either side at the break and we're back with the second half action. Ryder Cup demigod and Arsenal fan Ian Poulter got angry during half-time:
14.28 Hair, hair! It's a mail from Marc:
14.26 A great picture of Olivier Giroud, who is so angry he's started assaulting himself:
14.24 Tottenham v Man U could be off... The snow keeps coming down and there will be another pitch inspection at 2.50pm across London at the Lane.
14.22 A mail from Mick on hair:
14.21 HALF-TIME WRAP: Apologies to any Arsenal fans who are sensing some kind of anti-Gunner bias. Not my intention at all but your side's performance has been truly awful and I wouldn't be doing my job properly if I didn't relay this. If Chelsea had anyone else up front this game would be over already. That said, Southampton proved on Wednesday that a 2-0 lead at the Bridge can easily be chopped down, so there's still hope.
45 min Waloctt correctly flagged for offside after he latched onto a ball through the Chelsea defence. That's half-time.
44 min Complete this sentence: The ball breaks to Fernando Torres in the Arsenal box but his shot........... (Answer: "is high and wide"). It's still just not working out for him, despite the great new lid.
43 min Azpilicueta's cross is taken care of by Sagna but the pressure remains on as Chelsea have a throw deep in Gunners territory. From the throw Wilshere then fouls Ramires to hand Chelsea a very handy attacking free-kick.
42 min Corner to Chelsea. Mata takes but it's an ordinary delivery that Giroud easily clears.
40 min Walcott through on goal with no defenders in sight!!!.........Because he was offside. It's flagged and Arsene Wenger reacts with understandable frustration.
39 min Mertesacker heads away a cross from the right flank to thwart another Chelsea attack.
37 min Sagna in a heap on the turf after a little kick from Oscar. "That is a sign of Arsenal's brittleness," says Niall Quinn. No-one likes getting their ankles snapped at, especially in the cold, but that was quite the performance from the Frenchman.
35 min Good strength from Giroud to beat Cahill to the ball and spark an Arsenal attack. Sagna and Wilshere trade passes before the former sees his cross from the right blocked. Chelsea seize on the ball and set off on a counter-attack.
33 min Childish, but funny, tweet from comedian Jack Whitehall:
32 min Giroud fights for some scraps in the Arsenal box but just as he flicks the ball up he's swiftly muscled off it by Cahill and Ivanovic.
31 min A tweet from another of our men at the Bridge, Jonathan Liew:
30 min Another backheel from Chelsea! Oscar this time. Pretty sure they've had more backheels than Arsenal have had shots.
29 min BREAKING: Theo Walcott is playing. Just saw him in the corner of my screen shivering on the right wing.
27 min Sarky jeers from the home supporters after a lazy, wayward volleyed clearance from Diaby. He looks a beaten man.
26 min Arsenal sitting very deep and allowing Chelsea all the time in the world to pick their passes. Mata's cross from the right is headed away by Vermaelen to provide some brief respite.
25 min Hazard, so at ease with his team's chances, pulls out the backheel from his box of tricks but it fails to come off.
23 min More from Paul Hayward at the Bridge:
22 min Chance! Chelsea are finding it so easy to create goalscoring chances that they are getting sloppy. Mata takes an extra touch in the box trying to get to the byline but loses control of the ball.
21 min Chelsea cutting open Arsenal at will now. But the Gunners have an attack of their own...Sagna crosses from the right. It's a terrible ball but Cazorla collects it and forces a corner.
20 min The stage is now set for a Torres hat-trick.
17 min Re the red/yellow card. Replays show that Ramires, while past Szczesny, had several Arsenal players on the line to beat with any potential shot. So......I kind of guess that a yellow is apporpriate. Any laws experts want to object?
15 min CHELSEA PENALTY! Szczesny fouls Ramires! The Arsenal goalkeeper felled Ramires after he had rounded him in the box. Only a yellow for Szczesny, though.
14 min Arsenal struggling to defend Chelsea at the moment. The Blues are attacking at will and playing with a verve that is making Arsenal very uncomfortable.
12 min Torres released down the left but his cross is a poor one and goes out for a goal-kick.
11 min Former Arsenal goal machine Ian Wright tweets:
10 min Oscar, Mata and Hazard link up to provide the Belgian with the chance to skip into the Arsenal box and attempt to beat Szczesny at his near post. The Arsenal keeper does well to save, having not really excelled himself for the Mata goal. From the corner Lampard hits the post, but was already flagged for offside.
9 min Chance! Lovely long-distance strike from Cazorla that Cech is forced to dive to his right and tip out for a corner.
8 min Nice for journos and website editors to have early warning of what Arsene Wenger will complain about in the aftermath. So well done, Ramires and Martin Atkinson.
5 min Chance! Giroud is released into the box and has a one-on-one with Cech but can only drill his shot wide of the Chelsea keeper's left-hand post. Had to hit the target.
4 min All Chelsea so far. Mata tries to set Torres away but he's stopped by a robust sliding tackle from Vermaelen.
2 min Torres draws the foul from Mertesacker after some simple kick-and-run-past-the-really-slow-German play. Free-kick to Chelsea over on the left that Lampard takes. Ivanovic meets the cross but his header loops over.
1 min We're off! Chelsea looking very direct from the off but cannot quite work a scoring chance despite some determined play from Oscar on the left.
13.29 Paul Hayward forms one-third of our team at the Bridge today. Here's his latest contribution:
13.27 Teams emerging from the tunnel to build snowmen out in the middle:
13.24 Infostrada with some context to Rafa's Ba-rmy selection today:
13.16 Big round of applause to Jack Wilshere who manages to quote two pop song titles in one platitude regarding his long-term injury. Cinderella's 'Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)' and The Ordinary Boys's 'Week In, Week Out'.
13.10 Fernando Torres's new haircut is getting a working over from the snow which continues to fall fairly rapidly. I'd say it's more snowy than when I first published this blog 40 minutes ago:
13.06 Jamie Redknapp makes a top, top point. When Roberto di Matteo was sacked Chelsea were five points off the lead, now the gap between them and Manchester United is a whopping 13 points. I'm sure it makes sense to Roman Abramovich.
13.03 Terrifying opening montage from Sky Sports, who have themed today around the concept of PAYBACK. No, not the mediocre Mel Gibson film, but what Arsenal are after following their defeat in the reverse fixture at the Emirates.
13.00 A good omen for Arsenal fans from our pals at Opta:
12.56 A mail from Evan, in response to the question I set above:
12.55 Lovers of both speculation and the January window may enjoy our Transfer Talk, which includes a rumour linking Frank Lampard with AC Milan.
12.50 Cracking exclusive from Sunday Telegraph football correspondent Jason Burt in today's paper regarding Chelsea and a certain Mr David Moyes. Have a read of Jason's words:
12.46 Do you remember the last time these two sides played out this fixture? Allow me to jog the memory:
12.40 TEAM NEWS: Arsenal duo Lukas Podolski and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have been ruled out of today's game through illness. And Chelsea's David Luiz has failed a late fitness test and misses out along with club captain John Terry. And Fernando Torres owes his barber one as he's been picked ahead of Demba Ba.
Chelsea: Cech, Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Cahill, Cole, Ramires, Lampard, Mata, Hazard, Oscar, Torres
Subs: Turnbull, Ferreira, John Terry, Bertrand, Ake, Marin, Ba
Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Coquelin, Wilshere, Diaby, Cazorla, Walcott, Giroud
Subs: Mannone, Koscielny, Jenkinson, Santos, Frimpong, Ramsey, Arshavin
Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire)
12.32 Here is some picture-based evidence of the good condition Stamford Bridge is in, despite the white stuff falling from the sky:
12.25 Good afternoon and thanks for joining me from a snowy south-west London for the first in our Super Sunday double bill. I can confirm that the conditions on the streets and parks of London are icy and treacherous, but inside Stamford Bridge the playing surface appears to be well set for some delightful live football. Good news, I'm sure you'll all agree.
On the face of it this match pits two of the nation's form teams against each other, but in reality this is a pair of clubs with problems aplenty. Chelsea's fans despise their interim manager, their £50m striker plays like nothing of the sort, and they have only won one of their last six home matches in the league.
Arsenal fans are unable to laugh too much at their London rivals as they have issues of their own to consider. They have (so far) failed to sign any of their January transfer window targets, were convincingly beaten by Manchester City last week and have had several high-profile ex-players speak out against them in this weekend's newspapers.
So really today is a battle between which two London clubs can keep a lid on their January blues. Can I recommend exercise (oh yes, they already do that), a light box, and filing a Self Assessment tax return nice and early as sure-fire remedies in this most demoralising of months.
Anyway, enough doom and gloom, here's Fernando Torres's new hairstyle:
Preview:
Chelsea's poor record at Stamford Bridge under Rafael BenÃtez comes under further scrutiny when Arsenal, 5-3 winners there in this game last season, make the short journey from north to west London.
Since replacing Roberto Di Matteo in November, Chelsea's interim manager has won once in the league at home – but that was the 8-0 thrashing of Villa.
Arsenal's season is stuttering but three points against Chelsea are always welcome.
Betting: Home 4-5, Away 10-3, Draw 13-5.
Stat of the game: In 75 league meetings at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea and Arsenal have won 25 apiece with 25 drawn.
Jeremy Wilson's prediction: Chelsea 1 Arsenal 1.
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