Robin van Persie’s hat-trick helped Arsenal secure an astonishing 5-3 victory at Chelsea as the Gunners surged back into the race for a top-four spot in the Premier League.
Van Persie’s heroics fired the visitors to victory as they twice came from behind after trailing to goals from Frank Lampard and John Terry. The Arsenal captain struck twice in the final five minutes after Juan Mata had levelled the scores at 3-3. Andre Santos and Theo Walcott also scored.
Wenger saluted the spirit his team showed in the encounter.
“It was fantastic,” he said. “In the second half I felt we were dominating the game and created chance after chance. We’ve shown mental strength.”
Blues manager Andre Villas-Boas felt the turning point came when Mata was unable to convert an opportunity to put his side 4-3 up.
“The decisive moment might’ve been when Mata was free on goal and missed the chance,” he said.
United back on track
Manchester United bounced back from their humiliation against Manchester City with a 1-0 win over Everton. A first-half goal from Javier Hernandez secured the points for United.
The importance of the win was not lost on Ferguson.
“It’s an important result,” he said. “Everton is never easy and they put everything they could into the game.”
Meanwhile, City solidified their position at the top of the league with second-half goals from Edin Dzeko, Aleksandar Kolarov and Adam Johnson as they beat Wolves 3-1.
Wigan Athletic sank back to the bottom after they lost 2-0 to Fulham and Blackburn drew 3-3 at Norwich City. In other action, Swansea beat Bolton 3-1 and Sunderland drew 2-2 with Aston Villa.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 30th, 2011.
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