Chelsea won the season’s first heavyweight encounter as Didier Drogba scored with his shin to defeat Arsenal 1-0 at Stamford Bridge.
The Ivory Coast star was attempting to control a through-ball when he beat Jens Lehmann on 73 minutes.
Chelsea came out of the traps quickly and could have gone ahead after just a minute. First Jens Lehmann dived at the feet of Damien Duff to deny the Republic of Ireland international. Then Freddie Ljungberg cleared an Asier Del Horno header off the line from the resulting corner.
The Swede missed Arsenal’s best chance of the half at the other end when he fired Thierry Henry’s deflected cross over from an acute angle.
Ashley Cole also had strong appeals for a penalty turned down when he appeared to be caught by the trailing leg of Claude Makelele.
Chelsea started the half strongly and they ended it in the sane vein as Lehmann spread himself well to deny Arjen Robben from close range following a Frank Lampard cross.
After the break, Henry controlled a long ball from Cole and shot wide as Arsenal began to exert some pressure.
Didier Drogba, who replaced Hernan Crespo at half-time, blasted wide when well positioned on 57 minutes.
Michael Essien and Shaun Wright-Phillips were introduced as Jose Mourinho shuffled his expensive pack.
The breakthrough arrived on 72 when Drogba beat Lehmann after attempting to control the ball before shooting. A large slice of luck for Mourinho’s men.
Henry tested Cech with a long-range effort at the other end but otherwise Arsenal rarely looked like forcing an equaliser.
William Gallas saw an effort saved by Lehmann after a slick counterattack, and Drogba should have made it 2-0 at the death when one-on-one after a mistake from Philippe Senderos but he shot straight at Lehmann.