Arsenal's title hopes get a push

English FA Premiership/Arsenal 1 Chelsea 0:A team renowned for its beauty will take a perverse pride in afternoons when they win ugly. This, relatively speaking, was an afternoon when Arsene Wenger's team gouged out a victory. There was spasmodic slickness on the counter-attack and, while Arsenal can be confident of returning to a beautifully articulated style, there are doubts about Chelsea achieving a higher standard.

Their willpower is undiminished but that is not enough. The visitors had all their forwards on the pitch by the end; all of them, that is, except the one who is irreplaceable. Didier Drogba is in convalescence from knee surgery, bound for the African Cup of Nations and seemingly disenchanted. It sometimes seems the Ivorian had no sooner signed for Chelsea than he was in the mood to put his name to a transfer request.

Even in his absence Chelsea will feel that this defeat was unjust. The single goal ought not to have stood because William Gallas gave the substitute Tal Ben Haim a little push before heading home a Cesc Fabregas corner on the verge of half-time.

The Chelsea manager, Avram Grant, will probably consider, though, that the Israel centre back should have been more robust. John Terry, who had been replaced following the bad tackle by Emmanuel Eboue that damaged the captain's ankle ligaments, would surely not have let himself be dislodged by Gallas. Chelsea missed him badly because Ricardo Carvalho is still short of his comeback.

The goal, in any case, was one that ought to have been prevented. Gallas, once of Stamford Bridge, settled the game for Arsenal in an incident where Petr Cech looked as if he had joined his old team-mate in defecting to the Emirates. The goalkeeper burst from his line yet never came close to dealing with a delivery from Fabregas that sailed over him. Cech will not believe he really atoned for that, despite a double-save by the goalkeeper in the 88th minute after the substitute Robin van Persie and Fabregas were each thwarted following a break by Emmanuel Adebayor on the left. At the outer limit of stoppage time Fabregas shot again and saw the attempt blocked by Ashley Cole. The pair tangled in the aftermath and the former Arsenal left back was lucky that the Spaniard alone was cautioned.

It was a peculiarity for a card to be withheld in a fixture of nine bookings. The frenzy, nonetheless, does not really divert attention from Chelsea's shortcomings. Grant's record has been good but it started with a defeat at Old Trafford and now contains the club's first defeat by Arsenal in any competition since February 2004.

They were goalless, too, against Manchester United in September, when Drogba was absent. As it happens, Andriy Shevchenko did rather well in certain respects, exuding a hunger to make an impact. After 89 minutes he could not quite get sufficient force on a header from Joe Cole's cross to beat Manuel Almunia and in stoppage time the Arsenal goalkeeper tipped over a blistering free-kick from the Ukrainian. For all that, few are persuaded he will regain the greatness of the Milan days.

This had not really been a match for strikers in general, with Arsenal relying on Gallas just as they had when he equalised at the end of last month's draw with Manchester United, but the overall Premier League statistics show how much more threatening they are.

With better judgment Tomas Rosicky would have kept himself onside before setting up Fabregas for a disallowed goal after 81 minutes. Chelsea had fewer moments over which to reproach themselves and Shaun Wright-Phillips had no rivals as culprit-in-chief. With 15 minutes remaining, Gallas could merely glance on a Frank Lampard cross but the Chelsea winger then struck a horribly skewed finish that skidded well wide.

While Almunia was occupied on occasion, there was scant call for him to perform marvels. While Shevchenko applied force to an effort in the 33rd minute it flew straight at the goalkeeper. However, he was at his best when dealing with an effort by Mikel John Obi with an hour gone.

This result will please Wenger, even if it does not appeal to his aesthetic sense. Arsenal coped, despite the anxiety they could have felt about rushing Fabregas, Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb into comebacks from injury. The manager had spoken a few days ago about risking no more than two of them in this game.

His qualms were understandable, despite the fact he ultimately ignored them. While Fabregas's stamina held up, he could not shape the play as he normally does. Wenger's reasoning, nonetheless, would have been elementary. With figures unavailable, Arsenal had garnered a solitary point from their two previous Premier League games. It is entirely possible that Wenger will not have sufficient numbers to see their bid for the title all the way to a triumphant close. Manchester United are luxuriously equipped but Arsenal's belief in themselves is being deepened. In this match, they competed, came up with a goal, however dubious its circumstances, and defended stubbornly.

This was the unglamorous face of football and, in particular, of Arsenal. It was an afternoon to admire, say, the obstinacy of Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna, full backs who largely rendered wing play an irrelevance. The same was true of an individual who used to carry out that function for Arsenal. Those home fans who booed the returning Ashley Cole so doggedly might reflect they were merely refuelling his determination.

It remains to be seen how much Roman Abramovich will spend to prevent Chelsea, post Jose Mourinho, from getting stuck among the also-rans.