Chelsea Have Ended Arsenal's Premier League Challenge - Petr Cech
Victory over Gunners was 'vital'...
By Alan Dawson
The result leaves the Blues nine points ahead of Arsenal and two points in front of second-placed Manchester United in the race for the domestic crown. Cech told his official website that the win over Arsene Wenger's side was "vital".
"It could not have ended better," the goalkeeper said. "We claimed such a vital win, I helped the team with a number of saves and, on top of that, it was my 100th league clean sheet.
"I think we have cut off Arsenal by this win and they will find it only very difficult to erase the nine-point gap at this stage of season, especially with the tough games they are going to play yet."
United romped to a 5-0 triumph over Portsmouth, and Cech opined that the Blues' response was significant: "The win is important because we have managed to respond to United's win.
"We knew that if we had drawn with Arsenal, then they would have stayed in front of us on goal difference. That makes our win even more valuable as we have managed to cope with the pressure.
"For the rest of the season the decisive thing will be the consistency of results. The team which will drop least points on the way will win the league."
Hosted by Stephen Crawford & Adam Scime
We've had two tremendous matches today, so lets hope the intensity keeps up in the next clashes!
Until next time, this is LIVE commentator Stephen Crawford signing off.
From everyone here at Goal.com, thanks for joining us!
Here's the thoughts of Benfica coach Jorge Jesus, who felt his side deserved a point from the game.
"They were the better team on the night and that's the story of the day.
"We have to keep fighting, pick ourselves up, get the confidence back and challenge in the other competitions and in the second leg of this tie too.
"They punished us on every occasion; they scored some quality goals and they deserved to win."
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“The score made it look like it was an easy game, but it certainly wasn't.
(Strange... it looked pretty easy from where I was sitting, but hey.)
“I do not think it's over yet. I remember a clash between Milan and Deportivo la Coruna when Milan was also ahead by four goals, and in the end Deportivo eliminated Milan.
“I went into the Arsenal dressing room after the match to speak to Robin van Persie. I had agreed with him to swap shirts – my sons are big fans of his and he brought two for them. They will be delighted.
Van Bommel went on to talk about a possible move to PSV in the future, but was quick to point out his terms for the move.
“I've spoken with PSV, but we don't have an agreement yet. The club has to decide what they want.
“If Louis van Gaal turns out to be the new coach, I won't go.”
"Tonight everything went in the right direction and we did a very good match. You don't start a match thinking to win 4-0, but at the end i think we deserved it coz we played very well."
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