Skip to main content

Walker stunner settles North London derby

Chelsea were four goals up with less than half an hour played as they sent a reminder to their free-scoring Manchester title rivals that they can also find the net at will.

Spurs waited until five minutes before half-time to break the deadlock at White Hart Lane when Rafael van der Vaart beat Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny, though he appeared to handle the ball before shooting into the bottom corner.

Arsene Wenger's side pulled level through Aaron Ramsey before the hosts snatched all three points on 73 minutes when defender Kyle Walker's fierce shot swerved past Szczesny.

Two minutes later Lampard added the fourth, scooping in the rebound after Bogdan, enduring an afternoon as shocking as his pink shirt as he flapped between the posts, could only parry David Luiz's powerful shot.

They continued to enjoy a lively spell before spirits were crushed when Lampard completed his hat-trick on 59 minutes with Chelsea's fifth goal.

"We have been looking for this victory for quite some time," Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas told a news conference. "It fills us with pride.

"It's not that we have not been trying to do this before... [but] for various different reasons we weren't able to find a result with this expression before. We have been creating the same amount of opportunities but we were more prolific [in this game]."