Blues beat Gunners as Blackpool shock Liverpool

Didier Drogba, who has relished his appearances against Arsenal down the years, broke the deadlock as a tight first half was drawing to a close, neatly flicking the ball beyond Lukasz Fabianski.

Both sides had chances, with Nicolas Anelka in particular guilty of a glaring miss, but defender Alex put the result beyond doubt in the 85th minute when he rocketed a free-kick into the top corner.

The pressure continues to mount on Roy Hodgson after Liverpool succumbed to a humbling 2-1 defeat at home to Blackpool. There were ominous signs early on for the Reds as star striker Fernando Torres limped off with a groin injury after only nine minutes but, after Sotirios Kyrgiakos saw his header cleared off the line, things got much worse for the hosts when Charlie Adam crashed home a spot kick after Glen Johnson had brought down Luke Varney. Varney then stunned the hosts by doubling Blackpool's lead shortly before the break. Gary Taylor-Fletcher's pass found Varney, who, after timing his run perfectly, slammed his effort into the corner to send the away fans delirious. Liverpool were given a lifeline at the start of the second half when Kyrgiakos headed home Steven Gerrard's free-kick, but Ian Holloway's men held on for a shock win.

Adam Johnson came off the bench to catapult Manchester City to second in the table as they edged Newcastle United 2-1 at Eastlands.

Johnson had only been on the pitch a matter of minutes before his mazy run ended with the England flyer cutting in from the right and firing his shot past Tim Krul in the 74th minute.

The result, which sees City move behind Chelsea in the table, was somewhat overshadowed by a horrific injury sustained by Hatem Ben Arfa, who is believed to have broken his leg. City had taken the lead when Carlos Tevez converted a controversial penalty, while Newcastle made it 1-1 shortly afterwards when Jonas Gutierrez followed up on his own half-cleared cross to drill home from 12 yards.

Source: espnsoccernet.com