Liverpool 0 West Ham United 0 Monday 8th December

Premiership Result Liverpool 0 West Ham United 0

Rafael Benitez's men went top tonight after a frustrating 0-0 draw which narrows the gap to 1 point between Chelsea and the Reds in pole position.

After recently drawing 0-0 at home to Fulham, Benitez will be dissapointed to not have maintained their superb Premiership start and assert their authority as the early leading Premiership team. Zola's team were well organised to keep the Reds out. Quite a non-eventful first half led on to a second half with a flurry of goal mouth incident but Keane and Kuyt lacked the finishing power needed against West Ham keeper Robert Green who is growing in reputation as a strong candidate for the England team.

Despite Liverpool's dominance it was Craig Bellamy who struck the inside of the post from over 25 yards with Liverpool keeper Jose Reina well beaten. This indeed would have been an ironic winning goal for the former Liverpool striker but the wood work kept it out on what was a game that Liverpool will look back to as 2 points dropped too easily.

Robin Van Persie's double gives Arsenal a lifeline Chelsea 1 Arsenal 2

Chelsea 1 Arsenal 2
Arsene Wenger's Arsenal were given a lifeline with a brace from Dutch international Robin Van Persie. Chelsea opened the scoring when a strong attack down the right with a cross from Bosingwa was directed by Arsenal defender Johan Djourou into hs own net.

In the second half this tie was fought out in typical derby style, fast moving and physical. Van Persie's equaliser looked suspiciously offside and was commented on by Chelsea coach Luis Felipe Scholari.

"I accept that the referre is wrong sometimes. All I ask is that he says 'I was wrong' to me," said Scholari.

Wenger also admitted that this goal looked offside but implied that this is just part of the game as we currently know it.

Shortly after this the Gunner's crafted a second goal with a free kick from captain Cesc Fabregas, headed on from Adebayor to Van Persie who swivelled and brilliantly volleyed into the bottom left hand side corner making it impossible for Petr Cech to save.

This win puts Arsenal back into fourth just below Liverpool, Man Utd and Chelsea - just seven points adrift of the top position.

Drogba to stay at Chelsea

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is apparently staying at Stamford Bridge amidst rumours that he is unhappy and eyeing up moves to potential other football clubs. African players award contenders Drogba, aged 30 is under contract for 18 months and Peter Kenyon insists that he will see this time out.

In the first half of this season it has been surprisngly Nicolas Anelka who has made Chelsea tick upfront, and with the imminent court action reagding the coin throwing incident at Burnley, it has been suggested that Drogba may want to move in the transfer window.

Chelsea club chief executive Peter Kenyon said: "Didier's under contract for the next 18 months. He will be going nowhere in January."

Drogba had been linked with Italian club Inter Milan to link up with his former boss Jose Mourinho however Kenyon emphasised that he wants Drogba until 2010.