Chelsea, Arsenal Held To Draw …Champions League

Chelsea and Arsenal both had to settle for a point on matchday four, meaning they still have work to do to reach the knockout stage of this season’s UEFA Champions League.

The Blues were left to rue missed opportunities on the road, while the Gunners failed to trouble the scorers on home soil.

Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas was looking for a positive response from his side following their 5-3 derby defeat to Arsenal on Saturday, but was posed further questions in a 1-1 stalemate with Genk.

The Blues hammered their Belgian opponents 5-0 in their last European outing, but found the going a lot tougher away from home.

Ramires was the only man to find the target on this occasion, with the Brazilian combining well with Fernando Torres on 25 minutes before drilling across goal and into the corner of the net.

Raul Meireles then hit the bar for the visitors, before David Luiz spurned a golden opportunity to double their lead.

Thomas Buffel was adjudged to have deliberately handled a Florent Malouda cross inside the box, but Luiz saw his spot kick saved by Laszlo Koteles.

He was made to pay for that mistake on 61 minutes when Fabien Camus’ inviting cross was turned in by Jelle Vossen.

Chelsea are only three points clear of third-placed Valencia with two games to go after the Spaniards saw off Bayer Leverkusen 3-1.

Los Che took the lead inside 12 seconds as Oliveira Jonas returned the ball with interest following a terrible clearance by Bernd Leno, but Leverkusen levelled on 31 minutes when Michael Ballack, sporting a face mask to protest his broken nose, crossed for Stefan Kiessling to head home.

The hosts, aware that they desperately needed to win to keep their European dream alive, grabbed a second on 65 minutes when Roberto Soldado expertly flicked the ball past Leno and they put Leverkusen out of sight 15 minutes from time when Adil Rami nodded in from a corner.

There was to be no repeat of the late drama which saw Arsenal snatch three points off Marseille last time out when the two teams were reacquainted at the Emirates, with a goalless draw, a fair reflection on an even contest.

Didier Deschamps had vowed to attack the Gunners prior to kick-off and it was the French side that made most of the early running, with Loic Remy causing plenty of problems.

Arsene Wenger’s men came into the game as the first half wore on but, despite knocking on the door, they were unable to unlock Marseille’s dogged defence.

With the scores level, the visitors were never out of the game and they gave Arsenal a few nervy moments before the curtain came down on an uninspiring encounter.