CHELSEA failed to score in their second Premiership match in a row (theirs against Arsenal was an own goal). What happened?

TOHARI: After seven years as an international manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari is still adjusting to the demands of being a Premiership manager, and the pace of English football.

And his emphasis on attacking football means that he has to play his best players week in, week out without much rotation.

Because of this, fatigue has started to creep in among his players.

Players like Frank Lampard and Deco are expected to play at their best without being given much rest. In addition, Joe Cole has been out injured.

Chelsea have struggled against the big teams while winning their games against the weaker ones this season.

So the crucial December period should not be too much of a problem for them, with Chelsea facing the likes of West Ham, West Brom and Fulham.

DID YOU find the combination of Deco, Lampard and Michael Ballack effective?

NO, IT looked nice but it was not really effective against Arsenal.

Arsene Wenger deployed workers like Cesc Fabregas, Alexandre Song and Denilson in midfield, who were able to neutralise the trio, especially Denilson.

But it might work against weaker teams though.

Ballack and Lampard may have similar playing styles but the game against Arsenal has shown that they can play in the same team without overlapping too much into each other's areas of influence.

But there could be downsides to this combination.

All three are good ball players who thrive on possession, but that would mean that windows of opportunity could be missed sometimes because the players hang on to the ball for too long.

Besides, all three players are aged 30 and above and would have lost a fair bit of their speed, and they might not have the stamina to last through an entire game as well.

WHO WAS at fault for Arsenal's equaliser, where Robin van Persie looked offside?

ARSENAL were lucky to get the equaliser because van Persie was definitely offside.

It was an error by the assistant referee, since he was perfectly placed when it happened. It is not the job of the referee to spot an offside, and he had to back the decision of his assistant, who was in a better position than he was.

Some might say that Ashley Cole should have played to the whistle and chased van Persie down, instead of raising his arm for offside.

But it is always difficult to make that split-second decision when it is one's natural reaction to raise an arm for offside.

And you cannot give players of van Persie's quality that much time and space because they will always punish you in the end.

A draw would have been a fairer result.

WHAT do you think of William Gallas' performances after he was stripped of his captaincy?

HE PUT in a good performance on Sunday night. You could see that he could play his own game after being relieved of the captain's armband.

To me, he couldn't handle the responsibilities of being the captain. He tried to do too much to show his passion for the team, and it backfired on him.

Now he is back playing his own game without having to shoulder that many responsibilities, and it has worked wonders for his performance.

For example, he did not even scold Johan Djourou after his own goal, when previously he would be screaming his head off.

Gallas' demotion could just well be the turning point of Arsenal's season.