Its time for part 4 of our review of the season, as the Premier league entered the month of November there were 2 teams making the headlines on and off the pitch and that was Arsene Wenger’s up and down Arsenal and Big Phil Scolari’s Chelsea. With 2 top four clashes in the month plus the infamous Gallas book launch and Drogba dinner date it was a busy month for the tabloid headline writers.

So once again here is a recap of the Premier League season so far, with all of November’s most memorable moments from the PitchSlap point of view.

November

Arsenal stun United

Arsenal started the month with an embarrassing defeat to Stoke City following on from the humbling 4-4 derby draw with Spurs at the end of October. The game had seen Robin Van Persie red carded and Adebayor stretchered off leaving Arsenal without their favoured front pair for this top 4 clash. United on the other hand welcomed Berbatov and Rooney back into the starting line up after they were afforded the luxury of a weeks rest. However the game did not go according to plan for Fergies men as Samir Nasri scored twice to give Arsenal the 3 points and keep United dismal run of form in the capital going. Talk of a renewed title charge was shortlived as Arsenal went on to lose 2 of their next 3 premier league games leaving their season in tatters.

Gallasgate

After being labelled a loser, a thief and ‘the french Mr Bean’ in Jerome Rothen’s book William Gallas released his own set of controversial revelations in his literary classic La Parole est la Defense. Unfortunately Willy’s sights were a little off target as instead firing back at Rothen he took aim at his Arsenal teammates. Van Persie, Walcott and Nasri were all the victims of thinly veiled assaults from the stroppy frenchmans ego and ultimately the entire Arsenal squad were dammned for lacking determination. Gallas publicity stunt backfired horribly as he was immediately stripped of the captaincy and fined two weeks wages, though he did sell 1 copy of the book to a certain Arsene Wenger who claimed it was on his christmas wishlist.

Drogba talks to Inter

With Nicolas Anelka topping the Premier leagues top scorers chart Didier Drogba was feeling a little left out. Whether he was feeling left out of the squad or the headlines we’ll never know but he decided to take the drastic measures to force his way out of Stamford Bridge. Didi was caught with his pants down so to speak after he was spotted in a London restaurant having a cozy dinner with Mourinho’s agent Jorge Mendes and Inter technical director Marco Branca. One man who was not amused was Luis Felipe Scolari who lost his rag with the Ivorian striker commenting:

“I don’t know what he did last night, I don’t sleep with him. I am not a policeman for my players, I’m the coach.”

Drogba’s actions lost him the respect of the Chelsea coach but nothing could explain his dramatic loss of form which saw him reach the end of November without scoring a single Premier League goal.

Chelsea lose at home again

Chelsea’s unbeaten home record lasted for 86 games and nearly 4 years but after Liverpool breached the Bridge in October Arsenal repeated the feat at the end of November albeit with a little help from referee Mike Dean. Chelsea took an early lead through a Johan Djourou own goal and looked comfortably in charge of the game untill a second half double from Robin Van Persie in the space of 3 minutes snatched an unlikely victory from the jaws of defeat. After the match blues boss Big Phil Scolari demanded an apology from the refereeing team after they allowed Van Persie’s undoubtedly offside equaliser to stand but as usual the FA closed ranks and Dean escaped without punishment.