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LONDON - Skipper John Terry went off with a depressed fracture of his cheekbone, Didier Drogba was sent off and Chelsea were booed off after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Fulham in the west London derby on Sunday.
Terry went off after being elbowed in
the face by Fulham's American striker Clint Dempsey as both rose for a ball after just three minutes of their Premier League match at Stamford Bridge.
He is now doubtful for England's next two Euro 2008 qualifiers against Estonia and Russia next month and will miss Chelsea's Champions League tie in Valencia on Thursday (NZ time).
Avram Grant's first match as coach of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge since Jose Mourinho left last week was a subdued affair for the home crowd who also booed off Andriy Shevchenko, substituted after 54 minutes on his 31st birthday.
Chelsea fell to seventh in the Premier League table after failing to score for the fourth successive league match - their worst run for nine years.
"We had seven or eight chances," a subdued Grant told reporters afterwards.
"We created enough chances to score but didn't."
Chelsea's woes were compounded when African Footballer of the Year and last season's top scorer Didier Drogba of the Ivory Coast, got his marching orders for dissent and a reckless high tackle on the day he returned after four matches out injured.
Arsenal, who won 1-0 at West Ham United, lead the table with 19 points from seven games, followed by Manchester United, who won 1-0 at Birmingham in the day's late game, on 17 points after eight matches.
Manchester City, 3-1 winners over Newcastle United, are third on 16 points with Liverpool, who won 1-0 at Wigan Athletic, fourth on 15.
Arsenal won their eighth successive match in all competitions with a 1-0 win at West Ham United to maintain their lead at the top of the table.
Robin Van Persie headed the only goal after 13 minutes to end West Ham's run of three successive league wins over the Gunners.
Manchester United remained second after a 1-0 win at Birmingham, their fourth 1-0 league win in their last five league games.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal, swooping on a loose ball in defence and scoring with a brilliantly-taken individual effort.
Manchester City briefly moved into second place with a 3-1 home win over Newcastle United in a lunchtime kickoff, but ended the day back in third spot after United's win at Birmingham.
Although they lost, there was some encouraging news for Newcastle fans - and England manager Steve McClaren - about the injured Michael Owen.
Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce said he had responded well to surgery in Germany and could be playing much sooner than expected.
In an astonishing match at Fratton Park, Portsmouth beat Reading 7-4 with Benjani Mwaruwari scoring a hat-trick for Portsmouth.
Liverpool remained unbeaten with a 1-0 win at Wigan Athletic where Yossi Benayoun scored the only goal, while the bottom two clubs, Derby County and Bolton Wanderers drew 1-1 at Pride Park.
In the days other match, Blackburn won 2-1 at Sunderland.
- REUTERS
