Didier Drogba scored twice to lift Chelsea to a 4-1 victory over West Ham United Saturday and back to the top of the Premier League while Arsenal shadowed it with a last-gasp victory at Hull City. Two weeks after a shock 4-2 defeat by Manchester City at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea rediscovered its form and with Florent Malouda enjoying one of his best games for the club ended up handsome winner. Drogba's double and one for Malouda killed off relegation-threatened West Ham who was level at halftime after former Chelsea man Scott Parker canceled out Alex's header. Nicklas Bendtner punished Hull keeper Boaz Myhill's mistake in the third minute of stoppage time to earn Arsenal a 2-1 victory at 10-man Hull. It left Chelsea and Arsenal locked together on 64 points although the leader has a better goal difference and a game in hand. Champion Manchester United (63 points) can go back above the London clubs Sunday with a point at home to Fulham. Below the title scrap, Roman Pavlyuchenko boosted fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur's push for Champions League qualification with two goals in a 3-1 home defeat of Blackburn Rovers. Aston Villa, one of Tottenham's rivals for fourth spot, lost ground with a 0-0 draw at Stoke City. Fifth-placed Manchester City visits Sunderland Sunday. Burnley looks increasingly likely to make a quick return to the Championship (second division) after a morale-sapping 2-1 home defeat against fellow struggler Wolverhampton Wanderers. Bolton Wanderers thrashed Wigan Athletic 4-0 and Birmingham City recovered a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2 with Everton. Kicking off in the evening on a rutted Hull pitch Arsenal knew victory was essential. While the free-flowing 5-0 demolition of Porto was one for the purists, against a tenacious Hull side Arsenal proved it can mix it on football's battlefields. Andrei Arshavin put the visitor ahead but Jimmy Bullard's penalty after Sol Campbell bundled over Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink looked set to give Hull a valuable point despite it having George Boateng sent off in the first half. Hull resisted everything Arsenal threw at it but Bendtner pounced to guide in the winner after Myhill inexplicably punched Denilson's shot instead of catching it. “When it was 1-1 I knew we had to battle,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told ESPN. “Suddenly Hull's belief was raised and they played it like a real cup game. We had to fight until the last second.”
