Chelsea booked their place in the group stages of the Champions League next season with a 4-1 thrashing of Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

Needing to beat Chelsea in order to remain in with a chance to finish third in the league, Arsenal started out brightly dominating the midfield. However it was Chelsea who took the lead in the 28th minute when Didier Drogba curled in a free kick for Alex to head home from just 12 yards out.

The goal seemed to take the stuffing out of the Gunners' attack as Chelsea went into the ascendency and deservedly doubled the lead 11 minutes later as Nicolas Anelka took full advantage of Arsenal defense's hesitancy to smash home a stinging drive past Lukasz Fabianski.

Arsenal's hopes of a second half recovery received a big blow just four minutes after the restart as Ashley Cole's cross was deflected into his own net by Kolo Toure to hand Chelsea a three goal lead.

The Gunners did manage to pull back with some time remaining with Nicklas Bendtner heading home Bacary Sagna's cross from close range. The goal saw Arsenal step up the pressure in hopes of a late comeback but it was Chelsea who scored again.

The Blues embarked on a swift counter attack which saw Anelka smash another shot towards the target. However this time the ball struck the post but went straight to Florent Malouda who made no mistake from close range though replays showed the Chelsea midfielder was way offside.