John Terry will pass into Chelsea folklore as their greatest captain during the most successful period in their history and his announcement on Sunday that he will leave at the end of the season marks the end of an era.
Watford climbed into the top four of the Premier League after Tom Cleverley's 92nd-minute goal gave them a 2-1 victory over Arsenal at Vicarage Road on Saturday.
Ashley Williams powered home a towering header in the 86th minute as Everton fought back to claim a 2-1 win over Arsenal as the title hopefuls blew the chance to return to the Premier League summit.
Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres applied the gloss to a workmanlike 2-0 victory at Hull City that lifted Chelsea ominously to the top of the Premier League on Saturday.
A summary of the Euro 2016 qualifying group matches, played on Friday.
Euro 2016's round of 16 gets under way on Saturday after the completion of the group stages. With shocks aplenty, we saw some major upsets and heartbreaks in the preliminary round. Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com takes a look at the top five disappointments of Euro 2016 so far...
Ahead of their high-profile clash on Saturday, check out the five standout clashes between Arsenal and Chelsea.
Chelsea beat Newcastle United 2-0 for a 10th successive Premier League home win at their Stamford Bridge stronghold on Saturday to reassert themselves as Premier League leaders while champions Manchester City drew at Everton.
Arsenal's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struck a vital late goal to seal a 3-1 win over Valencia on Thursday and give his side breathing space for the second leg of their Europa League semi-final in Spain next week.
Southampton suffered an embarrassing 1-0 League Cup quarter-final defeat at third tier Sheffield United on Tuesday while Chelsea powered through with a 3-1 win at Derby County.
Mario Balotelli enjoyed a rare moment of ecstasy in a Liverpool shirt by inspiring a 2-1 win over Swansea City in the League Cup on Tuesday while Chelsea had to call for reinforcements to see off Shrewsbury Town.
Frank Lampard and Edin Dzeko scored twice as holders Manchester City sailed into the English League Cup fourth round with a crushing 7-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday and Chelsea beat Bolton Wanderers 2-1 on Wednesday.
Arsenal suffered another painful Premier League defeat as Swansea City capitalised on some glaring errors to win 3-1 on Tuesday, boosting their survival hopes and denting the visitors' top four chances.
Jose Mourinho's first Premier League game as manager of Manchester United ended in a comfortable 3-1 victory away to Bournemouth on Sunday.
Liverpool's hopes of winning their first title in 24 years suffered a huge setback when they lost 2-0 at home to Chelsea and Manchester City took advantage with a 2-0 victory at Crystal Palace.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday
Chelsea scrambled a stoppage-time winner to snatch a 1-0 victory over Everton on Saturday, showing their Premier League title mettle by claiming three points when they looked on course to suffer another damaging blow.
Liverpool put their recent troubles behind them, showing touches of their best early-season vibrancy to overcame Arsenal 3-1 at a jubilant Anfield and leapfrog the Gunners into third place in the Premier League on Saturday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Arsenal ended Leicester City's brief stay at the top of the Premier League on Sunday despite being held to a 0-0 draw at Stoke City after Manchester United's Wayne Rooney struck late for a 1-0 win at Liverpool.
After seven consecutive league defeats, and one point from the last 30 on offer, had plunged Villa into crisis and cost Tim Sherwood his job, the former European champions produced a gritty display to frustrate City.
There was the usual frenzy of last-minute deals as the English Premier League brought the curtain down on another bumper European transfer window in which Manchester City again flexed their financial muscle as the continent's top spenders.
Runaway Premier League leaders Manchester City beat champions Chelsea 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday to extend their lead to 18 points and leave the London side further adrift from the Champions League qualification spots.
Despite a splurge of summer spending of more than 500 million pounds and counting, it was a free transfer from France who provided one of the standout moments of the Premier League's big kickoff.
Chelsea demolished the team that succeeded them as Premier League winners when champions Leicester City succumbed tamely 3-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Willian's late strike snatched a 1-0 home win for Chelsea over a stubborn Everton side to maintain lead.
Alexandre Lacazette's free-kick sent Arsenal into the Europa League semi-finals with a comfortable 1-0 win away over Napoli, while Chelsea beat Slavia Prague 4-3 in a roller-coaster game, helped by a Pedro brace.
FA Cup added another incredible chapter to its proud heritage on Saturday as Chelsea and Manchester City were humbled by supposed inferiors.
Jose Mourinho's Chelsea turned from domestic whipping boys back to European stalwarts on Wednesday, beating his former club Porto 2-0 to top Champions League Group G.
Jose Mourinho suffered a nightmare homecoming as Porto, the club he led to the Champions League title in 2004, inflicted a 2-1 defeat on his woefully out-of-sorts Chelsea side in Group G on Tuesday.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
Samuel Eto'o's hat-trick lifted Chelsea to a 3-1 win over Manchester United on Sunday which all but ended the champions' slim hopes of defending their Premier League title.
A fixture billed as a pre-Christmas cracker was more 'In the Bleak Midwinter' than 'Jingle Bell Rock' as Arsenal's hopes of regaining top spot in the Premier League fizzled out in a turgid 0-0 draw with Chelsea.
Chelsea rode their luck to emerge with a second win in as many English Premier League games on Wednesday after Branislav Ivanovic escaped a red card and then his marker to head them to a 2-1 win over Aston Villa.
Here is a summary of stories from the English Premier League
Santi Cazorla scored a 94th-minute penalty as sub-par Arsenal beat Southampton on Saturday with Laurent Koscielny's overhead kick having earlier cancelled out Petr Cech's own goal.
Images from the English Premier League matches played at Old Trafford on Saturday
'I think it's unacceptable what he does to Koscielny. He pushes him down, he hits him in the face. I do not understand Mike Dean's decision at all. Why does Diego Costa stay on the pitch and Gabriel is sent off?' 'If you want to speak about Diego Costa with me, it's just to say he played like he has to play and that's why you have full stadiums, you sell to television around the world for millions and millions because the game has to be played like that'
Chelsea's title ambitions suffered a major blow with a shock 2-1 home defeat by bottom side Sunderland on Saturday, handing the initiative to English Premier League leaders Liverpool who visit lowly Norwich City on Sunday.
An Aaron Ramsey strike and a Kalidou Koulibaly own goal gave Arsenal a 2-0 victory over Napoli in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final, while Chelsea beat a stubborn Slavia Prague 1-0.