Chelsea won the first trophy of the English season when it beat London rival Arsenal, 2-1, in Sunday's League Cup final marred by an ugly brawl that saw three players sent off near the end of the game.

Teenager Theo Walcott put Arsenal ahead in the 12th minute, but Chelsea star Didier Drogba responded with the tying goal in the 20th minute and the winner six minutes from time.

Arsenal captain Kolo Toure and teammate Emmanuel Adebayor and Chelsea substitute John Obi Mikel were sent off. The incident started when Toure and Mikel tussled, and players from both teams then piled in. Adebayor had to be restrained after receiving his red card from referee Howard Webb.

The Chelsea win was marred by a serious injury to captain John Terry, who fell to the ground and swallowed his tongue after being accidentally kicked in the head by Arsenal's Abou Diaby. The was stopped for six minutes while Terry, who was unconscious for about a minute, was being treated. He was hospitalized and later released, though he was reported to be unable to remember anything about the incident.

GERMANY. Second-place Stuttgart couldn't take advantage of leader Schalke's 1-0 loss at home to Bayer Leverkusen with a 0-0 tie against Hertha Berlin. Schalke, which fell on Stefan Kiessling's goal for Bayer with five minutes remaining, leads Stuttgart by four points, with Werder Bremen is six behind and fourth-place Bayern Munich nine off the pace. Werder Bremen had to settle for a 2-2 draw at last-place Borussia Moenchengladbach, while Bayern beat Wolfsburg, 2-1, on goals by Lukas Podolski and Mark van Bommel.

ITALY. Inter Milan made it 17 wins in a row in Serie A with a 5-2 win at Catania. It wasn't until the 45th minute that Inter got on the board thanks to Argentine Walter Samuel, but it put the game away with goals from ex-NCAA Division III star Santiago Solari, Fabio Grosso, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Julio Ricardo Cruz in the second half. Second-place Roma remained 14 points behind thanks to its 3-0 win over Reggina on goals from Francesco Tavano, Philippe Mexes and Christian Panucci.

SPAIN. Barcelona took sole possession of first place in la Liga when it beat Athletic Bilbao, 3-0, while Sevilla could only manage a 0-0 tie at Getafe. Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o continued his comeback from a serious knee injury with a big match in the win over Bilbao. He scored the third goal and was involved in the first two -- a Fernando Amorebieta own goal and a Xavi goal. Valencia and Real Madrid fell six points behind Barcelona. Valencia was held to a 1-1 tie by last-place Gimnastic Tarragona when Ruben Castro scored in stoppage time. Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid tied, 1-1. Fernando Torres scored his first goal for Atletico in nine games, but French-born Gonzalo Higuain equalized for Real with his first goal since moving to Spain from Argentina's River Plate.