 It would be the performance at home versus Arsenal on 30 November, however, that lowered Ivanović's stock in Scolari's eyes again; after being up at half-time, the Blues lost the contest 1–2 courtesy of Robin van Persie's second half brace.The Serb was relegated back to the bench, recording only a couple more starts in late December and early January.He played a total of nine games in the first part of the 2008–09 season under Scolari's tenure.