Not unbeatable, but still winners ...

Four games to catch up on - but I'll start with the first and arguably most significant, our first defeat at Newcastle. The media quite frankly, have been doing my head in all season building Chelsea up as potentially 'invincible' like being invincible is some kind of common thing, which it isn't. Obviously it is their job to build teams up and then knock them down and I guess this is what they were doing with Chelsea this season. It annoyed me more given that it gave Arsenal fans a chance to pipe up with 'there's only one invincibles' after the game (they all went quiet though within 30 minutes when they went 1-0 down early on in their game against Stoke, so that was quite funny). I knew this would be  a hard game, especially as Newcastle have beaten us at St James Park the last two seasons, and Mourinho has never won their in the league - two draws and two defeats previous to this game, although two of those results were after Chelsea had already secured the league in Mourinho's first two seasons. He has though, won twice in the league cup there, which just makes Aston Villa away as the only game were Jose has not won in any competition.
We had a strong line up for this game, bar Matic who was suspended, which I think was a telling miss. It meant John Obi Mikel deputised for him, and although he always seems a better player under Mourinho, he does slow the game down I think. Takes an age to make a decision or so it seems at times. An uneventful first half was followed by a very eventful second half where Chelsea could have taken the lead if Mikel had buried a header from a Fabregas free kick on 56 minutes. Just a minute later, Chelsea were punished. A low cross from the left from Ameobi was not cleared properly by Cahil, who only merely deflected the ball into the path of Cisse who finished from close range to give Newcastle the lead. Chelsea responded by throwing on Drogba and Filipe Luis but despite some pressure, could find the breakthrough. They thought they had their equaliser when Hazard saw his low drive come back off the post, only for Newcastle to go back up the other end 36 seconds later and score again through another Cisse tap in. How's your luck?
Chelsea had a bit come their way when Taylor was sent off for a second yellow with 8 minutes left and from the resulting free kick, Drogba glanced who for 1-2. The final 10 minutes was all Chelsea, but with Drogba, Costa and Filipe Luis all coming close, the unbeaten run came to an end. Personally I view it as a blessing in disguise as with the monkey off their backs, Chelsea can now get on with winning the league.

To bounce back, we had a dead rubber game against Sporting Lisbon who of course still had a lot to play for. I attended this game but was disappointed with how far back in the Matthew Harding lower our seats were, might have to avoid those seats in future. Mourinho made six changes to this game with qualification already restored, Zouma, Cech, Filipe Luis getting rare starts, with Shurrle also getting a run out. Azpilicueta and Matic also returned. I turned up in time to see Fabregas score a penalty, which I later learnt had been given for a foul on Filipe Luis. Shortly after then, a good Shurrle turn and strike into the bottom left hand corner doubled Chelsea's lead. Schurrle needs a good run like that a I think, rumours of his Chelsea future continue to circulate, especially as Mourinho described him as 'sometimes phenomenal and sometimes so-so'. Reports until late linked us with a move for Marco Reus as a replacement as well.
Carrillo pulled one back for Lisbon with a chest down and low shot on 50 minutes, but it only took 5 minutes to restore our two goal cushion. Fabregas' free kick was headed by Cahil, the ball was going only for predatory goal machine (not really) John Ob Mikel  to tap in from in front of the goal line. Only the nigerians 5th Chelsea goal in 8 and a half years and his first in europe! In the end it finished 3-1 and Lisbon went out as Schalke won their match to go through as group runners up. Up next in the champions league? A rematch with Paris St German and a reunion with David Luiz ....

The next match against Hull was a chance to get back to winning ways in the Premier league, with City now only three points behind us, the once comfortable gap was now looking ominously small. With Courtois injured, Cech deputised in goal, with Filipe Luis getting a rare start as well, otherwise the team was as it was expected, with Mikel standing in for suspended Fabregas. I attended this game as well, but had trouble getting due to a problem with the ticket machine which was affecting everyone, and just abut missed Hazards goal so I had to catch up on that later. Oscar sent in a in-swinging cross from the left for Hazard to score with a bullet header. All in all it wasn't the best performance from Chelsea although Hull rarely troubled the Chelsea goal. This game became known more for diving in the end, Willian and Costa booked (harshly I might add) while Cahill got away with a second yellow for diving ironically as his was more of a dive than Costa and Willian's. Personally I thought the referee had a 'mare' but luckily it didn't prove too costly. Costa himself sealed the win, finding the far bottom corner from close range as Hazard dinked a through ball through a packed Hull defence.

The last game was a league cup quarter final against Championship high flyers Derby County. Jose paid Derby the up-most respect with a strong line up whilst making the odd change, bringing Zouma, Drogba and Cech in for a game in the competition that brought Jose's first trophy as Chelsea manager. Hazard gave Chelsea the lead on 23 minutes - taking advantage of some slack Derby defending on the ball, before playing a one two with Fabregas and driving low in the bottom corner. A worrying moment before half time, from a Derby corner which saw Cech accidentally punch Zouma in the head as he punched the ball away. Zouma was down for a good few minutes with blood reportedly pouring from his mouth, so the medical team were understandably concerned. I thought it was quite bad that the Derby medical team were a bit slow in bringing the stretcher on, Hazard and Fabregas even came over to give them a hand! Thankfully the injured turned out to not be serious with Zouma only losing a tooth - Ivanovic came on though to replace him. Chelsea doubled their lead on 56 minutes with a fantastic free kick from Filipe Luis, 25 yards out whipped into the top corner - with dead balls like that in his locker I'm surprised he doesn't play every game! Bryson gave Derby hope with a long range strike in off the post on 71 minutes but Chelsea wrapped up the win not long after. Firstly Remy came on and was involved in a red card for Derby. Through on goal the french striker was held back by Buxton with the Derby keeper charging the ball down and appearing to handle the ball outside the penalty area. As the linesman flagged, most people including myself though it was going to be a red card for the keeper, but ref instead showed a red card for buxton for holding back Remy as he was the last man. There is an argument on viewing replays though that Remy would not have reached the ball before the keeper, but hey ho. Remy was involved in the third goal on 82 mins as his shot was saved before Schurrle swept the rebound home to seal the win.

The draw for the semi finals brought an old foe for Jose, a tie with Liverpool - an echo of the Champions league semi final battles Jose had during his first spell in charge. He did also of course beat Liverpool in the final of the competition for his first trophy 10 years ago. Perhaps it was always destined to happen. Spurs drew Sheffield Utd in the other semi finals, while in the FA cup draw, a home tie with Watford awaits. Up next for Chelsea is a busy Christmas period with some tricky games, Stoke away on Monday night, followed by a boxing day clash at home to the West Ham and an away tie at Southampton and a visit to Spurs on new years day. I think Chelsea need to step up in their performances and re-capture their early season form as difficult as that may be, or they could face a serious struggle over this festive period.

Come on Chelsea!

West Brom Schalke Sunderland Spurs

Four games, three wins and three clean sheets, I will try and summarise all the key points from these games. The West Brom game was the first home game since Mourinho's 'atmosphere' comment, and it provoked the chelsea crowd to respond by singing in full volume through this match - it sounded from what I was hearing like an actually decent atmosphere for a match that on paper didn't exactly stand out. Oscar provided a superb assist for Costa to volley/sidefoot home on 10 minutes - with West Brom claiming for offside, I think he was just about onside. From then on it was all Chelsea, Foster denied Oscar and Costa and Costa missed a sitter before Hazard slotted home Cesc Fabregas's assist to make it 2-0 on twenty five minutes. West Brom were down to 10 men three minutes later when Yacob lunged two-footed at Costa. Yes he won the ball, but the rules have changed now so that  a straight red card can be given for the challenge regardless of whether or not the player wins the ball, and this challenge was certainly reckless and dangerous. Everyone expected Chelsea to kick on after that, but with the points already in the bag, Chelsea under Mourinho don't often operate like that. Mourinho can at times be, reassuringly or annoyingly depending on how you look at it, very pragmatic. Chelsea did appear to take their foot off the gas for the rest of the match to preserve energy, which is clearly sensible in the modern game with the amount of fixtures there are, but disappointing if you want to see a goal fest.

So 2-0 it finished and onto the next match away to Schalke and an old meeting with our former hero, FA cup goal scoring player and Champions league winning manager Roberto Di Matteo. I thought this match would be a difficult obstacle with the Di Matteo factor maybe hanging over (what with his arguably harsh sacking from the club still not that long ago) - how wrong I was. Terry headed us in front after 2 minutes from a Cesc corner and it was all systems go from there. A fantastic sweeping move then ended with Willian firing past the keeper on 29 minutes (although the keeper really should have done better) doubled our lead and then an embarrassing own goal from Kirchhoff where he headed in from another corner to compound a nightmare 5 minutes from him. 3-0 up at half time and cruising. The second half was not as rampant as the first but two substitutes came on and made an immediate impact - Drogba tapping home after Willian and had set him up after going through on goal and thena  few minutes later Drogba laid on a sublime cross for Ramires, another substitute to head home number five. Chelsea through the knock out stages as group winners.

The following game saw me and my nephew watching Sunderland away in a pub in Stroud, and there really is not much to report from this game, other than that Sunderland played for a draw with 11 men behind the ball and pretty much got it. 0-0 the final score and the first time this fixture had not produced a Chelsea win in 10 matches. It was also the kind of match that makes me think we won't go unbeaten as it could have easily ended in defeat if Vergini had taken an earlier chance. Sunderland's next game was at home to Man City and I predicted City would win that game comfortably, such is football at times. City won it 4-1.

That night as City did what we couldn't do at the weekend, I was off to the Bridge to watch the small matter of Chelsea v Spurs. We have a great record against Spurs especially in the Premier league era and more so at the Bridge and that good run wasn't about to end here. The only debate was, in the absence of Costa who was suspended, who would start? Drogba or Remy? I wanted Remy for his pace but Jose went with Drogba and it was the right call. After a difficult opening period where Kane hit the bar for Spurs, Hazard slotted home past loris on 19 minutes and it was all Chelsea from there. A poor kick from Loris eventually found its way to Drogba who upon going through on goal, slotted home another goal on his Chelsea return. Jose confirmed after the game a role at the club was there for Drogba upon when he retires from Chelsea. Good to know as I think he'll make an excellent coach. Remy came on for the Ivorian and scored an excellent second half goal to seal victory.

Chelsea still top and going strong ...

Strawberry Town, a 'Quiet' West London derby, drawing v Maribor then winning at Anfield

Quite a bit to catch up on since my last post so here goes...... following the draw v United there was the matter of Shrewsbury Town away in the league cup. Or as Eden Hazard mistakenly called them afterwards in a TV interview, 'Strawberry Town'. Haha.

This game had the makings of a cup classic. Away to a league two side, with Chelsea almost certain to rest key players, how would the millionaires of Kings road fair on a cold wet Wednesday night in Shrewsbury?

With Azpilecueta and Ivanovic suspended, a debut was handed to Andreas Christensen at right back. Starts were also given to Zouma and Nathan Ake. As I mentioned in my blog a few weeks ago, I feel it is time for Chelsea to promote some of the youngsters from their outstanding youth set up and tonight it looked a few had their chance to shine. The first half though was somewhat dull, with an aura of complacency settling in. Three minutes into the second half though and Chelsea captain for the night, the veteran Didier Drogba, continued his fine run of form with his third goal in three games to give us the lead. Schurrle and Salah (a fringe player also handed the chance to impress) combined to drop the ball in front of Drogba who clinically fired a left shot past the keeper. 1-0. Complacency though appeared to set in once again as the second half appeared to drift by with any meaningful action. Then on 77 minutes, Andy Managan, on as a substitute for Shrewsbury, turned in a flicked corner with his boot to level scores and send the Shrewsbury fans wild in celebration. At this point I was thinking 'Oh bloody hell, I can't be bothered with extra time, I just wanna watch American Horror Story'. Luckily the scores only stayed level for three minutes. Jose's response was to bring on two substitutes and one of those, Willian, sent in a fantastic cross that was unluckily turned into his own goal by Grandison. In the end, Chelsea spent the last few minutes winding down the clock, which must have delighted and encouraged Shrewsbury. So the millionaires of Kings Road can do it on a cold wednesday night .... just.

Next was a derby match against QPR, and myself and my brother went to this match. There was something of a stigma attached to this fixture now, with a few grudge matches attached to it. Mainly connected to the race row with Terry and Anton Ferdinand which managed to rumble on for as long as it did. Now you have Rio Ferdinand at QPR, although not playing today, his recent revelations in his autobiography presenting his side of the story and his less then kind words to the Chelsea captain, were sure to make this a hostile atmosphere. Well, not really that great an atmosphere, but we'll come back to that later ....

The game started well for Chelsea, in fact we were pretty dominant throughout the game, chances fell to Ivanovic, Cost and Fabregas but there was no break through until Oscar lit up Stamford Bridge with a sublime effort. Fabregas' pass found Oscar on the edge of the right hand side of the penalty area and the Brazilian used the outside of his right foot to bend the ball inside the far post beyond Greens reach. What a goal. In fact, Chelsea could have expanded on their lead, but second half chances from mainly Hazard and Filipe Luis were wasteful and then with probably their first attack of the match, typical QPR always somehow getting lucky against us, scored an equaliser. Courtois punched out a Vargas drive but Leroy Fer's cross-cum-shot found Chelsea fan Charlie Austin who back heeled the ball in. 1-1. Suddenly the QPR fans were noisy again after Oscar had silenced them. Drogba came to add attacking urgency, but it was a player we already had on the pitch who made the breakthrough again. Hazard was fouled in the area by Vargas, and the Belgian then dusted himself down, picked up the ball and with his tried and trusted albeit risque Mendieta style technique, side-footed home to put Chelsea back in front. I kept thinking 'one day that technique will come unstuck'. Little did I know I might not have to wait too long to find out how right I was ...

Anyway the game finished 2-1 and then after the match, a side note developed regarding the atmosphere. Where we were sitting, Matthew Harding Lower, the atmosphere was and seemed decent. It always seems better though around where you're sitting. The same probably can't be said for other parts of the stadium. Mourinho picked up on this in his post match interview and mentioned that he'd prefer the crowd to be louder and more lively, saying something along the lines of 'the crowd only woke up when the floodlights came on'. Now, for all the credit he deserves, this was probably a bit ill-judged from Mourinho. It rightly produced an angry reaction from the fans, many of whom spoke out about the contributing factors to this, including the ridiculous ticket prices which had priced many young fans out of the game (young fans being most likely to make noise), the fact stewards always tell fans to sit down(fans are less likely to sing sitting down), and the fact away fans take up half of the Shed end (many hardcore fans used to sit in this stand). A class act that did emerge from this though was a fan who protested these points to John Terry on Instagram, had the Chelsea skipper asking for his phone number to talk about these things further. Terry made it clear to the young fan that Mourinho had only done it to get a reaction from the fans to help the team in future matches, something I suspected personally, and made it clear that all the points made had been taken on board and would be relayed. Hopefully it will be a case of watch this space ...

The following game saw the return of Champions league action and a visit to Slovenia to face Maribor, the team Chelsea had thrashed 6-0 weeks earlier. Many including myself expected a similar result and thus I'm quite certain the game was in many a fans accumulator for the evening. Sadly, complacency was to set in and similar to the last two games, Chelsea looked like they were taking an age to wake up. The first meaningful action didn't come until the 51st minute when Ibraimi scored a fantastic curling effort with his left foot from the edge of the area past Cech to fire the home side in front. Up until that point they had looked the more livelier team. Ramires was then brought on for left back Filipe Luis (Costa and Oscar had been brought on at half time) so Chelsea were now going for it. They were extremely lucky not to go 2-0 down as Zahovic fire a low Viler cross over the bar of an open goal from just yards out. A major let off. From then on though, it was all Chelsea. Bombarding the Maribor goal like the alamo, they got their reward when Matic side footed home from close range as a John Terry header from a corner was on its way in, Matic just made absolute sure. After that it seemed to be a case of when Chelsea would score again, not if. Hazard had a one - on - one saved and Costa saw an effort tipped over. Then Viler, scorer of an own goal at Stamford Bridge, gave away a penalty and a chance for Chelsea to win it with five minutes to go. Up stepped Hazard with that tried and trusted technique, only this time the result was horrible as his tame effort was easily saved. The problem with that technique is that when it works, it looks brilliant, but when it doesn't it looks awful. So 1-1 it finished, with our destiny still in our hands.

Early on Saturday we faced Liverpool at Anfield, who themselves had rested seven key players against Real Madrid for our visit (they clearly thought we were bigger than Real Madrid!). An interesting change to the Chelsea starting line up was Ramires being added to the supporting three with Oscar and Hazard behind Costa. Azpilecueta returned to the line up following his suspension. Ramires I'll admit I am often critical of as I am not sure his likes behind back in midfield, and it showed as we fell behind on nine minutes as Ramires was found wanting in midfield, leaving all the space in the world for Can to pick up the ball 25 yards out, take his time and fire a shot that deflected off Cahill and into the net. Chelsea were not behind for long though - on 14 minutes a messy effort from a corner saw Cahill side foot a shot from close range that crossed the line before being scrambled away by Mignolet. Nothing happened then but goal line technology intervened and the referee gave the goal. Goal line technology clearly does work after all, Sepp. Anyway, Chelsea then fully took control, with Hazard twice having a shot cleared off the line and then Oscar seeing an effort saved before half time. The second half was no different, with Costa and Ramires going close before a superb cross by Azpilecueta was tipped away by Mignolet for Costa to lash home what would turn out to be the winning goal. Another important contribution from him. Chelsea got lucky near the end as Liverpool probably should have had a penalty near the end for a handball by Cahill (the second time in the game Cahill had had a handball penalty appeal against him, the first one though clearly not a penalty despite what Phil Neville's god-awful Match of the Day punditry suggested) but managed to hold on.

So top of the league, four points ahead of Southampton and six ahead of Man City who were held by QPR. Can Chelsea win the league? Many people at the moment seem so convinced that they will the question has become will they go unbeaten? Too early in the season to suggest for me, but then if you look at the six sides who made up the top seven last season with us, we have already faced four of them away - City, Liverpool, United and Everton with trips to Spurs and Arsenal still to come. Of course, anyone can beat anyone in this league but at the moment, based on form, the question of Chelsea remaining unbeaten is becoming more and more of a possibility every time one of these so called 'difficult' fixtures is out of the way. I personally don't think we will, at this day in age there are too many fixtures the more competitions you compete in. Also, the Arsenal 'invincibles' of 2004 arguably had it easier than we would have, as many of the teams they faced in that league have since perished from the league. So Chelsea doing an 'invincible' season this year would be harder but, if we were to do it, more of an achievement in my opinion.

We shall see....

Beating Palace, thrashing Maribor before getting hit by a Van

The week started with a trip to Selhurst Park to face London rivals Crystal Palace, a team who Chelsea have never really considered massive London rivals despite the distance. No Costa, rumours about his hamstring injury that he was said to have aggravated on international turned out to be true, and he was out. So Remy started. No significant changes elsewhere. Six minutes in and Oscar scored a stunning free kick to put us 1-0 up, bending it outwards from the left into the top right corner. Great goal, I watched it on a vines link via Twitter as I was attending Comic Con that day. Then before half time, the two teams exchanged red cards in separate incidents in the space of 2 minutes! Azpilicueta/Dave getting a straight red card for following through and the Delaney sent off for Palace for a second yellow! Remarkable set of circumstances but it favoured Chelsea in the end as they managed to use the space well in the second half and eventually went 2-0 up. Tika taka football at its best as Fabregas played a one-two with Oscar before slotting home his first Chelsea goal! A sublime team goal! Campbell managed to tap in a consolation in stoppage time for Palace but the game was already won.

We then faced Maribor from Slovenia on Tuesday, the first time we had faced a Slovenian team before, int he Champions league. I went to this game with my brother, I definitely booked tickets for Shed lower, but then surprisingly found I had been sent Matthew Harding lower tickets instead! A nice surprise really, Shed Lower is an ok stand to sit it for atmosphere and you do have banter with the away fans, but Matthew Harding lower is always preferable. Missed the first 10 minutes though due to the ridiculous time it takes to get into the stadium at that end, but got in just in time to see Remy cut inside from the right and slot home left footed. Good finish, but then he went off injured. A shame really, but it meant Chelsea favourite son Drogba would make another Champions League appearance. With 23 minutes gone, Chelsea were awarded a penalty for a handball that I must admit, I did not see from where I was sitting, must have been well harsh is all I can really say! The roar that went up in the stadium though when Hazard, our usual penalty taker, gave the ball to Drogba to give him the chance to get his first goal since his return, was louder than the goal that followed!  So Drogba, whose last Chelsea goal was the penalty that won the Champions league, scored his first since returning with a penalty. Sending the keeper the wrong way and Chelsea were 2-0 up.  The third goal was a beauty, Chelsea breaking from inside their own half, Terry charging up the pitch as the furthest player forward as Hazard charged forward with the ball. A deft touch put Fabregas through on the right wing and the Spaniard laid on yet another assist, sending the ball across the six yard box for Terry to slide in and tap home Chelsea's third on 31 minutes. The second half was more of the same, but also more of the Hazard show. Hazard forcing an own goal from Viler on 54 minutes for 4-0, then scoring a penalty won by Ivanovic on 77 minutes. A classic penalty, tapping the ball as the keeper went the wrong way, and it would have made a great video on my phone had it not cut out as he went to take it! Then right at the end, I missed another goal, this time in person as I nipped to the loo early as I decided to make an early exit at 5-0. Hazard scoring arguably the best goal of the game with a right foot finish! Saw it on the TV screen on my way out but still gutted I missed it!

Onto the big match on Sunday - away to Man Utd! No Costa or Remy to injury so 36 Drogba was leading the line. Azpilicueta/Dave was suspended and Ramires (who I doubt would have been too involved) was injured as well so before the game, I would have actually taken a draw, funnily enough. First half was all Man Utd, Courtois being our best player as he kept out a few Man Utd chances, while Drogba forced a save from De Gea for our best chance. We should have also had a penalty as Terry and Ivanovic were both headlocked from a corner - wasn't too sure if I was watching Wrestlemania all of a sudden! Second half Chelsea kicked up a gear as you'd always expect, and Hazard almost opened the scoring as he went through on goal, but fired straight at De Gea who turned it around for a corner. From the resulting corner ..... step up Didier Drogba rolling back the years. A thunderous glancing header from Fabregas' inswinging corner found the back of the net and chelsea were 1-0 up! Glorious!
Now, where I was critical of chelsea in this game was that we were too sloppy the final third and lacked a 'killer instinct'. I feel United were there for the taking and, although most of the time it time it does work, I was a bit disappointed Mourinho decided to shut up shop when he brought Mikel on with roughly 20 minutes late. This allowed Man Utd to come at us as we soaked up some late pressure. Four minutes of stoppage were added (no idea where that came from) and with three of those gone, Ivanovic fouled Di Maria and was sent off for a second yellow card, he'll be banned now for QPR. Thirty seconds left ..... then guess what happened? Di Maria's free kick found Fellaini, his header was saved by Courtois but the rebound fell to Van Persie, and you can guess where he put the ball. Chelsea's bus smashed into by a Van.

So three points became one, but still things to be positive about. With Man City surprisingly losing 2-1 to West Ham, we had the chance to extend our lead over them to 8 points but had to settle for 6, that's ok. We're also still unbeaten and still top, that's ok too. Still no reason to worry and plenty to smile about!

Villa - Lisbon - Arsenal

Three big games in a week, three wins and three clean sheets. Awesome. We faced Villa on 27th September and won convincingly 3-0. Oscar gave us the lead from Willian's pull back and then early in the second half Costa scored a brilliant glancing header from Dave's cross, before Willian opened his account for the season with a close range finish after a scramble inside the six yard box. An efficient win, only made more memorable by Mourinho attempting to shake Paul Lambert and Roy Keanes hand 30 seconds before full time, only for them to refuse stating that the match 'wasn't finished yet'. Keane has since released a book and been his usual mouthy self in the media (only seems like an angry bitter hypocritical man to me) and since said Mourinho attempting to shake their hands before full time was a 'disgrace' and you'd get knocked out for doing that in Sunday league.

Firstly Keane - this isn't sunday league, so calm down. Secondly, the game WAS over, it was 3-0. I mean, come on! If it was 1-0 to either Chelsea or Villa, Jose obviously wouldn't have done that. He didn't do it the other week against City. Not to mention the reason he does it in the first place is to phone his wife to let her know the score! His reaction in the press conference the other day though was a great comeback, sarcastically saying 'I appreciate comments as they are both good examples of polite and well educated people'. Mugged off haha. The second game against Lisbon produced nothing of note other than a first goal from a free kick this season. From Matic of all people. A header as well! 1-0 and our first champions league win of the season to top the group. A quiet game really.

The week finished with those North London pin heads Arsenal. Always a pleasure beating them - it wasn't going to be 6-0 again but any win against will do. The game started though with Arsenal having a lot of possession, no chances though. Courtois had to go off though after suffering bleeding from the eye, which looked worrying.....turned out to be nothing serious though. It gave a chance for Cech to get a run out, although he practically had nothing to do, as Arsenal couldn't get a single one of their 10 shots on target. Chelsea despite only having 5 shots, created the most clear cut chances. Hazard opened the scoring with a superb run into the box before Koscielny brought him down. The Belgium got up and took the penalty and scored to give Chelsea the lead. After that - the Mourinho v Wenger show. A bad challenge by Cahill on Sanchez brought an angry reaction from Wenger who entered Mourinho's technical area and then decided to push Jose - obviously Jose had got under his skin yet again. The pair mouthed off at each other for the rest of the first half and Jose even refused to shake Wengers hand after the game  - it was glorious to watch. This feud I predict will be the new Ferguson v Wenger, only (hopefully) a bit more one sided! Anyway, back to the game,and a fairly comfortable win was sealed 12 minutes from the end by a fantastic goal by Cost - superb pass from Fabregas over the top for Cost to run onto and lob Szczesney deftly. Wonderful goal. Also, on the subject of Fabregas, I thought it was disgraceful of the Arsenal fans to give him such a poor and bitter reaction by booing ad jeering him all the way through the match, especially given how classy Chelsea fans were with Lampard the other week. Just goes to show, you can't buy class ....

Chelsea v Man City = Class fans. And Bolton.

Chelsea's away game at Man City was one of those rare games in football. One of the few times I've seen my team concede an important goal, yet still somehow managed to smile about it. One - nil up in what was probably on paper our hardest away game of the season, and then with five minutes left, Super Frank, on loan at Man City, scores against the team he served so great for 13 years to win his current team a point. Talk getting a taste of our own medicine! But what do the Chelsea fans do? Well, they were cheering and singing name before, after the goal and even after the game as he went to applaud them. Top class. And who says our fans our scum?

The game didn't start as well as the corresponding fixture last year when a Mourinho Monday Masterclass undone City at the Etihad. Although there were no clear cut chances, City looked the better team in the first half, although we mainly restricted them to long range shots. The same came in the second half, and prompted Mourinho to make changes, bringing Obi Mikel and Schurrle on for Ramires and William. Chelsea were given an advantage when Zabaleta was sent off for City for a second yellow card after a bad foul on Costa. With the amount of yellow cards the referee was dishing in the first half, it was inevitable that someone would get dismissed. Then the impact of the substitutions took effect as a Chelsea counter attack saw Hazard break away and supply a low cross for Schurrle to side foot home at the far post. Chelsea lead in what at that point would have been a serious case of smash and grab, but they do say the sign of a good team is a team that can win without playing well. Shortly after, Lampard came on against, it was so weird seeing him in a City shirt, playing against yes. So weird. The Chelsea fans gave him a great reception as he came on and sang his name, and rightly so of course. Back to the game and chelsea almost wrapped up the points as Costa hit the post. Shortly after he was replaced by Drogba ending his scoring run. Then with five minutes to go, enter an old friend. Lampard latching onto Millers pull back to volley home the equaliser. As the commentator said 'Well I don't know what Lampard makes of it!' and that pretty much summed up his reaction. Apologetic to his former team mates and respect to the Chelsea fans by refusing to celebrate. The look on his face summed it all up as he looked to the heavens almost in tears. What I personally loved though was, even after the goal and after the game, the reception Lampard continued to get from the travelling Chelsea support was top class. After the game the image of him going to the Chelsea fans and receiving a standing ovation with the fans singing his name was one the best moments in football I've ever seen and made me most proud to be a Chelsea fan. Van Persie signs for Man Utd and Arsenal fans burn his shirt. Mata signs for them and Chelsea fans wish him all the best and hold make banners at the next Chelsea game saying 'Thank you Mata'. Fabregas signs for Chelsea and Arsenal fans call him scum and traitor. Lampard plays and scores against Chelsea and still gets a superb reaction.

You can't buy class :)

The next match saw me and my brother attend our first match of the season against Bolton in the league cup, and a chance encounter with Paul Merson in the Broadway pub before the match! After three FA youth cups and once a runner up in the last five years, I was hoping for more of our kids to get a game, as I really want Chelsea to start bringing their youngsters through more and more, but then this is Chelsea. The standards and expectation for success now are so high, it seems very difficult for kids to get a look in these days, although we did start promising youngster Nathan Ake. Last season brought no trophies, and Mourinho Roman won't let him get away with that too often, so it should really have been a surprise to see a strong team but out of mainly fringe players. One of them, young defender kurt Zouma, actually signed in January but then sent back on loan to St Etienne before permanently joining us in the summer, gave us the lead early on, stabbing home from close range following a corner in front of the Shed Lower where me and my brother were sitting. The lead though only last five minutes and Mills glanced home a header from a free kick to equalise for Bolton. Chelsea did spurn a number of chances throughout the first half, mainly though Schurrle, who hit the bar from a free kick. Ake himself also came close with a blistering shot that the keeper pushed around for a corner. The second half saw a daisy cutter (I think thats what they call that kind of shot!) from Oscar who fired low and hard into the bottom corner past the keepers right to give Chelsea the lead again. Then followed more missed chances from Schurrle, who hit the wood work again in this half, later on the post. Despite a late surge from Bolton as they tried to force extra time, Chelsea ran out deserved winners and will now face Shrewsbury away in the next round.

Onward and upwards!

Chelsea v Swansea and Schalke

Fantastic game against Swansea - we look really good at the moment! At least thats what I thought until the momentum halted slightly against Schalke, a game we dominated but were maybe too complacent. Swansea once again saw Costa take centre stage, scoring a hat trick and delighting everyone who had him as their fantasy football captain everywhere (me included). It wasn't a great start though - John Terry scoring an early own goal to give Swansea the lead. I'm just wondering if maybe we're still Terry on the wane a little, as he diverted a cross past Courtois - although if he had left it maybe Dave (Azpilicueta) would have cleared it, but then maybe Dave didn't shout at him that he had it covered. After the goal, Swansea seemed to have slightly more of the possession although they were restricted to long range shots. Routledge for them seemed lively and looked likeliest to make something happen. Right on half time though - Chelsea pulled level which changed the game I think. A close range header from a Fabregas corner - another assist for the spaniard. Chelsea came out firing in the second half - I always feel confident in Jose making changes at half time if things aren't quite going well, tactical or personnel. I can imagine him slapping a few under - performing players in their faces or splashing hot tea at them. If that's what he did on Saturday it certainly had the desired effect as Costa put Chelsea ahead early in the second half, side-footing home from a Fabregas pull back (another Fab assist). He completed his hat trick on 67 minutes, tucking the ball away inside the six yard box as a Ramires (a half time substitute for an ineffective Schurrle) ball somehow found its way through a statuesque Swansea defence. A new king of Stamford Bridge being born? Seven goals in his first four games is certainly a phenomenal start, only the second player in the premier league to score in his first four games. If Costa can keep this up he will definitely stake a claim for Stamford Bridge royalty. The Brazilian/Spaniard received a standing ovation as he was subbed for another new Chelsea striker, Loic Remy making his debut. Within no time at all - Remy himself got on the scoresheet. So Arsenal passed on Remy to sign Welbeck for more money? Ok then....

Anyway Shelvey scored a late consolation goal, and Chelsea won the game 4-2, top of the league and a blistering start. Going into the champions league against Schalke, I think there was a fair bit of complacency at hand as to why we didn't win. We dominated the game, but couldn't bury our chances, although in the long run (hope I don't regret saying this) I don't think it will matter. Costa was dropped in favour of returning Champions league hero Drogba, playing his first game since the famous night in Munich .... "He's done iiiitttt!!'

Mourinho would then go on to say Costa is 'not fit yet to play twice a week', possibly a worry as he did have a few hamstring injuries at the end of last season, but then it could be Jose cooking up a storm as he loves doing. I still think our team was good enough to win the game, Luis made his debut at left back and made a solid start. Chelsea started well too, Fabregas playing a one too with Hazard (and possibly fouling in the build up) and slotting home his first Chelsea goal. Hazard himself had made a very lively start to this game, forcing openings and running at defenders, he certainly looked up for it. It could have been 2-0 but Fabregas side-footed over when it looked easier to score, and Drogba saw a planted header easily saved by the keeper. Schalke themselves fashioed  a few attempts on goal towards the end of the first half, with the lively Draxler and Prince Boateng coming close. The second half started as well as it started in the first, but again Chelsea failed to take their chances, Drogba failing to connect with a low cross and then firing wide from a Hazard through ball. Not long after the second miss, Huntelaar scored an impressive equaliser for the Germans. Just before it went in, it was starting to remind me of the Basle game last season.... although unlike that game, the score stayed 1-1. Remy came on and had a late shot cleared off the line but Chelsea were set to remain punished for not taking their chances. So a break in momentum ahead of the City game on Sunday, arguably our first true test, I just the break in momentum doesn't affect us too much. Anyways - come on the Chels!

Chelsea 14-15 first 3 games

                                                           Chelsea 2014-15

So three games into the new season and so far - things look good. Top of the table clash on Saturday sees Chelsea welcome Swansea who occupy a surprisingly comfortable second place (theres always one team that gets off to a great start against all the odds). Chelsea have had 3 wins from 3 - can't ask anymore than that. But the new signings that Jose made over the summer all look like they're set to make a big impact season, although Luis and Zouma have yet to shine in a competitive match this season. But Costa and Fabregas have got off to a great start, while the returning Courtois has so far justified Jose's decision to uproot fan favourite Cech as the Chelsea number one. Personally I think that was the correct decision and reminds me of the similar dilemma Jose had exactly 10 years when he had the old-but-favoured number one Carlo Cudicini and the one for the future, a younger Petr Cech. He went with Cech then - he had to really. And now he's gone with the younger one again - an Courtois has been impressive. So has Costa - blimey! What a beast! Four goals in three games! A fantastic start! In fact looking at Chelsea's front line this season, Jose has definitely upgraded - from Ba, Torres and Eto' to Costa, Remy and the returning legend Drogba. Torres of course went on loan to Milan paving the way for Remy to join, the spaniard leaving Chelsea with a record of a goal every 4 games. Pretty poor to say the least. Considering Jose's constant bemoaning at our 'lack of a striker' last season, his intention to rectify this has definitely been reflected in the upgraded strike force. Lets also not forget Fabregas, some Chelsea fans were unsure about signing a former Arsenal and Barcelona legend, but in the first games Fabregas has provided 4 assists and is looking like the final piece of the puzzle. Somebody whose through balls and creativity can unlock defences in tight games, like the ones that cost us points last season. Overall, I'd say Chelsea did the best business in the transfer window, filling all the holes that were so gaping last year and basically only buying what they needed. Unlike Man Utd who neglected their creaky defence to sign seemingly every attacker under the sun. Or Arsenal who instead of signing a defender and defensive, went and signed the highly OVERRATED Danny Welbeck .... tut tut!

Our first game against Burnley live on Monday night football against promoted burnley could have been a banana skin, but turned out to be an efficient performance that caught everyones attention. We went 1-0 down early on but came storming back before the 35th minute without reply. Costa getting off the mark with a close range finish hardly any time after Arfield had scored for Burnley, and then a sublime goal by Schurrle, brilliantly assisted by Fabregas. The former Barca deftly sidefooting a cleverly disguised pass through the baffled Burnley defence putting the german through to score. Then a Fabregas corner set up Ivanovic to score. The second half filtered out as you'd expect under Mourinho as Chelsea took their foot off the gas. A home game against Leicester, a game Chelsea were expected to win at a canter, proved more difficult possibly out of complacency. From this game I only remember a fantastic one on one save by Courtois from Nugent with the score deadlocked at 0-0, followed by two late goals from Costa and Hazard. The next game though was..... seriously something else.

Everton 3 Chelsea 6. Absolutely ridiculous. Mourinho once said of a 5-4 win by Arsenal over Spurs was 'not a football result, but a hockey score'. He must have felt the same about this game. Entertaining enough but not good for my heart, really don't want too many games like this, would much rather boring 3-0 or 4-0 wins haha. 2-0 up after 3 minutes, Fabregas setting up Costa and (a slightly offside, oops) Invanovic set Chelsea on their way. Howard should have been given a red card for handling outside the area and, annoyingly, the media went way to soft on the incident. Had it been the other way round, they would have replayed the incident and been talking about it for ages. Then once Mirallas scored on half time it was 'game on' and the Howard handball was long forgotten. I had an annoying feeling we'd concede on half time for some reason, just like last seasons corresponding fixture. Don't know why I think things like that. Anyway, the game seemed to waiting to explode in the first 20 minutes of the second half and then all of a sudden, it did. A fine run and dribble by Hazard produced an own goal by Coleman, which produced a little dig from Costa (as they'd earlier had a run in), which then produced an angry reaction from Howard (forgetting he shouldn't have been on the pitch at all). Game a safe I thought. No - a couple of minutes later Naismith pulled one back. Game on again. Five minutes later, a fine shot by Matic in off the post gave Chelsea that comfortable two goal cushion again. Good game I thought. But two minutes later I literally screamed as Eto' glanced home a header just a few minutes after coming on as a sub. I knew Eto' would score against us, or rather against Mourinho following his 'old man' remark last year, but at this point I was just aghast at the crazy game before me - 4-3 now. Ridiculous. Even more ridiculous as Ramires (who admittedly I'd been criticising all game) scored a minute later - I screamed again but more delightfully this time. What the hell was going on?? It should have even been 5-4 as Courtois made a fine fingertip save onto the post from Mirallas. Unbelievable drama (and torture for my heart) came to an end as Costa, who opened the scoring int he first minute, finished the scoring in the final minute after a brilliant back - heel assist by Obi Mikel like a rabbit out of the hat, and a debut blunder by Besic who had only been on for Everton a few minutes. Lukaku, once of Chelsea's books had a quiet game. Through the world cup to this season he seems to justify Mourinho not rating him every time he has a quiet game.

This season I will try and do more frequent and fruitful blogs. In fact I will try and do one after the Swansea game, where the player of the month for August (Costa) take son the manager of the month, in Swansea's Gary Monk. Should be good!

When Wise went up to lift the FA Cup - we were there

So it's FA cup weekend and I thought it might be pretty cool and nostalgic to reflect on one of my earlier FA cup memories from when I was younger - our FA cup victory in the 1996-97 season. Back then I was an 11/12 year old who like most young children was relatively new in discovering their love of the game. I was already acquainted with Chelsea, my dad took me to my first game on my 10th birthday when beforehand we met and spoke to Chelsea's number 10 Gavin Peacock who wished me a 'happy birthday', which led to my dad saying he might put a bet on 'number 10' to score the first goal .... we lost of 3-0 to Leeds haha. Back then, unlike nowadays, it was much easier to approach players in the car park and ask for their autographs before the match. I still have an autograph book full of autographs for most players around the 1995-1996 era, before I lost it and then found it again some years later stashed in my room somewhere!

The 1996-97 season though was the first season I remember I actually became a 'football fan' rather than 'just a Chelsea fan'. I became familiar with players and stats concerning other teams and started watching other games that didn't even concern Chelsea. One stat that stands out was our 26 year wait for a trophy, although for a club the size of Chelsea at the time, it wasn't as big of a stat as it might be if the current Chelsea team of today went that long given our achievements over the last decade, but even so. My dads friends and other people of that generation would often reminisce about the glory days of the seventies, Osgood, Hutchinson, Chopper Harris and our FA cup with in 1970 followed by the European cup winners cup win of 1971. I would often wonder if the team I was destined to follow would ever go through such a period in my generation.

Most of what I will be reporting in the blog though will be events as I viewed them from my point of view (as a 12 year old), so certain details that might be out of my memories reach may not be reported with such accuracy. I do remember the 1996-97 season started with more hope and promise though any other season due to an exciting acquisition of talent never seen at the Bridge, or at least not for a long time. Ruud Gullit was appointed our player manager following Glen Hoddles departure for the England team. We had signed European cup winner Gianluca Vialli (who I just referred to as 'the bald guy'), Roberto Di Matteo (the cool guy, based on his goal celebrations) and Frank Leboeuf (the 'almost bald' guy). Later that season we would sign a certain Gianfranco Zola - probably my favourite ever player. It was also a season tainted by tragedy, as Matthew Harding, vice chairman and fan, was killed in a helicopter crash on its way back from a league cup match at Bolton. As a result, the North stand was named after him as much of his input into the club had helped pay for its re-development.

Some say the FA Cup has lost its magic in recent years, and I have to agree. It doesn't appear to be the huge match it was in the nineties, the Premier League and Champions have put paid to this. The all day build up on the day of the final, the feeling of the whole town getting behind the team with street parties etc seems a thing of the past. Some teams consider it a distant third priority in the ranking of trophy importance, in recent this is regrettably how I confess to feeling given the importance placed in the champions league. This season, the FA cup had not died down just yet and one of the many games I attended that season was the third round tie versus West Brom. Obviously being 11 years old at the time, I thought the team we were facing were based at 'West Brompton', the tube station up from Fulham Broadway haha, before my dad explained that West Brom are actually based in the midlands near Birmingham. So not quite the derby I believed it was then haha. Back in those days, our pre-match routine was a drink meal/in Drakes (not sure that is easily done nowadays, bit more for corporate hospitality I think). Chelsea TV would be on the screen with highlights of previous matches and pre/post match interviews that couldn't be seen elsewhere. We were sitting behind the goal of the Matthew Harding lower, and the game was won convincingly enough, 3-0 with goals from Dennis Wise, Craig Burley (on as a sub, but later carried off from what I remember was a serious injury that kept him out for much of the remainder of the campaign) and Zola. Mark Hughes, if I remember correctly did not have one of his better games ..... but I think he more than made up for it in later rounds.

The fourth round tie was undoubtedly the tie of the round: Chelsea vrs Liverpool. Liverpool were going through the so called 'spice boy' era and were top of the league, some considered them favourites to win the cup that year. The match was picked for live TV on the BBC Sunday afternoon, back in the days when live games were far from as frequent as they are now, and the Match of the day studio could be seen set up on the right hand side of the stand with Des Lynam, Alan Hansen and Jimmy Greaves all spotted through the glass window doing their bit for tv. Myself and dad attended this game and sat a bit more directly behind the goal in the same stand as we did in the last round. The pre match nerves started to hit as I watched the players warm up, particularly Kevin Hitchcock and sub keeper that day (can't remember who that was). This was our biggest game of the season. Twenty minutes and it looked all over, Fowler and Collymore had put Liverpool 2-0 up, the second coming from an error by Eddie Newton, who had an FA cup score to settle following the penalty he gave away to Man Utd in the 1994 final (but we'll come back to that later). Vialli, starting in place of Mark Hughes who was surprisingly benched by Gullit, by his standards had a poor half, and the dissent in the stands were calling for him to be hauled off at half time in place of Hughes. At half time I was feeling sick (because football means more to you at that age doesn't it?) but our season was virtually over. How wrong I was.

Hughes DID come on, but in place of Scott Minto instead of Vialli. in those days it was just the 3 subs for FA cup games so Gullit would have to be careful regarding making any other changes, but it wouldn't matter. Five minutes in and the tide of the match changed - hughes scored on a shot and turn, and suddenly the game was alive again. Unfortunately where we were sitting the view was the greatest but you could just about make out the goals at the other end of the pitch (the currently being refurbished Shed end). Hughes was everywhere though, he got stuck in, started roughing up the Liverpool defence and on 55 mins, poked the ball to Zola who 20 yards out, bent in a trademark curling shot to equalise. The stadium erupted and Chelsea were back. Back, but not finished. Withing an hour, Chelsea were ahead. My favourite player Dan Petrescu (who was my favourite player purely because he looked like Fox Mulder from The X Files, a programme I was really too young to be watching!) supplied a through ball for Vialli who poked the ball past James. 3-2. Unbelievable. Chants of HANSEN, WHAT'S THE SCORE?, HANSEN HANSEN WHAT'S THE SCORE? were directed at Alan Hansen in the Match of the day studio, and Hansen himself could be seen trying to hide his face (albeit with a smile). But Chelsea wasn't done with the scoring and a fourth goal followed on 71 - a Zola free kick onto the bald head of Vialli and into the goal, 4-2 for the most unexpected turnaround. The final whistle was greeted by 40,000 odd thousand roaring cheers, singing and applause that continued for a good 10 minutes afterwards. To this day, I'm not entirely I've seen a reaction quite it - for the club Chelsea were in those days, following the dark days of the eighties there was a real sense that this was a defining moment. Looking back, it most certainly was. The fact that, until we won the league in 205 this single game was voted the greatest match in Chelsea's history speaks volumes. Drakes afterwards was unlike anything I had seen, grown men hugging and celebrating with each other as the scale of Chelsea's achievement took hold. It was even the first time Liverpool had lost a two goal for something like 20 or 30 years (I may need correcting on that). Cheers erupted in the bar as Chelsea were drawn away to Leicester in the fifth round draw, could this really be our year? The excitement, promise and hopefulness at the time, even for a young lad such as myself was something many folk had not experienced for a long time, maybe almost just about replicated in the champions league winning season of 2011/12.

The fifth round sadly was not as straight forward as it looked on paper (but that's football eh?). Chelsea by now were the cup favourites, Man Utd, Arsenal, Leeds, Newcastle (a big club then remember) and of course, Liverpool, had all fallen in the fourth round. Chelsea were the highest placed and strongest team left in the competition, so surely ours to lose? Having already beaten Leicester away in the league, I was pretty confident. Live on Match of the day again so I got to experience this round from my armchair. We made a storming start, Di Matteo with a thumping shot into the top corner and a super-cool badman celebration, and then a counter attack finished by FA cup warhorse Mark Hughes. 2-0 up at half time. What could go wrong? Well .... enter Martin O'neil and his knack of making teams ridiculously difficult to beat. Steve Walsh pulled Leicester back into it, a poor error by Hitchcock really as he came off his line to claim a cross from a free kcik but didn't make it, with Walsh flicking home. Zola missed a chance to put us 3-1 up, just a few days after he had fired past Ian Walker for Italy versus England in the Azurri's 1-0 win. Not quite the best game for Zola as a result, the crowd were a bit on his back as a result of him doing his job for Italy (the sad world of a football fan sometimes). Two minutes to go though, all seemed ok, but then disaster as Eddie Newton (again seemingly enduring an ongoing nightmare with the cup) sliced the ball into his own goal. I'd say him an Hitchcock were equally to blame but it didn't matter - it was 2-2. Last round we came back from 2-0 down at half time and this time we blew a 2-0 half time lead, typical Chels. Only at least we were still in the cup, and so a replay beckoned.

Didn't go to this game, nor did I watch it on tv due to not having sky, but I am familiar with the main talking point which I later saw highlights of. The only main highlight of the replay. Never mind the performance of Kasey Keller (which would suggest we were deserved winners anyway) or the goal line clearance of Leboeuf from Heskey in the final minute of normal time. No. The penalty. Three minutes from the end of extra time, Erland Johnsen, the most un-confrontation and cleanest player ever, picked up the ball, ran from inside his own half, played a one two with Vialli, and on reaching for the ball, collided with Prior and Elliott. Mike Reid (not the ex-Eastender comedian, that was actually the refs name) gives Chelsea a penalty. It all kicks off, players trying to fight each other (not just Wise for once haha), O'neil fuming on the touchline and after the game. All irrelevant though as Lebouef dispatched the penalty to put us through. Was it a penalty or wasn't it? Was it fate that this WAS to be our year? Even as I watch replays of the incident since on youtube, I confess it might not have been, but then again I have seen them given before (especially when watching Man Utd haha).

Portsmouth away in the quarters next. Terry Venables I seem to remember being chairman (who remembers that?!). Portsmouth had won 3-2 at Elland Road against Leeds in the previous, and because Leeds had beaten us 2-0 (Ian Rush) in the league that season, I assumed that if they could beat Leeds, they might well beat us and I was worried. This was going to be a teletext job for me, not having Sky and all. Back in the days before Soccer Saturday etc, Teletext was considered the original Soccer Saturday (more so if you didn't have a radio). So I expected this to be a hard game as I said.....no. We ran out 4-1 winners. Hughes with a storming volley, two goals from Wisey and one from Zola. The first Wise goal he actually stole from Steve Clarke, as Clarkes header was about to go in but Wise stole a touch on the line. It emerged that poor Clarkey had gone something like 7, 8 or 9 years without a goal! That would become an recurring theme through the rest of the season with numerous players attempting to set Clarke up for a goal (it would be a year though before he could eventually score).

The semi final draw was Wimbledon v Chelsea and Chesterfield v Middlesbrough. Chesterfield were the surprise giant - killing package of the FA cup that year, but we didn't have to contend with them. We had to contend with the crazy gang. The masters of the cross and header long ball game. Wimbledon had destroyed 4-2 at the Bridge that season and by their standards were having a decent season. They'd also reached the semi finals of the league cup, losing on away goals to Leicester. This was going to be a hard game many thought. Highbury was the selected semi final venue. Me and dad and a few others trekked up there to the (not at all) glorious surroundings of Highbury and Islington. Different kind of set up the bridge, Highbury seemed more crammed into a residential area, with locals (no doubt Arsenal fans) observing the masses of Chelsea and Wimbledon fans descending on their turf. Situated behind the goal but further up at the end which wasn't the clock end (whatever it was called) I noticed we seemed to have sold our allocated, whilst Wimbledon's end seemed to have loads of gaps and empty seats, which I found odd at the time. Gullit had no doubt done his homework and gave another rare start for Erland Johnsen, no doubt to combat the aerial threat of Wimbledon. Another typical aspect of Wimbledon's style was to, in no uncertain terms, 'get stuck in'. There were known for their physical approach to games, so it was no suprise when one of their players (can't remember who) was yellow carded after something like 5 seconds. Chelsea players proceeded to surround the referee every time something like this happened, meaning that player had to walk on ice for the rest of the game. Ruud mind games no doubt - I later learned that Gullit himself had personally greeted every Wimbledon player upon their arrival off the bus as some kind of mind games - gamesmanship tactic! "Hey Vinnie, hey are you? Good luck for today!", hehe. Anyway back to the game. The papers were bigging up Mark Hughes, at the time on the verge of becoming the most successful player in the history of the FA cup, and his performance duly delivered. He scored just before half time, a scrambled goal I couldn't make out from where I was, later in the highlights seeing it was a Neil Ardley clearance in the six yard box that smashed straight against Hughes for him to smash in from close range. The second goal though, on about the hour mark, was a goal of real beauty. That man Zola, picking up a pass from Di Matteo, back heeling the ball first time, bamboozling Dean Blackwell and stroking the ball. Fantastic goal, so glad I was there to see it ... or at least I would have if the person sitting in front of me had not obscured my view with his head! The perils of being a short 12 year old.... oh well. I wasn't too bothered at the time (although I should have been), Hughes finished the game off at the end and we won 3-0.... QUE SERA SERA - WHATEVER WILL BE WILL BE, WE'RE GOING TO WEMBLEY! I couldn't believe the team I supported we in a cup final. Literally. Could. Not. Believe. It.

May 17th 1997. We were off to Wenbley. Middlesbrough awaited. They, like us, had a summer of recruiting continental talen, but unlike us, It did not help do much good for them as they ended the season relegated from the Premier league, with a 3 point deduction as well for not fulfilling a fixture which cost them dear in the end. Ravenelli, Vialli's friend from Juventus, had some in over 30 goals yet somehow it wasn't enough to save Boro from the drop. They own little version of Zola in the form of the Brazilian Juninho. All the talk prior to the match would be who out of the two would come out on top. Suggs sang the cup final song (remember the days when teams used to record cup final songs? In a way, it is a shame that has stopped) called 'Blue day'. I even bought the single; and really bought into the event as a whole. Back then, being in the cup final was a huge achievement. A huge event. So matchday arrived, and me, dad and a relative of his partner at the time, who funnily enough, I can't remember at all. Got my face painted and everything, all scarved and flagged. Got on the tube at Southfields and lots of other groups of Chelsea fans could be seen scattered around on the tube obviously going to the game. I can remember the amazement and wonder at seeing the famous towers of Wenbley as we got closer on the tube. We found a place to eat near the stadium and then a pub full of Chelsea fans, voices in full swing. WHEN WISE, GOES UP, LIFT THE FA CUP, WE'LL BE THERE, WE'LL BE THERE. A couple of Middlesbrough fans even walked in,everyone in the pub booed and then cheered when they walked our straight away. All good banter though. I even called my mum from a phone booth to check she was recording the match on TV so I could watch it all again when I got home (not if we lost of course haha). Then it came to taking our seats and the procession that proceeded kick off. God Save the queen and Cliff Richard singing Abide with me, while one Chelsea fan behind me sang HE'S HERE, HE'S THERE,   .... (something something) CLIFF RICHARD! CLIFF RICHARD! The teams walked out. Que a sea of blue and red flags waving ferociously around the ground. We were seated about half way up, between the goal and the top. Nerves had been rife since we reached the final but they were really kicking in now. The game started and the roar of the Wembley crowd subsided as the fans awaited who would take the upper hand early. Chelsea made an early counter attack, with Di Matteo striving forward. He had scored a number of long range goals that season, but I still think he surprised everyone when he smashed the ball home from 25 yards in off the underside of the bar after just 43 seconds - the quickest Wembley cup final (a record that stood until Saha broke the record against us in 2009). As the ball hit the back of the net, I seem to remember that was about a second before every Chelsea fan went mental, it really did take everyone by surprise. 'Who scored??' my dad asked me. He wasn't even paying attention! He was too busy admiring the stadium, not expecting an early goal and as a result missed one the greatest single moments in our history (this time there was no one blocking my view!). The game stayed 1-0 for a substantial period of time, some half chances came and went, Ravenelli went off injured and aside from a brief period in the second half when Boro won a couple of close range free kicks right on the edge of the penalty area, I can't say Boro really threatened to score at any point. It too until the 83rd minute before we sealed the cup - a glorious chip by Dan Petrescu followed by an even more glorious back heel from Zola finished off by Eddie Newton. Newton had some FA cup demons to settle as I mentioned earlier, a couple of bad mistakes in the earlier rounds as well as the penalty conceded in the 1994 final, this was his redemption. Effectively it marked the end of the final as a contest. 'When Wise Goes up ...' was sung louder and louder until the final whistle.

There it was. Chelsea had won the FA cup. Their first major honour for 26 years. Que numerous player celebrations in front of the home fans the infamous Chelsea 'celebration run and slide across the pitch' or whatever its called. I could just about make out the silver outline of the cup as Wisey did in fact 'lift' the cup, thus causing the fans song to change to 'When Wise WENT up to lift the FA cup...' etc. The Suggs cup final song player and about 40,000 odd fans sang along. That was a moment I liked. Particularly the part of the song that goes 'Now even heaven, is Blue today, you should hear the Chelsea roar...' followed by an actual roar from the fans joining in the song. Blue is the colour was played as well. Matthew Harding was not forgotten either 'MATTHEW HARDINGS BLUE ARMY' had been sung numerous times throughout that season but was sung more so that afternoon. Perhaps it was just destiny we did that year of all years.

So that was that. That was Chelsea winning the cup in 1997 from my point of view, from what I can remember. Not the occasion it once was sadly. I even still have somewhere in the house the tape cassette of the final. Some years later I would sometimes watch the all day build up prior to the game and wonder if it would ever got back to the way it was, somehow I doubt it. The champions league has seen to that, not through any fault of it mind. But I do have a fond regard for the compettion as the 1996/97 cup win was one of my earliest football memories and, like my dad before me when he saw us win the cup in 1970. Good days. Little did I know that was just start of it though. It's funny looking back at the time, with us being a relatively small-ish club, that it was such an achievement that season for us to win it, compared to how much grown and won since. Incredible really.

And hopefully it will continue!

Who should Chelsea sign?

                                                  Who should Chelsea sign?

It's been a while since my last blog, and with the season now even, not much chance of me doing match reports over the summer (might do a few world cup match reports though, providing i can find the time to watch the games!). So I thought I'd write a blog on who Chelsea might end up signing this summer and other potential up and coming stars that they may benefit from brining in.

First up its the position we seem to have been struggling to fill for over a year now - the striker position. Torres looks like he might just have player his last game for us with his goal and muted celebration at Cardiff at the weekend. I have mixed thoughts on Torres, some of dismay and despair, others of sympathy (I'll never know what it's like to have a £50 million price tag on my shoulders and neither will anyone else) but regardless, his work rate can't be faulted. Ba is another striker I actually LIKE as he does get the odd goal when he plays, whether Jose feels he puts the work rate in is another matter. Eto' from what I've heard is on his way out. Just as I'm writing, it's been confirmed that that Chelsea have agreed a 32 million feed with Athletico Madrid for Mark Ruffalo/The incredible Hulk/Diego Costa. Great. 36 goals in 50 games this season (so far) and 20 in 44 this season. He can definitely fill the Drogba void. A similar striker - he is big and aggressive. A Mourinho striker I'd say. A friend of mine said a few months ago that if we signed him he would 'put us on a par with Bayern Munich' (that was before Munich got their backsides firmly handed to them on a plate by Real Madrid in the champions league!).

So who joins him? Do Chelsea bring Lukaku back? Why not? Some say (including me) that he should have been there this season and arguably he did more than enough to warrant that after his performances at West Brom, 17 goals in 38 games and 16 in 33 for Everton this season. He has been the main star for both those teams (just look at West Brom this season) but the question is, would he be happy playing second fiddle to Costa? Just who would in realistically come to Chelsea and not be guaranteed the number one striker role assuming Costa is going to be given that role? Surely not Mario Mandzukic. The croatian striker has been on top form for Bayern the last couple of years, know for his back tracking, surely he would fit into a Mourinho-style team? At £25 million, would Chelsea want to splash big on another striker though? (You've got to admit though it would be an awesome strike force!)

Kurt Zouma, signed in January, is already on the way. A 19 year old centre back marked as one for the future from Saint Etienne. We might need another defender and/or a defensive midfielder if Luiz goes to Barcelona, although I think we need another defensive midfielder regardless. Rumour has it that Jose wants to bring Raphael Varane to Chelsea after taking him to Real Madrid from Lens in 2011. Said to be one of the central defenders of the future, Varane would surely not be cheap and if he were to come, that would make two very young Chelsea defenders in the defensive set up along with Zouma, indicating the rebuilding project Jose is carving out is set to be a long one. So, add to that, Luke Shaw. The 18 year old Southampton is said to be a Chelsea fan, but looks destined for Man Utd this season, and what a summer it looks like being for him. World cup call up and potential big money move to Manchester Utd. If he doesn't have a girlfriend, he will have surely had a few by August! Shaw at one point looked the certain replacement for Ashley Cole, who can't have too many years left in him, but looks to have done enough to stay on another year at least.

Speaking of players who surely can't have too many years left in them, how long can Lampard's beast of an engine run for? Well, hopefully forever I say! But Chelsea have surely got to be on the lookout for re-inforcements in midfield, surely with the aim of replacing the chelsea legend. I saw a couple of tweets on social media that Ross Barkley will be a Chelsea player next season (so it must be true if it was on Twitter lol). I'd fancy Barkley, not just because he's english and Chelsea are likely to be encouraged to promote more English players over the next few years, but he works hard and can seemingly play anywhere across the middle of the park, Another player, not english though, who could do this, is 20 year old Paul Pogba, once of Man Utd now of Juventus. Deemed not good enough by mighty Ferguson, he has since restored his reputation and his ability to play midfield or attacking midfield and been one of the up and coming stars in Juventus' revival in Serie A. Remind me of the Nemanja Matic situation, once on Chelsea's books, then sold on for free before being bought back for £21 million a completely different player, and as I mentioned earlier, I think Matic needs a hand.I don't fancy Mikel to be the one to partner him, and Luiz could potentially be Barca bound. Attacking midfield, well we have all the attacking midfield it seems haha. Room for more? How about Draxler of Schalke? Versatile attacking midfield that seems to have shone on Arsenals radar, despite a recent injury that has stumped his progress, rumour has it that Schalke have slapped a £40 million price tag on him, so not sure if Chelsea would fancy that.

Have I missed anyone? Agree of disagree? Leave a comment and let me know!

Chelsea v Liverpool and Southampton v Chelsea

                                                  Chelsea v Liverpool and Southampton v Chelsea

Happy new year! Ok, Chelsea played Liverpool last Sunday and I wasn't too optimistic. Liverpool played well against City and probably should have got at least a draw - maybe more. Chelsea had been somewhat unconvincing of late and with Suarez scoring goals for fun, I felt his 'reunion' with Ivanovic was going to be painful to watch (although probably not as painful as Ivanovic's arm the last time they met) and I was hopeful for a draw.

However, what followed was probably Chelsea's best performance of the season.

It didn't start well, Liverpool took the lead after three minutes. Prior to that though, I was delighted to see Luiz starting in midfield. I genuinely think he is better there. He is erratic defending but really excels in that holding role as it allows him so much more freedom than playing in defence. Ramires was suspended (I don't think we missed him) so Luiz was, Mourinho must have thought, the only answer. Anyway, Liverpool score after three, Coutinho swings in a decent free kick which results in Ivanovic getting on the wrong side of Suarez (maybe a case of once bitten twice shy haha) and Suarez's header hits Ivanovic and with Cech on the floor, the ball drops kindly to Skrtel who sidefoots home. I didn't notice at the time, only though TV replays, about the fuss regarding Eto's tackle on Henderson, who needed treatment, that led to the free kick which created the goal. On reflection, it was a bad tackle. Foot on the shin kind of thing. I've seen red cards given for those kind of fouls. That was an ongoing debate after the game. Some pundits said it was too early in the game for a red card, which rises the debate about whether there is such a thing as 'too early for a red card'?

After the Liverpool goal, it was all Chelsea. Momentum, chances, passion, it was all ours. So refreshing to see. Cahill missed with an attempt after seven minutes. Mignolet denied Lampard with a brilliant save after twelve. After seventeen minutes, Chelsea got a deserved equaliser scored by player of the season so far, Hazard. Hazard flicks the ball to Oscar whose charge towards goal is thwarted by Sakho, but this only serves to tee up Hazard with a brilliant curling shot into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area, great goal. Chelsea continue to dominate, injury though forces Ivanovic off to be replaced by Cole, before Eto' gives Chelsea the lead on thirty four. Good control and work by Oscar sees a low cross inside the six yard box toe poked by Eto', Mignolet gets a hand to it but it is't strong enough and the ball trickles slowly in. One further attempt in the half falls to Liverpool, but Allen's shot is saved by Cech.

The second half does not start too dissimilar, with Liverpool almost scoring first as they did in the first half, Sakho hitting the bar with a header early on. But Chelsea find their feet again, with Hazard shooting wide and Eto' denied by Mignolet when through on goal, all in the space of a minute (and thus I'm back to be frustrated by Eto' again). Suarez then pipes up with a shot that is saved by Cech, and then I realised for the first time since the third minute that he was actually playing! Chelsea had done a good job of keeping him quiet. Glen Johnson and Hazard then trade missed attempts, Cech saving from Johnson and Hazard shooting wide. A late substitution sees that old Liverpool favourite Torres come on, he has the final attempt with is saved. Apart from a late fight between Oscar and Lucas, Oscar going in two footed on Lucas and Lucas reacting - both lucky to escape red in my opinion, the game fizzles out and Chelsea hold on. Big result, possibly our most important of the season.

Fast forward to new years day. Hangovers a plenty and plenty of football too. Another permanent fixture in the football calendar, new years day footie. This new years day saw us go to Southampton and a month ago I would have been worried about this, as Southampton were playing well and in the top four at that point. Torres started (never sure what I think about that) amongst numerous changes made since the Liverpool game, and Torres himself had a couple of blocked shots early on. But after that, I'd say Southampton were the better team in the first half (Chelsea nursing a new years day hangover?). Ramirez misses with a header, Llanna has a blocked shot after a goal mouth scramble, Lovren shooting wide and while Ramires had a shot saved before half time, I spent half time wondering if this was going to be another frustrating game.

How wrong I was. A Cech save from Rodriguez early was worrying but from then Chelsea took control. Partly down to a Jose masterstroke. Mata started this game, but was really hardly in it. It was not surprising to me that Jose subbed him, along with Shurrle for Willian (who had a great game against Liverpool I should add) and Oscar. Mata's reaction was painful to see, he seemed very annoyed, frustrating. Worrying for the Chelsea fans who don't want to see him leave, as this is the first time that it looks like a possibility, to see him openly vent his frustration at being subbed. A Chelsea fan recently reminded me that what is happening with Mata is the same thing that was happening with Joe Cole during Mourinho's first spell. Cole was out of the team, but made the changes to his game Jose requested and became a better player. Mata needs to make the same changes to his game it would seem. He doesn't seem to like tracking back or tackling, which Jose doesn't like. Don't get me wrong, I'm not changing my tune as I love Mata and want to see him start every game and have been puzzled by some of his exclusions at times (no playing time against Man Utd and Arsenal still makes no sense to me having said all that), but I trust Jose, always have. We are not suffering without Mata, we are doing well int he league so if Mata doesn't make the same changes to his game as Joe Cole did, he may be off I fear.

Back to the game and it was Oscars turn to shine. His first interaction with the game though was not a pleasant one, and really annoyed me at first. The brazilian was put through on goal, went around the keeper and all he had to dow as put the ball in an empty net - but decided to dive. Disgraceful. Why dive when you're through on goal? Just score for goodness sake! It devalues the old argument 'why would he go down when he's through on goal?' when Oscar is doing naughty things like that. But he made up for it I'm glad to say. On the hour mark, his cross-turned shot deflected off a defender from the wide let and hit a post, only for the ball to bounce back into the path of guess who? Torres. Easy goal. Header in an empty net. Not quite what we paid 50 million for but there you go.

A Rickie Lambert sitter, where a soft header from the centre of the penalty area after poor defending by Terry is saved by Cech and thats the last we hear of Southampton. Not long after that another substitute Willian, teed up by an Oscar pass on the edge of the area, fires an unstoppable right foot shot into the bottom left hand corner. Willian impressed me against Liverpool, he looked very lively and had made a telling contribution today. Slowly started to repay that transfer fee and justify his decision to snub Spurs :)  The game was sealed nine minutes from time when Oscar's left foot shot ont he left hand side took a deflection and beat Davis at his near post. Job done in awful rainy conditions, much respect for the Chelsea fans that made their way down to the south coast for that one. We're not playing great, but remain up there still. I think, and hope, Mourinho will do it for us this year. Exactly what 'it' is though, we'll have to see ....