Three games to catch up on, the first two very good, then the final one very disappointing. The first one was the Capital One cup final against Tottenham, with a chance of winning the first silverware of the season against our bitter rivals. We had a week to prepare, whilst Spurs had a Europa League exit on Thursday to Fiorentina in the back of their minds. The main worry for Chelsea was who was going to replace Matic? Well once the line up was announced, we knew. Jose had gone with both Cahill and Zouma along with Terry, meaning one of them would play alongside Ramires in the middle. Sky's prediction that Cahill would be the one to play there was pretty embarrassing and laughable, it was actually Zouma which was always a more realistic choice. Cech, having played most games in this competition was given a start, with the defence of Dave, Terry, Cahill and Ivan, Ramires and Zouma in the middle with Hazard, Fabregas playing further forward and Willian supporting Costa. Me and my mates watch the game in a packed Brogans, which was half showing the rugby and half showing the football, which it more crowded than usual. The team suffered an early scare with Eriksen crashing a free kick on the edge of the area against the cross bar, which replays showed Cech had covered. For the rest of the match though, I can't say we were really threatened anymore from Spurs, as Chelsea controlled the game from there on. Chelsea looked dangerous on the counter attack for much of the first half, but no clear chances were created, with shots either being blocked or attacks fizzling out in the build up. It looked set for 0-0 at half time, when right on 45 minutes Chelsea won a free kick on the right, near the corner. Willian sent it in, the ball flicked off Danny Rose and bounced around between a few players before Terry lashed home a shot which took a huge deflection and went in to give us a half time lead. Captain fantastic on the big stage, and I'm sure the Spurs were not best pleased to see him with the first goal! With 52 minutes on the clock, Chelsea doubled their lead with Costa through on the left hand side of the penalty, the strikers shot took a massive defection off Kyle Walker passed Lloris. Some media outlets afterwards have given the goal as an own goal to Walker as the shot was going wide. Chelsea had chances afterwards to make it three, Hazard going close with a shot and Fabregas heading wide. Most of Tottenhams important goals this season have come late on but today Chelsea kept it tight at the back and there was to be no late drama as Chelsea held on for victory. So Mourinho's first trophy as Chelsea boss was the league cup 10 years ago in 2005 and it was to be again for his second spell. We went on to win the league that year as well ... would history repeat itself in that department? Well, our next result certainly hasn't done our chances any harm.
West Ham away, always a s difficult fixture as we always seem to drop points against them at least one game a season. I genuinely thought just a few days after Wembley that we would struggle and maybe at least draw this match. For the line up, Courtois returned while the defence and Zouma kept their places, with Oscar replacing Willian. Ramires seemed to play further forward in this game with Fabregas dropping back. Chelsea almost took the lead on 10 minutes with Costa firing a cross over from about ten yards out, although it was a hard chance to control. West Ham then looked most likely to score as Courtois kept out a Kouyate shot with Sakho prodding wide shortly after. With West Ham on top for this period, Chelsea hit them on the counter attack and struck the first blow. Fabregas on the counter found Ramires, who found Hazard with a perfect cross that the little Belgian converted with a pin point header into the net to give Chelsea the lead. Not long before half time, West Ham almost pulled level when a Sakho header from a cross was pushed away by Courtois - starting to be a theme of the night. Early in the second half and Chelsea were under the cosh, Sakho fired a shot wide early on and then shortly after, a Downing cross caused confusion, which ended up with Sakho having the ball right in front of goal, only for Courtois to fingertip the ball around the post and away from Nolan who would surely have had a tap in. Not long after that (it was end to end stuff at this point) and Ramires (who had a good game) had two chances to seal victory, the first after a brilliant run a dribble by Hazard, the Belgian released Ramires who weaved his way through and stroked a shot that agonisingly hit the post. Then, the Brazilian saw a header brilliantly kept out by West Ham keeper Adrian. Courtois then re-took centre stage, with a spectacular save to deny a curling Sakho effort, and then blocking a Valencia shot into the path of Sahko, but this time Cahill blocked the rebound shot and denying a certain goal. The game then calmed down a little as Chelsea regained control, and bar a late Sakho header that went over, Chelsea saw out the victory and could have won by a bigger margin if cresswell had not blocked Willians shot on the line. It finished 1-0, not the best performance but the best teams always win the league when their not playing well and with City losing 2-1 to Liverpool on Sunday, it meant Chelsea were five points clear with a game in hand. The game tonight reminded me of when we beat Blackburn 1-0 away in the 2004/05 season.
The nest game was on my 30th birthday so needless to say I was looking forward to this, the second leg of the champions league knock out round against PSG. 1-1 on aggregate, the only change to the line up was Matic replacing Zouma. I had high hopes for this match (me and my brother were sat up in West Upper for a change), but what followed has still unfortunately left me in shock in what I can only describe as one of the worst performances I've seen. With 0-0 being a scoreline that could send Chelsea through on away goals, Chelsea seemed to be sitting back and playing very slow. I suppose I can see a kind of logic if that is the way Mourinho set them up. Play defensive and hit them on the counter as they will have to open themselves up. Risky way of playing though, we should have just gone for the kill really. Then on 29 minutes, the major flashpoint - Ibrahimovic getting sent off for a straight red card. He went in two footed on Oscar and in fairness - he DID try and pull out and there was minimal contact, but the ref didn't see if that way. Harsh decision, but anyone who knows Ibrahimovic and his history of disgraceful behaviour, shouldn't feel sorry for him. Also, Chelsea seem to have gotten a lot of criticism for the way they surrounded the ref in the aftermatch of the challenge. Incredible really, as it was only the help of TV replays that proved there wasn't much contact from Zlatans challenge, so for idiots in the media to not acknowledge this and condemn Chelsea for supporting their colleague who they thought had suffered a serious injury, was ridiculous. Not to mention certain ex-players (now pundits) who forgot the number of times they used to do it, incredible really. Only Gary Neville seemed to acknowledge he was just as bad. Anyway, back to the game and Chelsea 11 v 10, should really have started playing more positive and killed them off, instead of continuing to sit back. But for the rest of the first half, chances (for both teams) continued to be very few, with Chelsea denied a clear penalty for a foul by Cavanni the only flash point of note. Also, not long before that, former player David Luiz was lucky to escape being sent off for an elbow on Costa. You win some, you lose some, not many media outlets acknowledged the Luiz elbow either. Second half and Chelsea continued to play extremely slow and poor, I feel if this was the way Jose had some them up to play, then whilst I don't like to criticise him too much, he got it bang wrong tonight. With an hour gone, the first clear cut chance of the match fell to Cavanni who raced through on goal with Chelsea's defence caught high up the pitch, and despite going around Courtois, the Uruguayan hit the post of an open goal. Let off. Not long after that, Pastore tested courtois and Ramires was also denied at the near post. But from the resulting corner, Chelsea took the lead, as Cahill connected beautifully with a corner that PSG failed to clear and smashed the ball into the net. With time running out, Courtois saved from Lavezzi and with four minutes to go, the past came back to haunt us. A corner came in and David Luiz arrived with a truly unstoppable bullet header to force extra time, It was the least PSG deserved, Chelsea had been so poor tonight. Six minutes into extra time, Chelsea were awarded a penalty for handball and Hazard coolly slotted home. The drama wasn't over though - Luiz further reminded his former fans of his qualities as he almost crashed in a dipping 30 yard free kick that Courtois tipped over just before half time of extra time. Nearing to the end of extra time and Courtois was called on again as he fantastically finger tipped a Thiago Silva header around the post from a corner. But from the resulting corner, Thiago Silva rose again and scored a decisive second away goal with a looping header. Chelsea were out and it was no more than we deserved. we knocked PSG out on away goals last year after it finished 3-3 on aggregate and this year they had got their revenge. But the manner of the performance and our poor tactics, I feel Jose got this wrong tonight. To be that complacent playing 11 v 10 was ridiculous. I've never seen a poorer performance like it. Maybe fatigue, or the lack of a big squad, I don't know. But Southampton on Sunday is calling for a big performance as we need to make sure our title challenge doesn't suffer. Jose needs to freshen up the team, I think Oscar needs to be dropped as well, he is far too erratic and needs to bulk up still. But Southampton is now a massive game. Up the Chels!
