Well I did say if we are still top after New years day I will feel more confident about our chances of winning the league. Well we're still top but .... crikey it's close!
We faced Stoke away on December 22nd for the first of what I thought were four potential banana skins. Stoke had a good record against the top four teams for the last four years or so, only losing at home twice to them (one of those was against us mind) and this season they had beaten Arsenal after a first half blitz and won away at City. However after two minutes, it was all rather surprisingly comfortable ....
The line up was Chelsea's usual turn out except Mikel was preferred with Matic while Fabregas was played further up instead of Oscar. The Spaniard still had the same impact as per normal, as he got his customary assist setting up John Terry with a corner for Terry to header home the first goal after two minutes. A great start. Costa should have made it 2-0 before half time but fired wide it what was turning out to be a very physical and brutal game, lots of fouls, mainly from Stoke who appeared to adopt some very classic/Mark Hughes type tactics to try and unsettle Chelsea - it didn't work. Fabregas finished off a Chelsea move with a mis-hit shot that trickled slowly into the net on 78 minutes to seal what was a comfortable win in the end.
The customary boxing day fixture brought a London derby against high flying West Ham - getting to this game was a nightmare due to the tube strike. I don't think myself or my brother will go next year if the tubes keep up all this tube strike rubbish over Christmas. Getting into the ground was hard work as well due to the ridiculously slow ticket machines, second home game in a row we've all had to put up with this, as a result we almost missed a goal - Oscar firing over. Looking at the replay at home, he should have scored. Cahill also went close with a shot that Adrian denied, and the West Ham keeper also saved from an oscar free kick. The deadlock came on 31 minutes when Costa headed down a corner and John Terry was on hand to tap in from close range, and celebrated right in front of the West Ham fans! They always give him stick in this fixture, and the fixture is always a great atmosphere due to the rivalry between the fans. Chelsea fans were in jubilant spirits after the goal and some of the more amusing songs came out afterwards such as 'no noise from the pikey boys!' and 'F%@& off, to your caravan' haha. Chelsea dominated the second half with Hazard and Willian going close before Costa made it 2-0 with a sublime goal. Running onto a Hazard pass, Costa dummied three West Ham players before firing low into the bottom far corner. Chelsea had more chances to make the scoreline a more convincing one, and with West Hams only real chance coming in the 87th minute when Amilfitano hit the post, it was a comfortable victory. Mourinho came out after the game to state that, after scoring the opening in two games in a week, John Terry will certainly be getting a new contract for next season.
Two days later we faced Southampton, a game that on paper looked like a hard one given Southamptons form. Jose made a few tweaks, Flipe Luis, Mikel and Schurrle started with Fabregas playing further forward. We didn't get off to a good start, Tadic losfting a ball over the top as Terry attempted - and failed - to play offside, as Mane lobbed Courtois from the edge of the area. Chelsea attempted to get back into this but our build up play was slowed and laboured, Schurrle had a poor first half and was subbed, Filipe Luis didn't have the best of games either. Right on half time as it looked like we might go in 1-0 down, Hazard weaved in from the left and fired a low shot into the bottom corner to level at 1-1. With that goal in the final minute of the first half, I thought it might change the game and we would go on to win, but we still couldn't get out of third gear and in the end, the goal turned out to be our only shot on target in the whole match, even a second yellow card in the 88th minute for Schneiderlin couldn't help us as it finished 1-1. Although we should have had a penalty in the 56th minute as Fabregas looked to have been clearly fouled, but was booked for diving, and not for the first time in recent weeks. It led to Jose commenting after the game that there is a 'campaign' to stop Chelsea winning, a comment that would eventually get him in trouble with the FA.
I actually wonder how many games Mourino's teams win when they go behind, his teams are so good at controlling the game and thus scoring first but when they go behind, his teams rarely seem to win, indicating a slight lack of plan B. I would be interested to see the percentage of games Jose has won ever after going behind. Later that day, I was expecting Man City to take advantage of our slip up, but amazingly, after going 2-0 up against Burnley, the game finished 2-2 which meant it wasn't as bad a day as I thought it would be!
A bad day eventually came on New Days at White Hart Lane, usually known as 'Three point lane' in the past due to the teams amazing record there, having only lost three times there in the Premier League era. None of that mattered today though. It was probably our strongest line up with those dropped from Southampton restored, which included Fabregas dropping deeper in place of mikel as Oscar returned, and Chelsea got off to a flyer as Hazard hit the post and Oscar's rebound shot was turned in from close range by Costa on 18 minutes. Chelsea did have another penalty appeal turned down, although I think the call was correct this time. What happened from then though can only be described as a sickening onslaught. There seemed to be huge amount of space between Matic and the defence and Spur attackers made use of it brilliantly, unfortunateky for us. On 30 minutes, future England striker (surely) Harry Kane evaded Matic and other players to fire a low 25 yard shot into the bottom corner to level the scores. Where the game was lost though, came right on half time as on 44 minutes, Chadli hit the post with a low right foot shot, but unluckily for us, the ball landed perfectly at the feet of Rose who tapped in. 1-2 at half time wouldn't have been THAT bad, but a minute later worst was to come. Cahill, who I think needs a rest after some crucial errors in the last month, conceded a penalty with a sloppy foul that was converted by Townsend. 3-1 at half time and I was fearing the worst. I expected Jose to make half time changes, and he did by bringing Ramires on for Oscar ... not the change I thought but anyway. 52 minutes and it was virtually game over as Kane scored a Henry-esque goal to make it 4-1. Shocked is the word I think I said to a friend in a text message. We did attempt to get back into the game though and did show some character, with Hazard playing a one-two with Fabregas before dispatching a low left foot shot home. It gave us hope, but Salah coming on for Willian was not the sub i expected Jose to make, where were Remy and Drogba? In fact, no further substitutions were made for the rest of the game and I find this (and still do as I write) staggering. Chasing the game and you don't bring on any extra strikers? No idea what Jose was thinking. Anyway, it did get worse than I thought as Chadli scored a deflected effort with 12 minutes remaining to make it 5-2 and at that point I switched off. Terry scored a late tap in to reduce the deficit but the defeat was set in stone long ago. What added to the misery, was City winning 3-2 earlier in the day meaning we were only top now in alphabetical order! Due to City now having the same points, goal difference and goals scored. So we are still top but boy is it close!
The following weekend saw us begin our FA cup campaign at home to Watford, and several changes were made. Zouma, Schurrle, Flipe Luis, Cech, Ramires, Mikel, Drogba and Remy all started. Remy and Drogba starting together was an interesting one I thought. It took us a while to break them down but we eventually broke them down on 58 minutes with a superb long range curling effort into the top corner by Willian. Further goals were added from Remy with a volley and a header from Zouma, both players I think need more playing time in place of some players that needed resting, as Chelsea ran out 3-0 winners.
Since that game, some off the ball incidents have occurred so to speak, and I will attempt to address them now. Furthermore, a few fans are excited about the fourth round draw of the FA cup, which sees a potential meeting with Millwall (who have to get past a replay with Bradford). Anyway who doesn't know there history, this is potentially a dangerous meeting as Chelsea and Millwall are fierce rivals with the two teams having arguably two of the feared hooligan firms in England, which was the subject of a film 'The Football Factory'. They last played each other in the fourth round of the FA cup in 1995, with Millwall winning that one on penalties (pretty sure you can google or youtube it haha). That was 20 years ago exactly, incidentally, we almost got Millwall in the fourth round of the FA Cup in 2005 as well, ten years later weirdly. That time though, Millwall failed to get past Everton in a replay. So it seems weird that every ten years since 1995 we seem to always be on the verge of getting Millwall in the fourth round of the FA cup, just one of those weird things I guess.
Now then - Messi. first of all, we won't get him. Too expensive. Aside from the £200 odd million trigger, there is also a tax payment as well as other payments (such is the enormity of the player) that would actually push it up to £500-£600 million. Fallen out with the manager he may have, but it is virtually impossible to pay that money for someone who is 28 in June this year. Regarding news of the story breaking, I found via Twitter well ahead of the news and press, it is amazing how so many people still haven't cottoned onto social media at this day in age, it is far quicker and reliable than the news and papers especially when it comes to transfers.
Another subject is Lampard. Now personally I am getting furious at the number of fans who have turned on him - only a minority mind but still. It turns out he is solely a Man City player and does not have a current deal with New York fc. However, as I suspected (and it was obvious) it turns out he has only made an agreement in principle to play for them and part of that agreement was to play on loan at the sister club Man City. Fair enough, fine by me. I think all parities have made a mess with how they announced it but at the end of the day, lampard has done no wrong for me and that's all I care about. He wasn't wanted by Chelsea so we can't complain, these so called 'fans' that are taking to social media to slate him have no place at my club in my opinion. These same fans were defending Fabregas earlier in the season when Arsenal fans were slating him for joining Chelsea despite the fact their own club didn't want him. Hypocrisy.
Anyway, big blog today, lots to cover, hope I haven't forgotten anything. Big game tomorrow vrs Newcastle and lots of big games coming up. UP THE CHELS!
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