Early Saturday evening, we went into the London derby match against West Ham, knowing that only a win would do, having already heard the result from the earlier United - Everton match, in which United had snatched a late winner, courtesy of Hernandez. Knowing, that United had won, to stand any chance of retaining the title and to keep pressure on at the top, a win was a must for us, whereas for West Ham a win was also a must, but for different reasons. At the time of kick off in our game on Saturday, West Ham were at the foot of the premier league table, and they find themselves in a very tough relegation battle this season.
The conditions on Saturday were not ideal, as despite the earlier glorious sunshine, the clouds had come over SW6 and the heavens had opened. It had not only started to rain, but it had started to pour down and the pitch had suffered the consequences. However, despite the conditions, both teams were determined to give a good performance. Carlo, as he had done against Birmingham started with a 4-3-3 formation, with Kalou and Malouda alongside Drogba up front. Torres was again placed on the bench, along with Nicolas Anelka.
Although there were numerous efforts, with both teams pushing forwards, the first goal of the match did not come until just before half time. Despite West Ham's efforts, Frank Lampard netted the first goal against his former club from 7 yards out and Chelsea went into the half time break with a 1-0 lead. As the second half started, the rain had also reappeared, however, this did not stop goal scoring chanced from being created. Chelsea had a number of chances to make it 2-0, most notably a David Luiz shot that just hit the crossbar! However, it was not until the final 10 minutes of the match when the further goals were scored.
Carlo Ancelloti had made some changes in the final period of the game, bringing on Torres and Anelka to replace Drogba and Kalou. As soon as the Spaniard entered the pitch, he made a deteremined effort, and you could sense that perhaps that Saturday was finally going to be his day.....and believe it or not, in the 83rd minute Torres struck a beautifully crafted goal that led to wild celebrations at Stamford bridge. The crowd went wild and the entire team jumped on top of him! Everyone was delighted for Fernando, and he had deserved it. Despite his goal drought since signing in the January transfer window, we had all kept faith and his first goal had been coming, getting closer and closer in recent games. Now that he has the first goal under his belt, I believe that it will be a huge weight of his shoulders and now the goals will just follow on from here.
After Fernando's goal the atmosphere was amazing and as there was not many minutes left in the game, the 3 points were secure for Chelsea. However, that was not all Chelsea had to offer, as in the closing minutes Malouda struck home to make the score 3-0 to Chelsea, as the final score. West Ham find themselves in a lot of trouble at the moment, but for us it was a good win!
After the weekends matches, we find ourselves 3 points clear of Arsenal, as they lost to Bolton, and 6 points behind United, with 4 games to play. Although it is in United's hands, we are not out of the title race just yet and if we keep on winning it is possible that we can finish the season where we started - at the top! However, United play Arsenal next week, and we need the Gunners to do us a favour by beating them after which it will be our turn to visit Old Trafford again. So if we continue to play as we are at the moment, and if the Gunners manage to do us a small favour next week...who knows. But one thing is for sure, although it may not be entirely in our hands, we still believe!
4 matches remain for us and we want to see 4 wins out of 4! Lets have a good finish to the season....UP THE CHELS!
Also just for those that were mocking Fernando:
http://hasfernandotorresscoredforchelsea.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment