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Blackburn 0-2 Chelsea: Rain Didn’t Stop Play

BLACKBURN 0-2 CHELSEA

So Luiz Felipe Scolari got three points for his 60th birthday on a ridiculously wet day at Ewood Park and hopefully we can all forget the lack of effort in Rome. Because effort was definitely called for in conditions more befitting waders than football boots to be fair to everyone out there.

Didier Drogba was conspicuous in his absence although we’re told he “doesn’t feel ready to crack on yet” (boo bloody hoo), and seeing as I’d predicted Joe Cole would have a big influence on the game, I wasn’t surprised to see him missing from the squad with a hamstring injury either.

We definitely should have had a penalty early on when Anelka picked up a woeful back-pass and Robinson caught his foot. The fact the Chelsea man attempted to stay on his feet before the momentum took him down probably dissuaded the ref from pointing to the spot but it was a certain let-off for the home side and seemingly inspired the Blackburn keeper to have one of the best games he’s had in a very long time. He saved with his feet from Anelka soon after and once Terry had hit over the bar, Robinson saved a Mikel header at close range, although not without a little help from the post.

I have to say I expected a tougher time in the first half, in the sort of conditions that should act as a leveller, and yet it was one way traffic. Blackburn were defending well enough at times, forcing Chelsea to work hard to find space but it was all played in their half and they couldn’t get out. With pretty much everyone fancying their chances on a pitch carrying way to much water, Lampard forced another save from Robinson from distance.

To be fair to Blackburn, they did get out of their half once or twice, even forcing a fantastic save from Cech on one occasion from Villanueva. But for most of the half it was all about Chelsea and again on the half hour, Robinson denied Nicolas Anelka who’d put in some lovely footwork to carve out a shot. The Frenchman looked sharp and up for it and his effort finally paid off in one off the funniest goals I’ve seen for a while, shortly before the break. Jose Bosingwa, fancying a bit of hit and hope from distance walloped a shot which was always going wide until it came off Anelka’s knee, wrong-footing Robinson and then seeming to take an agonisingly long time to force itself against the building current that used to be a pitch and crawl over the line.

And did I celebrate? No, while Blackburn were busy moaning about some handball that apparently only those with a northern accent and a meat pie in their hands could actually see, I was laughing my arse off. Not since Tromso in ’97 have I found the weather such an amusing addition to a game of football to be honest. It wasn’t pretty and despite the fact we hadn’t really got much of a return for all the effort put in, it was a good laugh.

Anyway, second half and Blackburn had a lot more purpose about them but having watched Chelsea try and keep some kind of tempo and momentum going in the rain-soaked first half, their legs must have felt like lead by now anyway.

In a weird kind of way, I was happy that one of my predictions wasn’t that far off the mark, as Jason Roberts caused Alex and Terry their share of problems, most notably when he turned the Chelsea captain way too easily and forced Cech to block. And with Blackburn pushing ever harder, Scolari sent on Juliano Belletti for Salomon Kalou and not long after, a Lampard pass saw the livelier Nicolas Anelka lift the ball over Robinson for his second of the game and his eleventh this season.

All in all then, the conditions were a bit slapstick and whilst Chelsea weren’t great, they were certainly good enough.

 

TEAMS

BLACKBURN: Robinson, Simpson, Khizanishvili, Nelsen, Olsson, Grella (Mokoena, 45), Warnock, Villanueva, Andrews (Derbyshire, 46), Pedersen, Roberts (Fowler, 77)

CHELSEA: Cech, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Bridge, Lampard, Mikel, Deco, Kalou (Belletti, 62), Anelka, Malouda

Goals: Anelka 40, 68

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