By Gary Watton
March 23 2015

It looked increasingly like Chelsea were going to have to settle for yet another draw until Loic Remy came off the bench and just about slotted home the decisive third goal with what must have been his first touch of the ball. Of course, if anyone had offered Chelsea at the start of the season a four-point lead going into April, with a game in hand against the bottom club, I am sure that the Blues would gladly have seized this. However, a six-point lead looks a lot more secure, especially when there are still three London derbies and fixtures against the three major teams in red to negotiate.

Furthermore, Arsenil and ManUre have now belatedly discovered the winning habit [which must bode well for their Premiership challenge next season], so it is imperative that the Premiership leaders keep as much daylight between them and the chasing pack as possible. After all, Chelsea have demonstrated yesterday and on many occasions this season that they have a knack of throwing away a lead [even a 2-0 one!], so one was beginning to fear that the 'champions-elect' might even throw their Premiership lead away as well. At least Mourinho is correct to confirm both that Chelsea are clear favourites, but that until such time as any other outcome is mathematically impossible, then Chelsea need to sprint towards the finishing tape instead of merely staggering there with a succession of draws and unconvincing wins by one-goal margins.

The Premiership is still up for grabs, but yes west London's finest did take a giant leap yesterday. Mind you, they did it the hard way once again. Having burst into a two-nil lead, courtesy of clinical finishing from our two most lethal players, Hazard and Costa, the away team then proceeded to cede the early advantage to an enterprising Hull that was not interested in damage limitation. Instead, Chelsea's defence were at sixes and sevens, with Cahill getting booked and looking far from composed again. Of course Courtois will be blamed for the equaliser, but let's put that down to a freak mistake. After all, the big Belgian was otherwise in excellent form. He more than redeemed himself with a few crucial saves and has become as important as any other team member in sustaining Chelsea's pursuit of Premiership glory. Ironically, in recent weeks, Chelsea have looked goal-shy but defensively sound, while at Hull, it was the other way around this time. Maybe the team will eventually click in all departments in the same match again. Otherwise, it looks like a re-shuffle of the personnel is much needed in the summer.

Repeating the performance from the previous Sunday afternoon, Chelsea put their defensive wobbles behind them in the second half and went up a level again. However, it took the substitution of the ever-willing Costa for the criminally underused Remy to lead to the important fifth goal of this compelling contest.

Elsewhere on Sunday afternoon, it was good to see our nasty neighbours of QPR receiving their comeuppance from Evercrap, while Juan Mata reminded us again that we should not have sold him. I may sound like a broken record here, but we should have shipped the non-improving Oscar off to Old Trafford instead.

As a consequence, Chelsea have only two matches left to play outside of the capital, namely trips to Leicester and West Bromwich in the dying weeks of the campaign. Next on the agenda is the visit of Stoke City. They are just the type of team capable of emulating Burnley and Southampton and escaping from the Bridge with a share of the points. Chelsea would do well to hit the heights of their autumn form, or else the Premiership race could roll uncomfortably on into May.

 

Hull City 2 CHELSEA 3; half time: 2-2. Sunday 22nd March 2015.

CHELSEA goal scorers: Hazard; Costa; Remy

CHELSEA team: Courtois, Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill, Filipe Luis, Matic, Willian, Fabregas, Ramires, Costa, Hazard. Used substitutes: Oscar; Remy; Zouma.

 

CHELSEA LEADING SCORERS:

Costa - 20 goals

Hazard - 16 goals

Oscar - 7 goals

Drogba, Ivanovic, Remy, and Terry - 6 goals

Schurrle - 5 goals

Fabregas and Willian - 4 goals

Cahill, Matic and Ramires - 3 goals

Zouma - 2 goals