By BlueBlood
December 18 2004
For the sixth Premiership match this season and after only 18 Premiership games Chelsea scored four. Prior to Norwich City becoming the latest four goal victims, Blackburn fell for four, Fulham fell for four, Charlton fell for four, Newcastle fell for four and NOW Norwich fall for four.
Six matches, 24 goals and in two of those matches only two goals conceded. Title winning form. Maybe just maybe. Chelsea currently sit at the top of the Premiership on 43 points, six points in front of Everton (who dropped two points at Blackburn today) and eight points clear of 'The Arse' who go to Portsmouth on Sunday afternoon. Oh Happy Days. Nothing can take away the feeling of delight, joy, and that element of being proud that Chelsea will be top of the Premiership on Christmas Day. Happy Days. Happy Days. A note of caution though. Of the last twelve Premiership seasons, only three teams that were top of the Premiership at Christmas went on to win the title. Why do I mentioned the note of caution? Well we are talking about Chelsea. After all this is Chelsea. Teams of the past that promise so much and fail to deliver. Teams of the past that flatter to deceive. To quote Mark Stallard, author of 'Over Land and Sea' 'Glorious Unpredictability.' Two words that I will never forget and two words that will remain with me for the rest of my days. A simple statement that means so much and rings so true. Remember - GLORIOUS UNPREDICTABILITY. In truth in many ways 4-0 flattered Chelsea today but Chelsea were helped by Norwich's defensive generosity. Chelsea didn't need to get out of first gear. Norwich harried, parried, puffed and panted - especially with the likes of ex Arse Bentley and the dangerous Darren Huckerby. But once Norwich lost Mattias Svensson early on, it really was horses for courses. Chelsea struck in the 10th minute from a defensive mistake by Thomas Helveg. A misplaced pass and Damien Duff latched onto the loose ball and hit it low into Robert Green's right hand side of the net. Twenty minutes later and another bad ball out of the Norwich defence, this time by Gary Doherty, saw Rockin Robben play a clever ball into Super Frankie Lampard and he literally took aim, and like an arrow shot into the top left hand corner. From my position which was behind the play, once the ball had left Lamps boot, there was only one place that it was going to end up. There we are. Chelsea not playing that well and hardly creating a chance, were 'gifted' two goals by a generous and benevolent Norwich City. I doubt for the rest of the season that Chelsea will receive so much charity again. But isn't that what potential champions are all about, taking advantage of the weaker and generous opposition. The third goal just before half-time was the goal of the game and a SERIOUS contender for goal of the season. Robben out on the right, fed the ball into Lampard who in turn flicked it onto Tiago, who had found himself forward in the Norwich penalty area. A delightful back waist high flick towards Robben who had moved inside and with a one touch control hit a beautiful shot that went under the body of the diving Green. I doubt with that much power, many goalkeepers would have saved it. There we were 3-0 up at half time. With Duff and Robbern alternating wings and sometimes playing on the same side, Chelsea looked in total control without creating too much. Weird really. Seriously it was weird. But that is what this game made me start to realise that perhaps, perhaps Chelsea CAN win the title. And win it in style and win it without the subject of money being the main point of conversation. I have spoken on a couple of occasions about visiting managers beings no mugs. For example Sam Allardyce with Bolton. Its about time that the great one JM should be framed in the same category. He is no mug either. JM wants to win. He wants to win every game. Every point. Every trophy. Chelsea are in SERIOUS contention for four trophies this season and it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest that we went on to win ALL four. That will shut the doubters up. That will shut the jealous guy up. That will shut EVERYBODY up that is not connected to Chelsea Football Club. What was to happen in the second half? Do Chelsea kick on and go nap. Or do Chelsea sit back and stick with what they had already achieved. Well although Chelsea only added one more, seven minutes from time with a delightful header from Drogba from a Duff corner. Chelsea pressed and pressed and knocked on the door, and to be fair Green was far more busier in the second half with loads of good saves, that the spirit of Chelsea continues with not settling and sitting back with what they had already earned from the first half as other Chelsea teams and performances have done in the past. There is a certain MAGIC in the air at Chelsea at the moment. Long may it continue. With games coming up thick and fast: Aston Villa (H) 26th, Portsmouth (A) 28th, Liverpool (A) 1st Jan 05 and Middlesbrough (H) 4th Jan 05 these will be a test, a serious test of Chelsea's title ambitions. But I have a feeling with the squad that Chelsea have got and a manager with JMs desire and capabilities these games could be tests that Chelsea may well find themselves passing. COME ON CHELSEA!! PREMIERSHIP P18 W13 D4 L1 F37 A8 PTS 43 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE P6 W4 D1 L1 F9 A3 PTS 13 CARLING CUP P3 W3 D0 L0 F5 A1 -- FA CUP -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- TOTAL P27 W20 D5 L2 F51 A12 -- v Man Utd (L) W1-0 v Birmingham (L) W1-0 v C Palace (L) W2-0 v Southampton (L) W2-1 v Aston Villa (L) D0-0 v PSG (CL) W3-0 v Spurs (L) D0-0 v Middlesbrough (L) W1-0 v Porto (CL) W3-1 v Liverpool (L) W1-0 v Man City (L) L0-1 v CSKA Moscow (CL) W2-0 v Blackburn Rovers (L) W4-0 v West Ham Utd (CC) W1-0 v WBA (L) W4-1 v CSKA Moscow (CL) W1-0 v Everton (L) W1-0 v Newcastle Utd (CC) W2-0 v Fulham (L) W4-1 v Bolton (L) D2-2 v PSG (CL) D0-0 v Charlton Athletic (L) W4-0 v Fulham (CC) W2-1 v Newcastle Utd (L) W4-0 v Porto (CL) L1-2 v Arsenal (L) D2-2 v Norwich City (L) W4-0
