Double delight for Chelsea at Wembley.

Premier League champions Chelsea completed their FA Cup double with a narrow 1-0 victory over Portsmouth at the Wemby stadium here on saturday. Didier Drogba scored the only goal through a free kick to seal the double win for the blues. 

The match started in front of a pack stadium. Pompeys had a decent support who came out to play for pride and prove that they still belong to the premier league but it was not their day… Carlo Ancelotti‘s side had all eyes on the cup with nothing to loose. After fighting till the last match for the barclays premier league the blues wanted to finish with a double and they did. 

The first half went goal less with both the team unable to get past the net. Chelsea suffered a big blow in the 35th minute when Kevin-Prince Boateng‘s tackle injured German mid fielder Michael Ballack. WIth World Cup less than a month this can be a huge blow for him, being out of contract this may possibly be his last match for the blues. After that Drogba hit the woodwork in the 39th minute. 

Portsmouth had a brilliant chance to take the lead when Dindane skipped around Chelsea substitute Juliano Belletti and into the area and when the Brazilian bundled the Pompey striker over, referee Chris Foy pointed to the penalty spot. Unfortunately for Pompey, Boateng’s spot kick went straight down the middle of the goal and Cech saved with his feet. And just at the hour mark, Didier Drogba scored througha free kick when he shot around the wall and in off the post. Chelsea was 1-0 up which and the score line stayed till the end. The Chelsea players and fans were over joyed with the resut giving them the first ever double.

Chelsea plays Portsmouth to finish the year with a double.

Fresh from their triumph in the Barclays English Premier League, Chelsea will be hoping to finish with a double this season. The blues will be meeting Portsmouth in the final of the Football Association Cup (popularly known as the FA Cup) on saturday at the “new” Wembley Stadium. It was a long way for both the teams to reach the 129th final  where teams from all the divisions participated. 

 

News from the newly crowned Premier League champions is that they will be going with their usual squad that trounced Wigan Athletic in the final league match of the season. Beyond that Carlo Ancelotti is still waiting for Branislav Ivanovic injury report which is expected to make the trip to Wembley. Overall Chelsea has had a very good record over the Pompeys and the five times winners will be hoping to make it six and more importantly two in a row following last year’s 2-1 win over gunners. The blues lockers room is in absolute health after the decision of Frank Lampard to take penalty over in the previous match made Didier Drogba who was fighting for the golden boot.

For the Pompeys this is a big game. After relegating from the top division of the English league. the port club will be hoping to win the FA Cup twice in three years. They last won in 2008 after beating Cardiff city by a single goal. News from theri locker room is that midfielder Jamie O’Hara is hoping to play at Wembley on Saturday despite suffering with a double stress fracture in his back. The on loan player will be playing his last match with the Pompeys before moving back to Tottenham Hotspur, his original club. Other than that Avram Grant will be going with their usual squad and hope to make headlines tomorrow.

The match will start at 1500 Hours GMT (1930 Hours IST)

 

Champions Chelsea!!!

Didier Drogba‘s hat-trick and whole lot of goals from others sealed Chelsea‘s premier league title with 8-0 win over Wigan Athletic in the final league match of the season. The blues gave no chance to Manchester United who also won their last match against Stoke City by 4-0. Tottenham Hotspur secured the champions league qualifying place for Europe for the first time in decades despite loosing 4-2 against already relegated Burnley.

Terry & Co took only 6 minutes to get the first one on board when Nicolas Anelka fired the ball past the net. Second goald followed at the half hour mark when Frank Lampard had taken Drogba‘s return pass and surged into the area where he was stopped by Caldwell who grabbed a handful of the front of his shirt. The referee pointed to the spot and the Englishmen converted with no problems. The first half was over and it seemed that the title will surely be at Stamford Bridge this season. 

But Chelsea wanted more… Salomon Kalou got another one for the blues after running in from the right, coordinating with Lampard and finally getting the ball at the back of the net. In less than 2 minutes it was four for Chelsea when Anelka from out wide volleyed Ivanovic‘s crossfield ball with perfect precision across the goal keeper and to find the net. The match was not over yet, the Drogba drubbing followed with 3 back to back goals in the span of 15 minutes from the Ivorian and the things were finally wrapped up by Joe Cole in the 90th minute much to the delight of the over-joyed Stamford Bridge crowd.

 

Chelsea scored a century of goals this season which definately put them in the driving seat. Didier Drogba also the the goalden boot for the maximum number of goals in the premier league this season. He netted 29 goals in 33 games for the blues. Getting the hands on the trophy since surely 2006 must have surely brought great smiles over the whole of Stamford Bridge.

At Old trafford, Sir Alex fielded the best possible squad for the day to gain advantage upon any favourable news from London. The match started with Darren Fletcher scoring at half hour mark when Vidic directed the ball in to the crowed area where Fletcher touched the ball to get into the net. By the time United scored first Chelsea was 2-0 ahead. Second followed for United just 6 minutes later when Ryan Giggs fired close ranger past the goal keeper. Second half goals followed when Danny Higgingbotham scored an own goal for Wigan in the 54th minute. A fourth Reds goal arrived in the 84th minute when substitute Ji-sung Park produced a diving header from Giggs’ corner to make it 4-0. But the scoreline was for pride alone. By that time Chelsea has sealed the title bid with 7 goals. It was an elusive task for the red devils to win with a realtiver easier team for both of them and rest is history.

The final scores are:

Arsenal 4-0 Fulham

Aston Villa 0-1 Blackburn Rovers

Bolton Wanderers 2-1 Birmingham City

Burnley 4-2 Tottenham Hotspur

Chelsea 8-0 Wigan Athletic

Everton 1-0 Portsmouth

Hull City 0-0 Liverpool

Manchester United 4-0 Stoke City

West Ham United 1-1 Manchester City

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 Sunderland

Rooney-less United to prove a point against Chelsea this weekend.

The stage is set for the biggest match of the season. It will be the clash of the titans as champions Manchester United will be hosting rivals Chelsea at Old Trafford as if not everything, allot depends upon the leader of the league after this match. The two have met in the Champions league, FA Cup and all loads of tournament and most of the time the result have always seen one team losing the trophy to other.

 

In other matches, Arsenal will be hosting Wolverhampton Wanderers and would be hoping to get back on track for the title while struggling Liverpool hope to get the fourth place when they face Birmingham City. Fourth placed Tottenham will be visiting the stadium of light to face Sunderland who had put up a decent show this season.

After their champions league defeat in the hands of Bayern, Manchester United will be hoping to have a positive result out of this one. Big blow for the red devils is the injury to Wayne Rooney which he received in the midweek loss.Although it is not a fracture but a ligament tear will also take a minimum of two weeks to heal as a result he may miss the return leg against Bayern Munich at Old Trafford. Other than that Manchester United will going with their usual side with Ryan Giggs, Valencia in the wing and Berbatov up front.

Knowing the intensity, the blues are all fired up to get this one away that to in front of the devils crowd. After their exit from Europe they will be hoping to lead the table after the match. With Drogba fit and Lampard providing the breakthroughs, Carlo Ancelotti’s men has no doubt to get this one.

The match timings are:

Saturday:

Manchester United vs Chelsea 12:45 Hours GMT

Arsenal vs Wolverhampton Wanderers 15:00 Hours GMT 

Bolton Wanderers vs Aston Villa 15:00 Hours GMT
Portsmouth vs Blackburn Rovers 15:00 Hours GMT
Stoke City vs Hull City 15:00 Hours GMT
Sunderland vs Tottenham Hotspur 15:00 Hours GMT
Burnley vs Manchester City 17:30 Hours GMT

Sunday:
Birmingham City vs Liverpool 15:00 Hours GMT
Fulham vs Wigan Athletic 15:00 Hours GMT
Everton vs West Ham United 16:00 Hours GMT

Manchester United’s four retains top position after Chelsea’s struck seven.

Manchester United completed the double over Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok with an emphatic 4-0 win in the late kick-off on Saturday but not before Chelseastruck with a spectacular seven over Aston Villa at home. Meanwhile third placedArsenal’s title challenge suffered a major halt when an injury time goal by Kevin Phllips made the gunners lead go in vain and eventually they had to settle for a draw.

 

Manchester United got the lead in a pretty unusual fashion when in the crowded penalty area after Jloyd Samuelgot the ball and side footed into his own net in the 38th minute. The teams went into the break with 1-0 in home side’s favour.

Second half was truly Man United’s with three goals in it. Dimitar Berbatov got his first when a deflected ball by the goal keeper landed in his foot who simply tapped it behind the net. He got his second in the 78th minute when Nani teased Bolton defenders with some lovely footwork on
the left flank and pulled the ball back for Berbatov to complete. Finally things were wrapped up by Darron Gibson8 minutes from time when he came in as a substitute.

 

Chelsea gave a strong signals to the leaders after they thrashed Aston Villa with 7-1 scoreline. Frank Lampardnetted 4 times for the blues and Florent Malouda scored twice and one for Kalou in the win. Needless to say… but Villa equalised at 1-1 when Carew tapped a cross over the line at the far post but that was it for the visiting side.

Arsenalsuffered a major setback against Birmingham City after Samir Nasri’s 82nd minute lead was cancelled byKevin Phillips in the injury time of the match.

Other results were:

Hull City 2-0 Fulham

Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Portsmouth

West Ham United 0-1 Stoke City

Wolves 0-0 Everton

The blues’ commander: Frank Lampard

Frank James Lampard was born 20 June 1978, is an English footballer who is currently playing his club football for Premier League club Chelsea
and at international level for the England national football team.
He plays most often as a box-to-box midfielder and has also enjoyed spells in a more
advanced attacking midfield role since playing in 62 matches and
scoring a total of 21 goals in all competitions back in 2006-2007. Lampard’s
most successful season in a Chelsea shirt would probably be the 2005-06 campaign
where he made 35 Premier League appearances and netted 16 league goals as they
finished first with 91 points ending the season eight points clear of second
placed Manchester United. Lampard made him international debut for England on 10
October 1999 in a 2-1 friendly win over Belgium, and and later on scored
his first goal on 20 August 2003 in a 3-1 win over Croatia.

His career started at West Ham United in 1994 as a youth where he played for 149 matches before he was given on loan to Swansea City but later came in the eyes of Chelsea spotters as a result Lampard’s Premier League debut with Chelsea came on 19 August 2001 in a 1-1 draw with Newcastle United. Currently he is the striking force of Chelsea as they edge closer to win the premiership title.

 

He has earned numerous awards at individual level like the 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year, PFA Fans’ Player of the Year, Premier League Player of the Month
along with taking Chelsea to the Premier League champions in 2005-06 and the
following year and the FA Cup also in 06-07, 07-08.

So with his
determination and style he is bound to get famous and a loyal man to the club.
Hope we’ll see him with the crown in May this year.

Wembley stadium add “new” to its name.

Wembley Stadium is a stadium, located in Wembley Park in London, England. Primarily an association football venue, Wembley is owned by The Football Association (The FA) via its
subsidiary Wembley National Stadium Limited, and hosts the home international
matches of the England national football team
and the main English domestic cup finals.

As long ago as the 1880s, Wembley Park Leisure Grounds had football and cricket pitches, a running track, fountains and waterfalls, walkways and flowerbeds. The first
event in the old stadium was the famous ‘white horse cup final’ of 1923. Over
the years, the stadium was regularly updated and improved. Floodlights were
added in 1955. Whilst the electric scoreboard and the all encircling roof, made
from aluminium and translucent glass, were added in 1963. Those changes aside,
the structure of the stadium remained essentially the same as it was in 1924
and the old stadium struggled to meet the developing needs of sports fans when
it was finally closed in 2000.

The stadium was renovated and reopened to the fans lately in 2007 and the final of the FA Cup took place where Chelsea won 1-0 against Manchester United with a goal by Didier Drogba,making him the first player to score in the FA Cup final at the new Wembley.

Wembley’s 90,000 capacity makes it the second largest stadium in Europe (after Camp Nou,
Barcelona) and the largest and tallest in the world with every seat under
cover. It is one of the most expensive stadia ever built, costing close to
£800 million. Immediately following its opening, it was often referred to
as the “new Wembley Stadium” to distinguish it from the original stadium.
Now again the stadium will be alive with the league cup final between Manchester Unitedand Aston Villa will take place on the last day of this month.

Chelsea back at the top after Drogba’s double, United score five.

Chelsea cut short Manchester United’s short run at the top of the table when they got a clean
double against their London rivals Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. Earlier on
Saturday, Manchester
United drubbed Portsmouth with 5-0 score line thus making
their chances of survival more and more tough in the premier league.
Now after 25 games the blues are leading with 58 points just two
above the Red Devils who are at second place.

 It was a perfect day for Manchester United, Rooney collected the Player of the month
trophy for a great January he had and after that he scored the opening goal in
the 39^th minute when Fletcher crossed
the ball to Rooney who
simply converted with ease. And just at the stroke of half time the host’s lead
was double when Nani’s impressive run ended with a shot at the
goal but got deflected through Vanden Borreand went into the
goal. In the second half Michael
Carrick’s 25 yard shot found the net just at the hour mark and Berbatov made
it 4-0 three minutes later. Pompey’s bad run didn’t stop there, Patrice
Evra swung in a perfectly-flighted cross which Nani could
only glance on, and Wilson hammered a finish high into his own
goal leaving them 5-0 down which was the final score.

Guns were silenced by the blues with a 2-0 win with their Ivory Coast international Didier Drogba scoring both the goals. Chelsea got into the
act quickly make the visitors uncomfortable right from the start. Drogba scored
his first of the corner in the 8^th minute when he
headed the ball at the back post and again in the 23^rd minute
he got into the box on the right, cuts inside past a couple of Arsenal defenders
and smashes it into the top of net. The match was far from over before the half
time. With no goals scored in the second half the final score remained as it is
with Chelsea going
top of the table.

The weekend results were:

Saturday

Liverpool 1-0 Everton

Bolton Wanderers 0-0 Fulham

Burnley 2-1 West Ham United

Hull City 2-1 Manchester City

Manchester United 5-0 Portsmouth

Stoke City 3-0 Blackburn Rovers

Sunderland 1-1 Wigan Athletic

Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Aston Villa

Sunday

Birmingham City 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal

Know your player: Didier Drogba.

Considered to be Chelsea’s spread head, Didier Drogba has surely been one of the best players Chelsea has ever had. Didier Yves Drogba Tébily, born 11 March 1978 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire) is an Ivorian, who plays in the centre forward position. France was his adopted home where he started playing club football and spent his childhood years. He is a regular in a Chelsea’s line up in the English Premier League and is the captain and all-time leading scorer of the Côte d’Ivoire national football team. He recently took his team into the African Nation’s Cup and to the World Cup finals in South Africa next year.

Funny things happened to him when he was 13, he had to repeat his class and for that his parents banned him from playing football but after that there was no looking back. After turning 15, Drogba signed up with Levallois and started playing club football there. And finally at the age of 21, he got his professional contract with Le Mans club in France when he scored hand full goals.

After scoring many goals for Olympique de Marseille, Drogba was transferred to Chelsea for a record £24 million by making him one of the most expensive player from his country. He scored his first goal for the blues as early as the third match against Crystal Palace. He then took his team to the league cup victory and the semi finals of thechampions league in the same year.

He was included in the PFA Team of the year & UEFA Team of the year in 2007, he was also the top scorer in thepremier league in 2007. He is currently the leading the goals tally for his country.
As far as the current season is concerned, Drogba has been always in the thick of the action and has scored 14 goals in 16 matches which is nearly a goal per match in the league. So definitely he is the player to look out for. Beware of it everyone!!!

Firing at Gunners, Liverpool starts winning.

Finally Liverpool found some light at the end of the tunnel by winning against their neighbours Everton at Goodison park by a comfortable 2-0 margin. It was their 212th meeting. The match started with plenty in Liverpool’s mind who have been knocked out of the champions league last week needed this win to get back on track. An own goal byJoseph Yobo has put Liverpool up in front in the in the 11th minute which then stayed till the break. In the second half reds goal keeper saved some spectacular shots in order to maintain the singe goal lead and finally Liverpool was relieved when Dirk Kuyt put the ball in to the net from a close range to seal the must awaited victory for the visiting side.

A win in the champions league followed by a win in the premier league surely has given them a much needed winning which is expected to last longer. With the resultLiverpool are joint 5th in the league.

In the other big match of the day, the Gunners were waved off by the visiting Blues in a match that was never thought to be a one sided that too at the Emirates stadium. With the win Chelsea are 5 points clear at the top of the table. With plenty of half chances for both the teams, the first goal finally came in the 42nd minute for the visiting side when Ashley Cole passed the ball to Drogba who put the ball with his first touch , giving a crucial lead. And just 2 minutes later the lead was doubled when Ashley Cole curled the ball from the left corner which found Thomas Vermaelen putting the ball into his own net resulting in an own goal. The victory was finally wrapped with the third goal by a Didier Drogba free kick in the dying minutes of the match.

As Chelsea is comfortably sitting at the top there is much to be done by Arsenal who is 11 points adrift of the leaders and with Van Persie out till march, Arsene Wenger needs some serious shuffling to be done to get back and challenge the leaders.