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McGregor realising he's the third wheel |
Last week’s league match followed 120 minutes of physical European competition and was against an opponent that were more than up to the task. Southampton have been a difficult side for just about everyone to face this season. Apologies for the forthcoming cliché here … but it was genuinely a good point. This week, Chelsea had 8 days to prepare to face the relegation fodder that is Steve Bruce's Hull City Thunder Cats.
The match got off to the start that most people would have expected. The little Belgian magician got things off to the start the very vocal support would have expected. Easily Eden Hazard's best goal of the season. And that was quickly followed up by a Diego Costa goal via Cesc Fàbregas. It was like September all over again - or so everyone thought. You could hear the sound of rivals turning off their tellies before the impending rout. However, those mischievous felines from Hull had other ideas.
Let’s just say that things took a turn. Saying that Chelsea's back line weren't quite up to par on Sunday would be like saying Steven Gerrard's cameo against Manchester United was just mildly amusing. They were a hot mess. Branislav Ivanovic is easily one of Chelsea's most reliable players but he had an absolute shocker which had a roll-on effect. Gary Cahill has just been hanging on to doing his own job but when forced to cover a struggling Ivanovic, rash challenges were flying in thick and fast. Fair play to Mourinho for persevering and playing a little Russian roulette with the second yellow game.
In less than 2 minutes Hull had scored as many goals against Chelsea as they had managed in their last 8 against them. Combined! Eight! Unnecessary punctuation!! After making a couple of glorious saves Courtois made his first error that led directly to a goal in a Chelsea shirt for Hull’s second of the day A damning indictment of both teams performances on the he day. He redeemed himself in the second half with the ‘triple save’. But what was anyone else doing while Hull were shooting at will within inches of Chelsea’s goal?!
Luckily super-sub Loïc Remy was on hand to net the winner. He said “when I came on I just played with my quality. Scoring goals is my job as a striker.” With Diego Costa (and his length appropriate socks) hobbling off, it’s good that Remy looks keen to increase his transfer value this summer.
Chelsea *just* got away with this one - and it’s probably harsh on Hull to have come away with nothing for their efforts. <insert some tripe about perseverance / luck / sign of champions here>. But with 19 points to go - Chelsea might want to really start thinking about that whole ‘focusing on the league’ sooner than later.
jb x
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