Testing time for Chelsea

In the last three matches Chelsea played a goalless draw with Tottenham, an impressive win against Benfica and the all important win against Aston Villa has given the supporters a sense of belief that this season can be fruitful.

Chelsea play Benfica at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday and would want to continue their dream run for the Champions League title which somehow eluded them.After winning 1-0 at Benfica we got an away goal advantage thanks to Torres and Kalou.

But underestimating Benfica would cost Chelsea heavily but I like the approach of Roberto Di Matteo in bringing the positive attitude which was missing in the Villa Boas era and this attitude has helped the team in a big way.

Di Matteo and his players know that Benfica are a great side and it would be hard to beat them and they would definitely give their all and try to win the match and secure their place in the semifinal for the sixth time in eight years.

What I most liked is the form Torres is showing.He is playing well,scoring goals,assisting goals and most importantly giving his 100 percent and the goal he scored against Aston Villa defines his quality and the efforts he has put in.

Chelsea are playing good football and I would like them to continue their dream run in the Champions League and book a mouth-watering clash against either AC Milan or Barcelona.

Watch Fernando Goal against AstonVilla here:-

Mouthwatering clash with Tottenham

It's been good days here at Stamford Bridge after the Napoli game.We are in the quaterfinals of the Champions league,semifinals of the FA Cup and fifth in the Premier league.Although we lost to ManCity,we should not get upset because we have a good chance of finishing fourth or even third.

Against ManCity we played good football and took the lead through Gary Cahill but the penalty to ManCity changed the match and Carlos Tevez beautiful pass was coolly converted by Nasri to hand City the win they eagerly wanted.

Now on Saturday we have a mouthwatering clash with Tottenham which every Chelsea fan knows is a must win game as it will reduced the difference to two points with eight games remaining.The last time these two teams met,ended in a enthralling 1-1 draw.

The nice change I found about this Chelsea team under DiMatteo is the positive attitude the players have shown which was missing under Villa Boas.Torres scored against Leicester City and although he didn't score against City he played well and played a beautiful pass to Mata which Mata was unable to score.

It's important for Chelsea to keep fighting for all the competitions because some big games are coming and that could really turn this season for Chelsea upside down.

Chelsea vs ManCity Highlights:-

An Unforgettable Night

After the hard fought victory against Stoke City,all the attention moved back to the Chelsea vs Napoli game.Chelsea have been defeated by Napoli 3-1 in Naples and Chelsea in order to progress to the quaterfinals of the Champions League need to score atleast two goals.

All the odds were against us and even the pundits were expecting Napoli to go through but what happened during the course of the night was unbelievable.

The first half started slowly and Chelsea were dictating possession but the real attack came from Napoli and Cech was there to rescue us on every occasion.Napoli would have scored two goals but thanks to Cech for keeping us alive in the match.After the early exchanges Chelsea scored the all important first goal to kickstart the process.Ramires found space on the left and he made a sweet cross which was powerfully headed by Drogba to give Chelsea the lead.

The second half  started on a great note with Terry heading from the corner and Chelsea were back in the game but as Chelsea started to control the game Napoli struck back and what a goal scored by Inler.

After Terry cleared the ball,Inler controlled it on the edge of the box and scored a great goal with Cech finally beaten.






As the time was ticking Napoli were the favourites,but we believed that we could turn this around and that's what happened when Ivanovic header hit the hand of Napoli defender and Lampard hold his nerve to score the penalty and bring Chelsea back in the tie.

From then onwards both sides were going for the kill but Chelsea scored the important goal and the scorer was Ivanovic which was neatly setup by Drogba.Chelsea went through intense pressure from Napoli but what was great to see that Chelsea were not sitting back and defending but they were really going for the fifth goal and when the referee blow the final whistle,history was made.

Each and every player performed.Luiz was amazing,Ramires was continuously running,Drogba was energitic.In all,from defence to forward all the players played their heart out.Benfica are our next opponent and they are a good side and it will be another tough match.

Our next match is the FA Cup fixture against Leicester City and if we win we will be in the semis of the FA Cup which would be great.I hope Chelsea will win and continue this great run.

Chelsea vs Napoli 2nd leg Highlights:-

Andre's sacking was not right

What happened last week was not good for the Chelsea football club.Manager Andre Villa Boas was sacked by Roman after the WestBrom defeat.Another manager sacked and the search for a new manager has started.Whenever players don't perform the man who get the axe is the Coach.

Although I agree in some matches he got his tactics wrong but even the player performances were not helping him.Chelsea performed well in their first match under Roberto Di Matteo by beating Birmingham by two goals to nil and again the star performer was Juan Mata.

Andre Villa Boas vision was good and who knows if he was given time he would have made Chelsea stronger.Andre's fall out with the senior players is termed as the real reason for his sacking. Di Matteo and some players dedicated the win against Birmingham to Andre and I think they did the right thing.

What surprises me is the decision of Roman of sacking Villa Boas after bringing him from Porto and that defines that he will never give a Manager enough time to build a squad.They should really consider the example of Sir Alex Ferguson that defines that if given time and space one can build a stronger and competitive squad.

The next match is against Stoke and I hope Di Matteo will rejuvinate this Chelsea squad and the least I expect is a win.

You can watch Chelsea vs Birmingham Highlights here:

Worst month of the season for Chelsea

The month February has been the worst month in terms of results for Chelsea this season.A draw against Swansea,Manchester United and Birmingham and defeat to Everton and Napoli.

Chelsea have been playing poor football and the news of the rift between the coach and the players is also not helping.Chelsea fans are running out of patient and expecting this worst period to evaporate rather soon.

This results certaintly put an end to our premier league title hopes and our chances in the FA Cup and Champions League are hanging by a thread.The match against Napoli highlighted our defensive errors.Even the team picked up for the match by Andre was criticized as the veterans Lampard,Essien and Ashley Cole were on the bench.

We lost the match 3-1 because of some poor defending which could have been avoided and it could have been worse if Cech and Cole had not made those crucial saves.Its not that we were bad in attacking but we were unable to score.While leading 1-0 we got two really good chances to go 3-0 up.

First when Sturridge had the ball and Mata was free but Sturridge decided to go for the goal and the second one was when David Luiz got a free header.

At 1-1 also Ramires got a great chance to make it 2-1 but his shot was way above.If Chelsea would have taken those chances the result would have different.

The next match is against Bolton and the coach Andre Villa Boas would like to end February on a winning note and lead this Chelsea team to fight for the Champions league spot.

I hope Chelsea will win against Bolton and will carry the momentum to the further matches.

Full Goal Highlights of Chelsea vs Napoli Game : -

Chelsea into the last 16 of FA Cup

Chelsea reached last 16 of the FA Cup defeating their rivals QPR by a single goal.It was a match which Chelsea dominated throughout and were the deserved winners.Chelsea were dissapointed with their draw against Norwich.Andre Villa Boas started John Terry despite the racist abuse allegations that put a darker than usual cloud over this fixture, and instead of Gary Cahill it was David Luiz who partnered the captain in the centre of defence.The first half was dominated by Chelsea and Juan Mata shot on the break was saved by Paddy Kenny.

The second half started on a similar note with Chelsea dominating.Mata should have scored as he was played in behind the defence by a QPR tackle,but Mata thought he was offside.Then came the decisive moment of the match. Daniel Sturridge, made an amazing dive in the box when Clint Hall brushed up against him and Mata scored from the resulting spot kick.

                                    

Then Chelsea were hit by the storm as Ramires while blocking Hill shot at the edge of the box fall awkardly and hurt himself in the process and there was huge tension created around the Chelsea camp and later it was announced that Ramires suffered a medial knee ligament problem.  

                                 

      

QPR never threatened but came close when Luke Young's blistering shot was saved by Petr Cech in the dying minutes.Chelsea with this win enters in to the fifth round of the FA Cup.The next match is against Swansea and Chelsea will look to continue this winning momentum which will help them in their big match against Manchester United on Sunday.

Video of Mata's Penalty against QPR:-

Good Start to the New Year

Its been a good new year for Chelsea.Three wins and most importantly no goals conceded in the last two matches.Although the scoreline against Portsmouth gives the impression that the team had an easy outing but that was not the case.Portsmouth would have been two nil up in the first half.But great effort by Chelsea to hold on and they were rewarded with goals from Mata,Ramires and Lampard.

The important thing was the team showed patience and that ultimately paid off.The next match against Sunderland was not an easy one.Sunderland was in great form and knew that they can get a result here.Although Sunderland started brightly Chelsea took the lead through Lampard and it was setup by Torres.

Torres was denied a penalty which the referee got wrong and Sunderland also should have got a penalty.Either side missed the chance to score goals and at the end Sunderland would have got the equalizer.

Sunderland would feel devastated by the result but Chelsea would be relieved to get the three points.The exciting part is that now we have three new players.Michael Essien coming through injury,the new signing Gary Cahill and most importantly the ever refreshing Fernando Torres.

The next match is against Norwich City who are coming in to this match with a streak of wins and would like to cause an upset.Chelsea would like to get a win and would eagerly be waiting for Sunday's result between ManCity and Tottenham and ManUnited and Arsenal.I believe that Chelsea would get the three points and continue their good run in the New Year.