morning papers bordeaux away 1-1

The Guardian
Lampard sees red as Diarra's late header takes Chelsea to the wire• Bordeaux refuse to roll over after Anelka's strike• Draw means Scolari's side must wait to secure qualificationBordeaux 1 Diarra 83 Chelsea 1 Anelka 60
David Hytner at the Stade Chaban Delmas
It had appeared that with Nicolas Anelka's goal Chelsea had finally achieved calm after a difficult couple of days and a testing assignment in front of a vociferous crowd. A place in the knockout phase of the competition looked to be theirs.
They were struck, however, by an attack of the defensive jitters and after the stunning denouement, which included a sending-off for Frank Lampard, they had to face the reality. When they play Cluj at Stamford Bridge in two weeks' time, Luiz Felipe Scolari will need a win to ensure that his first shot at Europe's elite competition does not end in ignominy.
Other results may yet see them through, but anxieties will linger until the last 16 is reached. There is also the possibility that if Chelsea do progress, it will be as Group A runners-up, which should make for a more difficult draw, although Scolari claimed not to care about that. He added that he cannot worry about things which are beyond his control. He will take qualification however it comes.
The build-up to the match had been dominated by the talk of Didier Drogba and a possible transfer to Internazionale. The Ivorian made an appearance off the bench, moreover, but it was the club's other striker who threatened to make happier headlines for them.
Anelka scored with Chelsea's first serious attack, yet his goal was merely the prompt for Bordeaux to haul themselves off the canvas. Chelsea would not have deserved victory but it was galling for them that they should freeze when the excellent Yoann Gourcuff swung over a late corner from the left. Alou Diarra was given the freedom of the area, with John Terry having failed to track his run, and the goalkeeper Petr Cech could only watch as the former Liverpool reserve's header rippled the corner of his net.
Bordeaux had been billed in some quarters as being tired and injury-hit, the underdog tag firmly affixed and not only because of the 4-0 beating they took at Stamford Bridge. Yet last night they showed themselves to be neat and urgent, with menace in the midfield trio behind the centre-forward Marouane Chamakh.
At the heart of their performance was Gourcuff, a one-time Arsenal target who is on loan from Milan. His weighted ball over Ashley Cole ushered in Mathieu Chalme for the chance of the first half - the full-back's shot was beaten away by Cech - and shortly afterwards, when Michael Ballack gave the ball away, Gourcuff drew another save out of Cech with a 20-yard shot. The goalkeeper had earlier been forced to palm Fernando's speculative drive past a post.
Chelsea's recent away form in the Champions League has been something of a curiosity. All-conquering on their travels in domestic football, they stepped out in south-west France without a European win in 12 months. Indeed, they had won in only five of their previous 23 away ties.Their previous victory came at Rosenborg and on that night Drogba cut through the sub-zero temperatures to score two early goals.
He felt a chill wind of a different nature here, the fallout from his alleged meeting on Monday with Internazionale's technical director darkening his mood and placing a further cloud over what he has since claimed have been the toughest six months of his career.
It might sound implausible, given their status as the Premier League leaders, but there was a pre-match feeling that Chelsea were embattled. Scolari had fuelled it with his tetchy performance at Tuesday's press conference, where he railed against the Drogba allegation. Such are the margins and expectation levels at one of Europe's most high-profile clubs.
There was an niggling undercurrent to the match. Three Chelsea men were booked inside seven minutes halfway through the first period, including Lampard for a lunge at Chamakh, and the willingness of Bordeaux's players to square up to their counterparts and crowd the referee suggested that matters could get out of hand.
Chelsea had not mustered a single attempt on goal during the first half and Anelka's goal came out of nothing 15 minutes into the second period. Lampard sent out a precision pass which Diarra could not cut out and Anelka's finish, for his 14th goal of the season, was of the highest order. Dropping his shoulder once and then twice to unnerve the goalkeeper Mathieu Valverde, he slotted the ball calmly past him. When he was substituted for Drogba minutes later, the France international was given a warm ovation from all corners of the ground.
Chelsea began to look threatening on the counter but the game would turn. Diarra's equaliser was followed by Lampard's second booking for a foul on Fernando and there was even a late scare following another corner from Gourcuff. Chelsea still have work to do.
Blues hit the buffers
Last night saw Chelsea's fifth failure to win in the past month
Oct 26 PL v Liverpool (h) 0-1
Chelsea's 86-game unbeaten home run ends courtesy of Xabi Alonso's deflected early goal for Liverpool
Nov 4 CL v Roma (a) 1-3
A chastening defeat is compounded by the late sending off of Deco
Nov 12 CC v Burnley (h) 1-1 (4-5 pens)
Didier Drogba lands himself in trouble by hurling a coin back at visiting fans
Nov 22 PL v Newcastle (h) 0-0
Luiz Felipe Scolari's side again fail to break down opponents at home as Newcastle gain a well-earned point
Nov 26 CL v Bordeaux (a) 1-1
A late equaliser pegs back Chelsea, who have Frank Lampard sent off
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Mail:
Bordeaux 1 Chelsea 1 - Blues choke as Lampard finds the red tastes sourby NEIL ASHTON
Given a ‘kick up the backside’ by John Terry when they were beaten 3-1 by Roma, Chelsea were left kicking and screaming in France.
They kicked lumps out of a feisty Bordeaux team, picking up a mandatory UEFA fine after four Chelsea players were booked and Frank Lampard was sent off for only the second time in his Chelsea career.
At the final whistle they were screaming, pointing accusing fingers at each other after they failed to spot the diagonal run of Alou Diarra when he scored Bordeaux’s equaliser seven minutes from time. The Bordeaux midfielder was like a beat bobby, patrolling the pitch before he was given the freedom of France to flex his neck muscles and power a bullet of a header beyond Petr Cech.
What a blow for Chelsea, seemingly home and hosed when Nicolas Anelka scored his 14th goal of the season on the hour. Then they were through to the second round, concentrating on winning the group when they play CFR Cluj in 12 days at Stamford Bridge and escaping European football’s top teams in the next phase.
That was the prize on offer until their non-existent marking at an 83rd-minute corner and Lampard’s clumsy tackle a minute later, earning the midfielder a second caution, left them clinging on to a point.
They blew it. Big time. Now they must beat Cluj, the price they pay for losing out on a head-to-head with Roma if Luciano Spalletti’s team are beaten by Bordeaux in the final group game. This was tense but it will be nothing to compare with the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge when it could be win-or-bust for Big Phil.
Chelsea have never been knocked out in the group stages of the Champions League and this multi-million pound outfit, not to mention their highly-paid manager, cannot fail at the first hurdle.
They will be without Lampard, suspended after he was hoodwinked into making a foolish tackle on the impressive Fernando, to leave Chelsea finishing a nervy night with 10 men. They have now not won away in Europe since beating Rosenborg a year ago.
With the manager employing a high-risk strategy of stick-or-twist with his strikers, Scolari had appeared to cash in his chips with a move that was as cunning as it was decisive.
Didier Drogba raised the stakes when he met Inter Milan director Marco Branca on Monday but Chelsea’s manager called his bluff when he left him on the bench. Scolari called it right, relying on the form of top-scorer Anelka to see them through to the second round of the competition.
They nearly squeaked through, scoring with their first shot of the match when Anelka’s beautiful finish in the 60th minute left Bordeaux’s keeper Matthieu Valverde eating grass. It was a top-class moment, easily the best of his 14 goals for Chelsea so far this season. It was the response Scolari needed after a petulant first-half performance. Skipper John Terry, Joe Cole, Ashley Cole and Lampard had all been cautioned for over-zealous tackles on Bordeaux’s playmakers.
They were spoiling for a fight, flinging themselves into unnecessary tackles and taking their frustration out on opposition players. Remember, this is the team who were played off the park in September, returning to France on the end of a 4-0 thumping and fearing a repeat when they faced them at the Stade Chaban Delmas.
Confidence streaked through the Chelsea team back then, battering their way to victory and showing the desire, the hunger and the teamwork that had the hallmarks of the title winning sides of Jose Mourinho.
They were on it then, now they are off the pace. Brittle at the back, they lack purpose in midfield, where Michael Ballack and John Mikel Obi were virtually anonymous. Chelsea failed to register a single shot on target until Lampard’s first-time flick set Anelka in the clear, preferring to pick fights with the tricksters in Laurent Blanc’s team.
Youann Gouffran, an impressive figure on Bordeaux’s left, and the energetic striker Marouane Chamakh felt the pain, battered by one of Chelsea’s players every time they touched the ball. Gouffran was the instigator of Bordeaux’s early raids, teasing Jose Bosingwa with his step-overs and his electrifying pace before he swapped wings with Wendel.
They smelt blood when Ashley Cole was booked for a challenge on Matthieu Chalme, setting the trap for Chelsea’s players to collect another caution if he clipped Gouffran’s heels. Blanc’s team, so soundly beaten at Stamford Bridge, had them rattled, peppering Cech’s goal with shots from Gouffran and then the move of the night.
Zinedine Zidane is still fondly remembered in these parts and Gourcuff’s wonderful three-point turn before sending an exocet towards Cech was a nod firmly in the Frenchman’s direction. Chelsea responded after the break when Anelka scored and yet Bordeaux never tired.
They got their reward when Diarra’s header beat Cech at his near post, pouring forward in search of a winner as Chelsea threatened to collapse. Somehow they survived the onslaught with 10 men but if they fail to beat Cluj they can expect a bit more than a kick up the backside.
Match factsBORDEAUX (4-2-3-1): Valverde 6; Chalme 7, Diawara 6, Planus 6, Jurietti 7; Fernando 6, Diarra 6; Gouffran 7 (Cavenaghi 67, 6), Gourcuff 8, Wendel 7 (Obertan 75); Chamakh 7. Booked: Gourcuff, Jurietti, Chamakh.
CHELSEA (4-5-1): Cech 7; Bosingwa 6, Terry 6, Ivanovic 8, A Cole 5; J Cole 5 (Ferreira 85), Ballack 5, Mikel 6, Lampard 6, Malouda 5; Anelka 6 (Drogba 62, 6). Booked: Terry, A Cole, Lampard, J Cole. Sent off: Lampard.
Man of the match: Branislav Ivanovic. Referee: Frank de Bleeckere (Belgium).
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Indy:
Diarra thwarts Chelsea progress
Bordeaux 1 Chelsea 1
By Sam Wallace at Stade Chaban-Delmas
However easy Luiz Felipe Scolari made this Chelsea manager's job look when he took over at the club in the summer, it is not looking anywhere near as simple now. Frank Lampard was sent off last night, a lead was squandered and now qualification for the next round of the Champions League comes down to an awkward home game against CFR Cluj next month.
Chelsea, who are now without an away win in Europe for a year, need to win at Stamford Bridge against the Romanian champions on 9 December to be sure but the way the boat is rocking at the moment nothing is completely certain for Scolari's team. They took the lead through Nicolas Anelka last night but they were never totally in control and when Bordeaux's captain Alou Diarra headed the equaliser it was no surprise. What is hard to comprehend is how quickly the Chelsea project, undertaken with such brio by Scolari this season is starting to look ragged.
They are the only one of the four English sides in the Champions League who have not already shored up qualification and the incoherence on the pitch is starting to reflect the uncertainty off it. Didier Drogba unwisely sounded off before last night's game about his miserable six months, chief scout Frank Arnesen is on his way out the door because of Roman Abramovich's cutbacks at the club. It does not seem a coincidence that things are starting to look tricky on the pitch, too.
It is rare for a player with Lampard's cunning to find himself sent off for what amounted to two clumsy tackles and he will miss the Cluj game at Stamford Bridge. Scolari said it should be a formality for Chelsea but even this is not certain.
John Terry would have to admit that after his heroics for England one week earlier this was far from his best performance, in fact it was him who allowed Diarra to rise unchallenged to head the ball in at Petr Cech's near post with seven minutes to go. Joe Cole struggled to have an impact on the game and an ankle injury means he is 50-50 to play Arsenal on Sunday. The wing-back style of rampaging full-backs that Scolari made his trademark earlier in the season was easily nullified by Bordeaux.
The sixth-placed team in the French championship made Chelsea look pretty ordinary having been completely blown away by them in west London in September. Laurent Blanc's team were simply quicker in the tackle, more solid in midfield and were not afraid to mix it up when the situation required. The Chelsea of old — let's be honest, even the Chelsea of Avram Grant last season — would have ground Bordeaux's kids into the dust having taken a lead but they are not so solid this time around.
They are still yet to win away in the Champions League this season and at times last night they were kept in the game by Cech's saves. Drogba's arrival in the game, after the hour when Anelka came off, did not elicit any reaction from the travelling support.
It seemed incredible that the first-half possession count gave 56 per cent in Chelsea's favour because they did not manage a shot on target before the break and only two after it. By contrast, Mathieu Chalmé and Yoan Gourcuff forced excellent full-length saves from Cech in the first half and the frustration began to tell among the visitors' players as Terry, Lampard and Ashley Cole all went into the Belgian referee's book within the space of eight minutes.
This kind of frailty will do them no good against Arsenal who, for the first time in a while, can at least take heart that one of their nearest rivals is starting to look as flaky as them. Anelka's goal was made by Lampard's quick-thinking. He played the ball first time through a momentary gap in the Bordeaux defence and Anelka took his own sweet time as he bore down on Matthieu Valverde's goal. He beat the goalkeeper at his left-hand post as two Bordeaux defenders converged on him.
The goal was Anelka's 14th of the season and arguably his most important yet. Chelsea never quite settled. Terry was too easily beaten when Yoan Gouffran cut in from the right wing and, with the Chelsea captain on a yellow card, he was reluctant to commit himself to the tackle. After Diarra headed in from Fernando Cavenaghi's corner, Chelsea were struggling.
More pain followed when Lampard was late in the tackle once again on Fernando and was given a red card but only after the referee Frank de Bleeckere had taken a long time to work out he had booked him earlier. Michael Ballack scrambled away a late deflected shot as Chelsea left France chastened and probably wondering what Sunday might hold for them.
Bordeaux (4-2-3-1): Valverde; Chalmé, Diawara, Planus, Jurietti; Fernando, Diarra; Gouffran (Cavenaghi, 67), Gourcuff, Wendel (Obertan, 76); Chamakh. Substitutes not used: Olimpa (gk), Bellion, Placente, Traoré, Tremoulinas.
Chelsea (4-1-4-1): Cech; Bosingwa, Terry, Alex, A Cole; Mikel; Malouda, Lampard, Ballack, J Cole (Ferreira, 85); Anelka (Drogba, 63). Substitutes not used: Cudicini (gk), Bridge, Kalou, Alex, Stoch.
Referee: F De Bleeckere (Belgium).
Group A
Results: Chelsea 4 Bordeaux 0, Roma 1 CFR Cluj 2; Bordeaux 1 Roma 3, CFR Cluj 0 Chelsea 0; Bordeaux 1 CFR Cluj 0, Chelsea 1 Roma 0; CFR Cluj 1 Bordeaux 2, Roma 3 Chelsea 1; Bordeaux 1 Chelsea 1; CFR Cluj 1 Roma 3.
Remaining fixtures: 9 Dec: Chelsea v CFR Cluj, Roma v Bordeaux.
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Telegraph:
Frank Lampard sees red as Chelsea fail to capitalise on Nicolas Anelka advantageBordeaux (0) 1 Chelsea (0) 1 By John Ley in Bordeaux
Chelsea suffered another forgettable European away night when they failed to claim the win they needed to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League and finished with 10 men after Frank Lampard was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Chelsea were second best for long spells but when Nicolas Anelka stole a 60th minute goal against the run of play it seemed the gloom had been lifted off Chelsea. Yet, with seven minutes remaining, Alou Diarra headed Bordeaux equalizer and, two minutes later, Lampard was shown a red card for fouling Fernando, meaning he williss the visit of FC Cluj, a game they need to win to make certain of qualification.
Chelsea went into the game attempting to make up for a poor year in Europe. Since they won 4-0 in Norway, against Rosenborg a year ago, Chelsea had played six away games in the Champions League without a victory, including May Champions League penalty defeat by Manchester United in Moscow.
On the occasion of their last away win Didier Drogba scored twice in the opening 20 minutes. It was a bitterly cold night in Scandinavia and, on a similarly frosty evening in France, Drogba was left on the bench following the controversy over an alleged meeting with Inter Milan officials.
All the parties alleged to have been involved were keeping their heads down, though Drogba did reveal in an interview conducted over the weekend that he has suffered the worst six months of his life.
The striker was referring to a succession of injuries, his sending of in Moscow and the coin throwing incident against Burnley, a faux-pas that has cost him a three game suspension.
Given his domestic ban it was anticipated that Drogba would start on Wednesday night, with Nicolas Anelka kept on the bench ahead of Sunday’s Premier League visit of Arsenal, a key confrontation in the battle for domestic supremacy.
Instead, Anelka started, along with Michael Ballack with the German in the starting line-up for the first time since early October. Ballack had come on as a substitute in the previous two games following his recovery from a foot injury, and his return was welcome, given that Deco was absent through suspension, having been dismissed in the previous tie, the 3-1 defeat in the Olympic Stadium by Roma.
Given that the final of the Champions final takes place in the same arena, in May, it was a damaging reverse and it was Bordeaux who threatened first, with Fernando’s long range attempt tipped around his right post by Petr Cech in the sixth minute.
Shortly afterwards a tremendous through-ball, from Marouane Chamakh, fell invitingly for Yoan Gouffran but again Cech as equal to the threat, rushing out to gather at the forward’s feet.
The atmosphere inside this stylish bowl was magnificent, the Bordeaux fans sensing a chance to overtake Chelsea in Group A and when defender Matthieu Chalme struck a half volley from the edge of the area, it took another impressive save from Cech to deny the Frenchmen an opening goal.
In the 22nd minute John Terry, the Chelsea captain, was harshly cautioned after tripping with Yoann Gourcuff, who was also booked for his part in the incident in a game that was causing the visitors more problems than they may have anticipated.
Cech made a fourth impressive save, from Gourcuff – on loan from AC Milan -- after Ballack gave the ball away, then Frank Lampard received the game’s third yellow card for upending Chamakh – the most fouled player in the Champions League this season. Another booking followed in what was becoming a fractious and feisty affair when Ashley Cole fouled Chalme.
Joe Cole made a telling challenge inside his penalty area, on Franck Jurietti, as Bordeaux maintained the pressure. Indeed, by half-time Chelsea had failed to trouble Matthieu Valverde, the Bordeaux goalkeeper, or even win a corner.
The second half began in similar fashion, with Wendel and Chamakh combining for Gourcuff, whose cross was met by the head of Terry before Cech gathered under pressure.
Yet, on the hour and still against the run of play, Chelsea took an invaluable lead. Frank Lampard’s ball was missed by Alou Diarra, allowing Anelka a run at goal and the Frenchman held off a challenge from Marc Planus and the onrushing Valverde before finishing in some style.
It was Anelka’s 14th goal of the season but was to prove his last involvement. In the 62nd minute, with the job done and an eye on Arsenal, he was replaced, with Drogba coming on.
The goal seemed to inspire Chelsea and, seconds later a free kick from Lampard sailed just over the target.
Cech, who had been outstanding, almost erred when, rushing to clear from outside his area, he succeeded only in kicking the ball against a Bordeaux player but, fortunately for the goalkeeper, it rebounded into touch when it could see easily have ricocheted towards his goal.
Lampard was denied again, in the 79th minute, when he shot was parried by Valverde, but Bordeaux claimed a deserved equalizer when Diarra was left unmarked at the near post to convert Gourcuff’s corner.
And Chelsea’s frustration spilled over when, with five minuets remaining, Lampard was dismissed for a second bookable offence.
Group A
Chelsea must beat Cluj to guarantee their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League. If Bordeaux win in Rome, they will be on 10 points, leaving Roma on nine. A draw would take Chelsea onto nine, but on head-to head results with Roma, they would go out.
To play: Dec 9: Chelsea v Cluj, Roma v Bordeaux.
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Times:
Chelsea's European prospects on a knife edge after late equaliserBordeaux 1 Chelsea 1
Matt Hughes, Bordeaux Luiz Felipe Scolari’s apprehension was well-founded. If the Chelsea manager was tetchy in the build-up to the match in Bordeaux last night, then pity his friends and family in the run-in to next month’s nail-biting encounter against CFR Cluj at Stamford Bridge, which Chelsea must win to make sure of qualification for the Champions League first knockout round.
After initially threatening to run away with group A, last year’s beaten finalists face the indignity of an eleventh-hour scrap to qualify. They should still do so comfortably against a limited side who have already been eliminated — Chelsea will not need even a point if Roma beat Bordeaux in the group’s other remaining fixture — but pressure can do strange things to the most accomplished teams, as was demonstrated here.
Scolari’s frustration will be compounded because, despite being second-best for long spells, his side had shown enough grit and determination to score the goal they needed — brilliantly taken by Nicolas Anelka — only to self-destruct. Chelsea were seven minutes away from qualification and seemingly cruising when the defensive deficiencies that led to the shock 3-1 defeat away to Roma this month returned with a vengeance, all the more surprising given that John Terry was again culpable. Yoann Gourcuff’s 83rd-minute corner from the right caused chaos in the penalty area, with Alou Diarra pulling away from Terry to head past Petr Cech, who could not be faulted after another outstanding display.
To make matters worse, Frank Lampard was sent off for the third time in his career soon after, the England midfield player picking up a second booking for a foul on Fernando, and he will miss the decisive match against Cluj.
Chelsea trudged out of the Stade Chaban-Delmas as if they had lost the game — almost as slowly as a disconsolate Lampard left the pitch — but these things are all about perspective. When he watches the match again today, Scolari will discover that Chelsea could easily have lost. They started with uncharacteristic hesitancy and were hanging on by the end.
Bordeaux used their extra man to full effect in the last five minutes as they pushed hard for a winner, which they might have got had Fernando Cavenaghi, a substitute, found the target when he was clear on goal in the final minute.
Scolari will contend that it should have been better, however, and he will hold a frank discussion with his players in the next few days to ascertain where they have lost their way. Despite their place at the top of the Barclays Premier League, Chelsea’s performances defy easy classification this season and some worrying trends are emerging.
A decent assessment would be “inconsistent at home, transcendent away”, yet even that summing-up is flawed because they have frequently failed to play well on European away days. Such travel-sickness is not a recent phenomenon — they have not won away from home in the Champions League in seven attempts stretching back almost a year, a dismal record that they must improve if they are to have a hope of reaching the final in Rome next May.
Chelsea began as badly as they had finished in the Italian capital three weeks ago, and without three excellent saves from Cech would have been behind at half-time. Gourcuff was their chief tormentor, demonstrating great touch and technique to get the better of Michael Ballack and Lampard in midfield. The France midfield player, 22, is on a season-long loan from AC Milan after failing to make an impact in two years in Italy, but on this evidence he is good enough to return to the San Siro.
In the first half, Gourcuff displayed the kind of artistry and vision usually the preserve of the suspended Deco. Bordeaux’s first chance came from nowhere, with Fernando’s shot from 40 yards requiring Cech to make a smart save low to his right.
A pass by Gourcuff caught Ashley Cole out of position, with Matthieu Chalmé shooting straight at the goalkeeper, before Gourcuff produced the moment of the match, an exquisite swivel followed by a left-foot shot saved by Cech. Chelsea’s discomfort spilt over into the kind of fractiousness often displayed by a tired toddler, with Terry, Lampard and Ashley Cole all being booked for late challenges in the space of five minutes.
Scolari decided against making changes at half-time, although with only forwards and defenders on the bench, he had few options to alter things in midfield, the area in which the game was drifting away.
Instead, the visiting team opted to hold what they had, dangerous tactics that looked like paying off when Anelka scored his second Champions League goal of the season and his fourteenth in all. Lampard’s through-ball caught Bordeaux unawares, with Souleymane Diawara hopelessly out of position as he was for most of his brief spell with Charlton Athletic, enabling Anelka to capitalise. The striker showed remarkable composure to dummy twice before beating Matthieu Valverde at the near post with the third swing of his right boot.
In a week dominated by the posturing of Didier Drogba, the forward formerly known as Le Incredible Sulk appeared to have taken Chelsea through to the next stage, but given the way they capitulated, Scolari’s changing mood will continue to be the focus. Mr Grumpy may be here to stay.
Bordeaux (4-2-3-1): M Valverde — M Chalmé, M Planus, S Diawara, F Jurietti — Fernando, A Diarra — Y Gouffran (sub: F Cavenaghi, 67min), Y Gourcuff, Wendel (sub: G Obertan, 76) — M Chamakh. Substitutes not used: K Olimpa, D Bellion, D Placente, A Traoré, B Trémoulinas. Booked: Gourcuff, Jurietti, Chamakh.
Chelsea (4-1-4-1): P Cech — J Bosingwa, B Ivanovic, J Terry, A Cole — J O Mikel — J Cole (sub: P Ferreira, 83), M Ballack, F Lampard, F Malouda — N Anelka (sub: D Drogba, 62). Substitutes not used: C Cudicini, W Bridge, P Ferreira, S Kalou, Alex, M Stoch. Booked: Terry, Lampard, A Cole, J Cole. Sent off: Lampard.
Referee: F de Bleeckere (Belgium).
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sunday papers newcastle home 0-0

The Sunday TimesNovember 23, 2008
Newcastle frustrate Chelsea forwardsChelsea 0 Newcastle 0
Joe Lovejoy at Stamford Bridge
MUCH has been made of the positive difference in Chelsea under Luiz Felipe Scolari, but one unwanted change is their home form. For four years, Stamford Bridge was the impregnable fortress around which so much success was constructed. Under Scolari they have dropped nine points at home already, which contrasts sharply with their 100% record away.
Liverpool drew yesterday at home to Fulham, so failed to take advantage of the slip, and Manchester United were held goallesss at Villa in the evening kick-off, so United remain eight points behind the leaders with a game in hand.
Scolari’s team made all the running here, which might have been expected, but ran into opponents in an obdurate mood and intent on protecting their goal at all costs.
Newcastle failed to create a single goal opportunity but, like all good managers, Joe Kinnear, who has agreed to a one-month contract extension, is building from the back, and his charges defended with spirit, organisation and resolution. In eight matches since he replaced Kevin Keegan at St James’s Park, at the end of September, the pride of Tyneside have won two, drawn four and lost two, which is mid-table form.
Had Chelsea summoned anything like their usual economy, in terms of passing and chances, they would have won this match comfortably, but their final ball was not good enough, their attacking play lacked subtlety and, for all their possession, they failed to extend Shay Given as they should have done, although the Republic of Ireland goalkeeper did make a couple of notable saves.
Newcastle were preoccupied with defence, and their centre-halves, Fabricio Coloccini and Sebastien Bassong, were outstanding, with the contribution of Habib Beye, the right-back, similarly impressive. Michael Owen operated as an auxiliary midfielder but with a relegation-threatened team, Kinnear can hardly have been expected to take on the league leaders at their own expansive game.
From his point of view, the end amply justified the means. “I lost two important players to injury on Friday, and I’m not apologising, not at all,” he said. “We planned to force Chelsea to play in front of us, and we did that very well. That was probably our best performance away from home, and it felt like a victory in the dressing room afterwards.”
The interim manager revealed that Newcastle’s absentee owner, Mike Ashley, was in negotiation with an American consortium, but that they had failed to match his valuation of the club, and that consequently Ashley had asked him on Friday to continue in temporary control for another month, starting next weekend.
“The deal was to be in charge until the club was sold and nothing has changed since then. I’ve been informed I’m here for another month. That should take me up to the transfer window, at the start of January, and I’ll be looking to do some business then.” He is planning to unload surplus squad members, who were not involved yesterday, to raise funds for two defensive reinforcements.
“If I can twist his arm and get a few quid out of him, I can buy a couple of players,” added Kinnear.
Scolari bemoaned “two points lost” but, magnanimously, had nothing but praise for the opposition. “I told the coach ‘congratulations’. Newcastle played very well,” he said. “They played for a draw with ten men behind the ball, and got it, so their approach was 100% right. In that respect they are better than us today, because they got what they wanted.
“We had 24 shots at goal, they had none, and we had 70 per cent of the possession, but couldn’t score.”
The story of the match can be quickly told. Chelsea made all the chances, the most promising of which, early in the second half, saw Given parry Florent Malouda’s shot into the path of Joe Cole, who prodded the ball home from an offside position. Otherwise, their best opening was the product of a Malouda cross that Frank Lampard met with a firm header, seven yards out, only for Given to make a flying, one-handed save. It was his best stop of the day.
Scolari accepted that his team needed to improve in their Champions League match away to Bordeaux on Wednesday, and especially at home to Arsenal next Sunday. He said: “We will be working on it all week in training, and I may change the positions of one or two players.”
Newcastle will be looking to maintain their progress in a northeast scrap at Middlesbrough next Saturday, when Taylor and Barton will again be absent.
CHELSEA: Cech 6, A Cole 6, J Terry 6, Ivanovic 6, Lampard 6, J Cole 6 (Ballack 82min), Mikel 6, Malouda 6 (Kalou 71min), Bosingwa 6, Deco 6, Anelka 6.
NEWCASTLE: Given 7, Coloccini 7, Enrique 6, Guthrie 6, Martins 5 (Ameobi 60mins), Owen 6, Duff 5, Bassong 7, Gutierrez 6 (N’Zogbia 76min), Beye 7, Butt 6.

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Telegraph:
Newcastle United cause Chelsea to lose two points with spoiling tacticsChelsea (0) Newcastle United (0) 0 By Patrick Barclay
By Joe Kinnear’s own reckoning when he returned to football in late September, he should be just another name on the list of former Newcastle managers by now. He got that forecast wrong - it was based on Mike Ashley’s vain hope that the club would be sold within a matter of weeks - but Kinnear is clearly better at management than prophecy, for this was Newcastle’s 10th point in eight matches and the threat of relegation, though still present, has receded.
To avoid defeat in a Premier League match at Chelsea is no longer a startling achievement - Liverpool have won at Stamford Bridge this season and Tottenham, as well as Manchester United, drawn - but for Newcastle to head back north with only their third away point of the campaign may have a positive psychological effect, for all the negativity of their tactics here. We shall see; next weekend they are at Middlesbrough and maybe there they will try a shot at goal.
An utterly unapologetic Kinnear explained: ‘’After losing two key players [the defender Steven Taylor and midfielder Joey Barton], we came with a plan to force Chelsea to play in front of us.’’ And that was how it worked out. Although Shay Given made a couple of excellent saves, Chelsea had few clear openings, as Luiz Felipe Scolari more or less admitted. ‘’We didn’t win a point today,’’ he said. ‘’We lost two. They were better than us because they were thinking only of a draw and they drew - we were looking for a win and didn’t get it.’’
A pattern is emerging: Chelsea have taken maximum points on their travels and dropped nine at home. ‘’Sometimes it’s easier away,’’ remarked Scolari, ‘’because the opposition are under pressure to attack. Here they don’t need to.’’ He might be heartened by the reflection that, upon his team’s return from Champions League duty in Bordeaux, their next visitors are Arsenal: hardly likely to be the mirror image, for all Arsene Wenger’s troubles, of Saturday’s Newcastle.
Kinnear will be in charge for the foreseeable future. On Thursday, Ashley assured him his month-by-month contract would be renewed after Middlesbrough. ‘’And that,’’ Kinnear said, ‘’will take us into the transfer window, so I hope he’ll give me a few bob for new players.’’ A new owner could, of course, come in and upset things for Kinnear, but the latest offer from the United States did not, we gather, meet Ashley’s expectations.
If that was no surprise, the same might have been said when Chelsea trotted out featuring Frank Lampard and the Coles, all of whom had been declared unfit for England duty three days earlier. To be fair to Ashley Cole, he still looked unfit - certainly short of the condition required to halt the speedy Jonas Gutierrez and dynamic Habib Beye when they ganged up on him towards the end of the first half as Newcastle, having taken a pounding, at last felt emboldened to chance half an arm in attack.
For the rest it was a simple case of holding out for the visitor. Not that Given was overworked; after a magnificent early stop from a Lampard header, he watched Ashley Cole miscue an attempt to head home Jose Bosingwa’s gorgeous cross, whipped in after a deft switch to his left foot. What a player Bosingwa is; with Beye on the other side, it was arguable that we were watching the top two right-backs in the country. Beye’s display was described as ‘’magnificent’’ by Kinnear, who also lauded the centre-backs Sebastien Bassong (Taylor’s replacement) and Fabricio Coloccini.
A goal would have been nice, though. Both Coles did their best to help out in this respect, though Joe had strayed offside before he bundled it past Given, who had done well to parry from Florent Malouda, and Ashley, following the instinct that made him a schoolboy striker, arrived at the far post to meet another cross from Bosingwa; his header was deflected wide. The weight of sheer numbers, it seemed, was Chelsea’s main hope of buckling their opponents. Not only did both full-backs stay forward; the centre-backs took it in turn to join the attack, with Mikel always ready to drop back should it become necessary, which it never did.

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Independent:
Chelsea toil but Kinnear senses fresh start after stalemate
Chelsea 0 Newcastle United 0
By Chris McGrath at Stamford Bridge
So Joe Kinnear would welcome Alan Shearer at the Newcastle United training ground, for a couple of mornings a week – to "see for himself what football is all about". Perhaps, while he is about it, he can tell Luiz Felipe Scolari as well.
The Chelsea manager watched the Premier League leaders run rings round their guests for much of the afternoon, only to leave the pitch themselves dazed by the futility of their endeavours. Immaculate all season away from home, they have now dropped nine points at Stamford Bridge. But this startling scoreline can only be partly explained by their own ineptitude in front of goal. Credit is also becoming due – overdue, perhaps – to the growing resilience of a team now beaten only twice in eight starts under Kinnear.
Though he remains on a month-to-month contract, he is performing something akin to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. With Mike Ashley yet to find someone discerning enough to take the club off his hands, Shearer's interest in the job, or otherwise, remains academic. In the immediate term, certainly, the interim manager is going nowhere – and that may no longer be quite so true of his team.
"The deal was to be in charge until the club was sold, and nothing has changed, to be honest," Kinnear said. "But I have been informed that I am here for another month, and that will bring us up to the transfer window. So if I can twist [Ashley's] arm and get a few quid out of him, I can buy a couple of players.
"The club has not got a buyer yet, but people are talking to them. So far, nobody has come up with the cash. Mike said they were Americans, but the offer they made was well below his estimation of what the club was worth."
Kinnear declined to apologise for the extreme pragmatism of his strategy here, and in fairness nor did Scolari condemn him. Exasperated as he was by Newcastle's lack of ambition, he said afterwards: "They played for a draw, and we are thinking only of a win. So they were better than us."
At first, it promised to be a stroll for Chelsea. The lissom Jose Bosingwa repeatedly cantered past Damien Duff at his leisure, while his interplay with Deco left Jose Enrique as Canute before a tide of crosses from the right.
But Newcastle survived to half-time, exorbitant advantages in territory and possession having properly stretched Shay Given only the once – when he somehow got a glove to Frank Lampard's early header. The margins would get tighter in the second half. Given only just landed on the right side of the line after claiming a lofted free kick, while the referee detected an infringement when Joe Cole bundled Malouda's parried shot over the line.
Chelsea increasingly resorted to impatient punts outside the box. Anxiety gnawed the crowd, as they adjusted to the surreal possibility that Newcastle might hold out. Michael Owen, finally granted a start by Kinnear, was contained by Ashley Cole. And Duff's torments at the hands of Bosingwa made it seem a very long time since he arrived here as a record signing in 2003, an early token of Roman Abramovich's intentions.
Instead this had been a job for the bricklayers, for Fabrizio Coloccini in particular, and Sebastien Bassong alongside, with Nicky Butt setting an aggressive tone in midfield. "It's probably the best team performance we have had," Kinnear said. "It feels like a win in the dressing room. We drew a week ago and it felt like a loss, when they equalised in the 89th minute. But this feels like a victory."
Having lost their air of impregnability here last month, when beaten by Liverpool, Chelsea must now add this indignity to their Carling Cup exit against Burnley. Their fans managed to find some cheer as the results came in from Anfield and Eastlands, but these were only the coldest of home comforts.
Attendance: 41,660
Referee: Phil Dowd
Man of the match: Coloccini
Match rating: 5/10
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The Observer
Scolari's plan A frustrated by determined Given takeChelsea 0 Newcastle United 0
Jamie Jackson at Stamford Bridge
On an afternoon when fellow leaders Liverpool also drew, here was a large and unwanted dollop of frustration for Chelsea, whose display had Big Phil muttering right to the end, and their fans walking away with complaints that it had all been too casual.
That was about the right verdict, though on another day one of the chances their team created against Newcastle might have been finished. Yet what seems evident is that once it becomes clear the one-touch, caressed and clever stuff is not going to work, Luiz Felipe Scolari is reluctant to change his approach or, even worse, possesses no plan B.
Here, as against Sunderland in Chelsea's previous home league game, the Brazilian's response to his team's lack of success was continually to turn away in disbelief. The difference three weeks ago, though, was that Chelsea did get the breakthrough and ended their afternoon easy 5-0 winners against a particularly poor side.
'If we score the first goal, maybe we get three or four,' was Scolari's view of this outing. 'But Newcastle are very good, fantastic. They play for the draw and arrive at a draw. We play to win and don't, so they are better than us - one million per cent.'
Despite his genuine, if back-handed, praise, on this showing Newcastle are hardly better than their north-east neighbours. It was difficult to recall Joe Kinnear's team fashioning a clear chance, but in Shay Given they had a keeper who kept Chelsea out long enough for the crowd - always impatient in these parts - to start echoing Scolari's frustration.
There had been a clue in Chelsea's start. For eight minutes they struggled to gain any kind of fluency. Then, from the right, Florent Malouda created an opening for Frank Lampard by scooping up a pass that hung in the cold Stamford Bridge air. As the crowd hushed in anticipation, they saw a header from the midfielder venomous enough to draw a sharp save from Given which he palmed away to his right.
Phil Dowd, a referee who had shown one red and 25 yellow cards in eight previous Premier League outings, had indicated early on that he would not be doing the home side any favours, by a refusal to award any of the 50-50 decisions their way. This, in turn, drew enough ire from Scolari to attract the referee's attention and, after 11 minutes, caused him to halt the match and give the Brazilian a lecture which, not unpredictably, ended with a contemptuous shrug from Chelsea's manager.
And while it did have the desired effect - Scolari was a little more quiet for the rest of the game - it was his opposite number who needed to dish out the hard words after 17 minutes.
Then, Malouda was allowed to collect from Deco near halfway and walk through Newcastle - central defender Fabricio Coloccini was particularly culpable - before Habib Beye finally put in a crunching tackle that killed the threat.
Numerous Chelsea chances followed. Nicolas Anelka stood one up for Branislav Ivanovic, but the central defender headed wide. The game's best move - a patient interplay involving Anelka, Ashley Cole and Joe Cole, John Obi Mikel and Malouda - ended with a chipped Deco pass being volleyed ineffectively by Lampard.
Scolari, no doubt, had far more to say at half-time. Yet his frustration only deepened, because once Dowd re-started, Chelsea gradually faded. The closest they came to a goal arrived after 55 minutes when Lampard played in Malouda. His shot was saved sharply by the excellent Given and pushed on to the frame of the goal and when the rebound was bundled home by Joe Cole, it was correctly ruled offside.
'Best team performance since I've been here,' was the verdict of Kinnear, who took over at the end of September and is still unsure of the future. 'Mike Ashley told me on Friday I'm here for another month that'll take me up to the [transfer] window, so I'll hope to twist his arm for a couple of players.' And has the owner found a buyer yet? 'He said some Americans had made an offer well below his estimation.'
While that particular saga continues, Chelsea now visit Bordeaux in the Champions League before hosting Arsenal here on Sunday.
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Mail:
Chelsea 0 Newcastle 0: Scolari faces home truth By DAN KING
David Bowie's 'Heroes' was a curiously inappropriate song to play after the end of this match. Chelsea had only Fulham's draw at Liverpool to thank for retaining their place at the top of the Premier League after a lacklustre performance that means they have already dropped nine points at Stamford Bridge this season.Although Newcastle were obstinate opponents, their defending rarely had to be heroic and their lack of ambition was painfully obvious.
A certain former Chelsea manager would probably accuse Joe Kinnear's team of 'parking the bus', but even after such a frustrating afternoon, Luiz Felipe Scolari showed the class off the pitch that his players could not produce on it.'Newcastle were very good, fantastic,' he said. 'They played for a draw and they drew. They are better than us because they thought about a draw and they got a draw, and I thought only about winning and we did not win.'
Chelsea's home results this season are not the form of champions, even if they maintain their record-breaking away run of 10 consecutive wins, seven of them in this campaign. Scolari proceeded to reel off the statistics that demonstrated his team's superiority in possession and efforts on goal, but he insisted he was finding fault not with Newcastle's tactics or disruption caused by the international break, but with himself and his team.'It's not an international effect,' he said. 'It's my mistake and a mistake for my team, not a mistake by other coaches.'But most of Scolari's outfield players were apparently suffering the effects of either the injuries which had kept them out of midweek action or of journeys of varying lengths to represent their countries.
Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Joe Cole were all back in the team after missing England's midweek win over Germany, but their country's loss was not their club's gain, barring a few flashes of inspiration from Joe Cole. Perversely, the home team's most impressive player was Jose Bosingwa, who had endured a long journey home from Portugal's defeat in Brazil which had meant he, Deco and Paulo Ferreira arrived back in England too late to train with Chelsea on Friday.But for all their dominance of possession and territory, Chelsea rarely looked like scoring against a visiting team whose fitness, organisation and defending had to be admired.Kinnear was informed on Friday by owner Mike Ashley that his rolling onemonth contract would be renewed again after a bid by an American consortium fell well short of Ashley's valuation. As the search for buyers continues, the former Wimbledon boss, buoyed by another good result, is now eyeing the possibility of buying players in the January transfer window.
Kinnear said: 'It's probably the best team performance we've had away from home. It feels like a victory. For the last three days we planned to force Chelsea to play in front of us and we did that really well.'They didn't create a clear-cut chance, really. Almost everything was long shots and Shay Given has pulled off two worldclass saves.'The first of those came as early as the eighth minute when Lampard failed to convert his team's best chance of the game. A match-sharp Lampard would probably have buried Florent Malouda's clipped cross when left unmarked in the box, but his header was still firm and keeper Given had to react quickly to save with his right arm.Early on, the Chelsea fans taunted the visitors with chants in support of former.captain 'Dennis Wise', but if the Newcastle faithful feel they have little to thank their executive director (football) for, they might at least acknowledge the excellence of two players signed in the summer on his watch. As Kinnear said, Fabricio Coloccini and Sebastien Bassong were 'magnificent' at the heart of the away defence, with Bassong, in particular, making well-timed interventions on the rare occasions that Chelsea threatened to turn control into goals.Lampard's chance apart, Given was otherwise untroubled in the first half and Newcastle might have snatched a totally undeserved lead seven minutes before the break if John Terry had not run back at full pelt to put off Obafemi Martins after good work from Jonas had teed up the Nigeria international. If anything, Chelsea enjoyed even more of the play in the second half but were denied one goal by Given's untidy save from Nicolas Anelka, and another two by the officials.The men in black were probably correct on both occasions. Joe Cole was indeed offside when Malouda forced a fine reaction save from Given and so was not entitled to celebrate after jabbing the ball into the net from close range in the 54th minute. A few minutes later, some camera angles suggested Given had carried Lampard's deep free-kick over the line but, since several replays were inconclusive, you could hardly expect the assistant referee to flag for a goal.'It's not all doom and gloom, because it finished at Anfield: Liverpool 0 Fulham 0,' said Chelsea's stadium announcer. But, like his team, he was not convincing.
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NOTW:
Wise is shamed by Kinnear's brave battlers By ANDY DUNN
DENNIS WISE has got more front than Morecambe.
A Petr Cech punt away from his London office, Stamford Bridge tempted him out of hiding.
And how proud he must have been. After all, the fans eulogised him in chant for the first time this season and his team did everything but score.
But even Wise must have felt a twinge of admiration for Newcastle as well. Of course, demonised Dennis was at hospitality’s length from the Tyneside deputation.
Bodies
And if they spotted the executive director, they certainly did not acknowledge his presence.
Because this was a game for men who put their bodies on the line — not for men who keep their heads below the parapets.
This was about sweat not suits. It might be held up as evidence, albeit flimsy, of Chelsea’s creeping uncertainty at home.
It might be used as proof that Phil Scolari needs owner Roman Abramovich to blow a raspberry at the recession and recruit extra personnel.
If Wise continues to have the nerve to draw a salary from St James’ Park, he might even be useful in the transfer window. But what this team does not appear to need is heart.
Congratulations
Yes, there appeared to be a trace of scorn in Scolari’s declaration that Newcastle had arrived with only a draw in mind.
And the sincerity in his congratulations to Joe Kinnear might have been strained.
But the bruiser in Big Phil must have looked a touch fondly at the commitment of every one of the Newcastle players.
Centre-halves Fabricio Coloccini and Sebastien Bassong defended beyond their limits, Habib Beye proved himself a bona fide rival to Jose Bosingwa as the Premier League’s best right-back and the midfield two of Nicky Butt and Danny Guthrie must have blistered up from their relentless spadework.
And as Kinnear morphed a 4-4-2 into a 4-6-0, Obafemi Martins and Michael Owen left their instincts in their kitbags and joined the resistance movements.
World-class
And the final repellent was one of the finest in the business.
No wonder Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni has been tipping the wink to Serie A clubs about Shay Given.
“Shay made two world-class saves,” said Newcastle boss Kinnear, referring to a Gordon Banks-from-Pele imitation when Frank Lampard connected with Florent Malouda’s cross and a point-blank effort from the same French winger’s stretching volley.
“But the entire defence was excellent. They got everything in the way and, apart from those two saves, Chelsea didn’t really create many clear-cut chances.”
And this despite Ashley Cole, Joe Cole and Lampard all refreshed from a midweek break while their England colleagues battled wonderfully in Berlin. At least the two Coles could go home and watch their partners on reality TV.
Performance
For Kinnear, this almost made for surreality TV.
“This was the best team performance we have had away from home,” he announced. “To me, this feels like a victory. And to those lads in the dressing room, it feels like a win.
“We knew it would be a difficult match and we set up deeper — I asked Michael Owen to play a lot deeper than he is used to. And everybody was magnificent.”
Well, not quite.
But there was certainly a togetherness, a bond, a unified determination that reflects well on Kinnear. Alas, there were certainly no Newcastle chances. Not one.
Helmet
Cech did not need his helmet — in fact, his helmet could have kept goal without its owner.
Given needed a tin one.
But for all their bombardment, Chelsea always looked in danger of fattening their point-loss account at Stamford Bridge to nine.
Ashley Cole wasted a gorgeous Bosingwa cross, Joe Cole bundled one in, but after a linesman’s flag, and Given very nearly carried a Lampard free-kick over the whitewash.
But that moment of inspiration never arrived.
“They were better than us in that they came for a draw and got it,” said Scolari. “We came for a win and didn’t get it. So their strategy worked.
Buyers
"We did not win one point, we lost two. Sometimes, it is easier to win away from home because that team’s supporters put pressure on them to attack.
“Newcastle did not try to get a win but congratulations to them and to their manager.”
Kinnear later revealed that he has an extra month in charge and, with buyers still reluctant to dig deep, owner Mike Ashley could yet give him a long-term run at things.
On this evidence — and with Dennis watching — that would be the only wise move he has made for some time.

sunday papers west brom away 3-0

The Sunday TimesNovember 16, 2008
Chelsea outclass Albion
West Bromwich Albion 0 Chelsea 3
John Aizlewood at The Hawthorns
FOR CHELSEA it could hardly have gone more to plan and their performance could hardly have been more professional. First they withstood West Bromwich Albion’s early onslaught. Then, once Albion’s sting had been drawn they scored three clinical goals before half-time, just to remind everyone who leads the Premier League this morning. And finally, they played out the second half with neither fuss nor ado.
Albion, meanwhile, started the evening at the bottom of the pile and there they lie this morning, in ever increasing danger of losing touch with the pack and losing hope.
The quirk of an evening kick-off and Liverpool’s perfunctory lunch-time victory over Bolton meant this was no longer a bottom versus top encounter, but as Albion manager Tony Mowbray admitted in midweek, a team who kicked off having conceded just one goal on their Premiership travels this season were hardly his visitors of choice.
And, forever destined to swash-buckle despite being without a victory since October 4, Mowbray again kept the faith, pausing only to restore James Morrison and Abdou-laye Meite.
Another calf – this time Petr Cech’s – ruled out the Chelsea goal-keeper, but even with a fistful of fellow absentees, Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba and Michael Essien found themselves only on the bench.
Albion began brightly – Albion always begin brightly – and, with the lavishly gifted Borja Valero prompting, cajoling and firing a fusillade of pinpoint long balls towards Ishmael Miller and Roman Bednar, they momentarily threatened to seize the moment. Yet, for all their undeniable eagerness Albion’s front pair crashed time and time again against John Terry and Branis-lav Ivanovic.
Morrison blasted an early piledriver inches over Carlo Cudicini’s bar early on, but with John Obi Mikel chaperoning Chelsea’s defence like an overprotective older brother on prom night, they created only one real chance in the first period, 15 minutes in, when Valero surprised even himself by spinning around Mikel so deftly the Nigerian ended up on his backside. He guided a through ball into Miller’s path, only for the youngster’s shot to flash across goal.
Chelsea bided their time. Initially, they seemed all at sea. For all Nicolas Anelka’s recent goal glut, he seemed as starved of service as Russian aristocrats after the communist revolution. Deco flitted hither and thither to little effect, but Miller’s miss had aroused the beast within. Florent Malouda offered a glimpse of what was about to come with a magnificent ball into the ever-yawning gap between Meite and Gianni Zuiverloon. Scott Carson saved excellently from Frank Lampard.
Lampard’s miss marked the moment Deco settled himself in central midfield and the scales began to tip Chelsea’s way. After 34 minutes, so did the scoreline. There seemed little danger, certainly in Carson’s mind, when Jose Bosingwa collected the ball 25 yards out on the right, but the Portuguese looked up, noted Carson’s sloppy positioning and curled it home with his left. Even at that point, there seemed no way back for Albion against a team who had conceded just four Premiership goals all season and none of them in the second half.
First, Meite’s poor clearance reached Malouda, who unleashed the coiled spring that was Anelka. Greedy after his possession, the Frenchman sprinted into the penalty area and as Carson dived to the ground, chipped gently into goal.
Morale tumbling like house prices, the last thing Albion needed was to concede a third before half-time. They conceded a third before half-time. Deco found Saloman Kalou on the right, the Ivorian danced through a timid defence, curled a magnificent through ball to the onrushing Anelka, who daintily guided Chelsea’s third past Carson.
Cowed for possibly the first time this season, Mowbray plumped for damage limitation after the break. Off went Bednar, on came Kim DeHeon and Albion flooded midfield, hoping the hitherto marginalised Morrison and Jonathan Greening would offer Miller support.
Instead, although substitute Filipe Teixeira flashed a piledriver inches over, such was Chelsea’s insouciant dominance, that Albion’s midfield quintet left the struggling home defence with even less cover and only some prodigal finishing from a team who knew they were about to return to the top of the league prevented the scoreline from getting out of hand.
Shortly after Anelka had been denied his second hat-trick in three league games by a brave Ryan Donk, he was replaced by this week’s whipping boy, Drogba. His cameo passed without incident, just as the evening had passed with little to ruffle Chelsea. Men against boys.
WEST BROM: Carson 5, Zuiverloon 4, Meite 4 (Donk 68min), Olsson 4, Robinson 4, Koren 5, Morrison 5 (Teixeira 58min, 5), Greening 5, Valero 6, Miller 6, Bednar 5 (Kim ht, 5)
CHELSEA: Cudicini 6, Bosingwa 7, Ivanovic 7, Terry 7, Bridge 6, Lampard 6, Mikel 6. Deco 7, Malouda 7, Kalou 6 (Ballack 68min), Anelka 7 (Drogba 74min)
Chelsea’s record breakers
Chelsea’s comprehensive 3-0 win at West Bromwich Albion last night ensured another record Premier League start to the campaign. The seventh straight away victory this season was also their 10th away win in a row, breaking the Premier League record they set in the 2004-05 campaign, and equalling the top-flight mark set by Tottenham in 1960
Chelsea, though, are still one shy of the record eight consecutive away wins at the start of a season set by Tottenham in 1960-61.
Tottenham went on to win a record 16 of their 21 away games in 1960-61 to take the title. West Brom and Everton are the only other sides to have won six in a row away from home at the start of a season.
Chelsea’s reborn forward Nicolas Anelka has been key to the run, scoring seven of their 19 away goals this season, including five in the past two games. His teammate Frank Lampard has been on target three times while defender Jose Boswinga , who scored the Blues’ opener last night, has hit two
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Telegraph:
Nicolas Anelka scores two as Chelsea prove too strong for West Bromwich AlbionWest Bromwich Albion (0) 0 Chelsea (3) 3 By Jonathan Wilson at The Hawthorns
The problem with being a member of the Big Four is that you are judged by different standards to everybody else. Saturday’s victory was every bit as emphatic as the scoreline suggested, and yet there was a sense of the humdrum about it – less because it was Chelsea’s record 10th consecutive away victory in the Premier League, than because their ability to hammer mediocre sides is not in question.
What could end up costing them titles this season is the difficulty they have in breaking down well-organised defences, and West Brom do not have one.
It is all very well for West Brom’s manager Tony Mowbray to talk about the quality of his side’s performances, but they are a team far stronger in the middle third than either of the two in which games are won and lost.
For all their eventual superiority, Chelsea were fortunate, as many other sides have been this season, that West Brom lack the ruthlessness to turn their bright passing into anything more meaningful. Just as tellingly, there is a self-destructiveness about their back four, despite the return of Abdoulaye Meite from injury. That manifested itself in a handful of needlessly conceded corners, then in an openness Nicolas Anelka twice exploited and, most crushingly, in some deeply unimpressive goalkeeping from Scott Carson.
A year to the week since the clanger that gifted Croatia the lead at Wembley in that decisive Euro 2008 qualifier, he is having another November to forget.
What must frustrate Mowbray is that until Chelsea took the lead, West Brom had been more enterprising.
Three goals in 11 minutes before the break confirmed Chelsea’s return to the top of the table. In the end it was all very simple. Without having over-exerted themselves in the first half they were able to drop their intensity in the second, and give substitute appearances to Michael Ballack – back from a foot injury for his first game in a little over a month – and to Didier Drogba, who managed to continue his rehabilitation from his knee injury without getting embroiled in any further controversy.
The surges forward from full-back of Jose Bosingwa have been a key part of the more attacking approach instilled by Luiz Felipe Scolari this season, and it was he who set Chelsea on their way, albeit with the assistance of Carson. The Portugal international’s shot was firmly struck, but he was only invited to shoot because Carson had drifted away from his post in expectation of a cross. Scrambling to recover, the keeper could only push the ball onto the underside of the bar, from which it bounced down over the line.
The two banks of four Mowbray had set out had been solid enough until then, but shape went with parity, leaving Anelka to capitalise on the significant pace advantage he enjoyed over Meite. His first finish, dinked over Carson, was deft, but his second, rolled in at the near post, called into question Carson’s positioning.
The French striker has now scored 13 goals this season, 12 of them in the Premier League, which puts him four clear of his closest rival, Wigan’s Amr Zaki, in the top goalscorer charts.
Remarkably, only one of those 13 has been the first goal of a game. Perhaps that is simply an indication of his effectiveness at capitalising on the space teams chasing a game leave behind them – and it is of course better to be a flat-track bully than not to be a bully at all – but if that sort of ratio is maintained over the season, it does raise further doubts about how many tight games Chelsea will win.
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Independent:
Clinical Anelka gives Chelsea relief from drama of Drogba
West Bromwich Albion 0 Chelsea 3
By James Corrigan at the Hawthorns
Back in their sanctuary of the Premier League the blue machine rolled ever ominously on last night, threatening to crush rivals and legends in its wake. Chelsea duly equalled the League record of 10 consecutive away victories held on their own for more than four decades by the double-winning Tottenham side. Only Bolton can now save the mark of Greaves, Mackay, Blanchflower and Co when they host Phil Scolari's joyous travellers in three weeks' time. And with the season's leading marksman Nicolas Anelka in this scoring form the history assault could take on an inevitable feel. "Nicolas has all the confidence in the world," said his team-mate John Obi Mikel. "I think he will score many more."
After these two goals from his only two shots, Anelka already has 12, and eight of these have come from the last four games. Scolari gave a simple reason why the £12 million striker's shooting boots suddenly fit so well. "The players believe in him more and because of that are keen to give him more chances," he said. "And maybe the system we play suits as well."
Which all adds up to not very good news for Didier Drogba, particularly as the system of one target man plus two wide men would not allow Drogba and Anelka to play together. The word is that the Ivorian will not contest the Football Association charge for throwing the coin back into the Burnley section of the crowd last week and that means he will doubtless soon be starting a three-match ban. It is likely Drogba would only be warming the bench, anyhow.
He eventually got on here but by then the match was over and Anelka had guaranteed the positive headlines. In fact, it was over at half-time with three on the scoreboard and so many more in the bank. That they failed to cash in any further was as much down to Chelsea's profligacy as any sterling West Bromwich fightback.
Just like last weekend, Chelsea were able to bounce back – this time from the Carling Cup setback against Burnley on Wednesday – with an emphatic performance that returned them to the top after Liverpool's afternoon win. In contrast, poor West Bromwich seem doomed for a fight down the other end. Not too much should be read into this reversal but plenty will, naturally. At least they have got half their fixtures against the Big Four out of the way. A small mercy for Tony Mowbray, who didn't have many to cling to. He tried to be positive and played two up front, which was commendable to some, suicidal to others.
"A team like West Brom cannot shut up shop against Chelsea," reasoned Mowbray. "They have too much quality." That was evident from the 34th minute onwards when the visitors embarked on their rampage and West Bromwich imploded. "Up until then I thought it was even," said Mowbray. Scolari concurred. "For the first 15 minutes they were the better side," he said, clearly reflecting on one Ishmael Miller chance that should at the very least have hit the target.
As for the Chelsea goals, Scott Carson will come in for criticism for letting two in at his near post, the first a curling strike from Jose Bosingwa in the 34th minute, the last on the brink of the whistle when Anelka skidded in a low one for his second. His first had come with a clinical dink over Carson when put through by an opportunistic Salomon Kalou header.
That was that, although it really shouldn't have been. "There were three or four goals to be taken," said Scolari and he was not exaggerating. It took on the guise of a training match.
But even in practice injuries occur and Fabio Capello will be anxious to discover the results of a scan on John Terry's foot injury that forced his withdrawal in the latter stages and could see the central defender miss Wednesday's friendly in Berlin. "It is underneath the foot," explained Scolari, looking perplexed. "It is one of those new football injuries."
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Observer:
Anelka double rewards Chelsea's happy travellersr report West Brom 0 Chelsea 3 Bosingwa 34, Anelka 38, Anelka 45
Stuart Barnes at the Hawthorns
Stamford Bridge is not quite the fortress it used to be, but Chelsea can do no wrong on the road. They destroyed West Brom with three goals in the run-up to half-time to ensure a Premier League record 10th successive away win, three at the end of last season and seven so far this term.
Nicolas Anelka delivered two goals with the sharpness of a player at the top of his game as Chelsea returned to the top of the table after being overtaken by Liverpool earlier in the day. Albion opened in a manner that suggested they might make things difficult, coming forward with plenty of ambition and purpose. Luiz Felipe Scolari admitted: 'They started better than us and had one or two opportunities. But the second and third goals finished the game.
'Nicolas has more confidence and the other players have more confidence in him. So they are giving him more chances to score. The record is not for me. It is for the players and the club. We have lost some points at home, so it is important we keep on winning away.'
Albion, after their best ever start in the Premier League, have only a single point to show from their past six matches. Even so, Tony Mowbray continues to talk in optimistic terms. 'There was no disgrace for us,' the manager said. 'We gave it a go and kept them at bay for half an hour. But when Anelka gets those sort of chances he rarely misses. We could have played one up front and sat in our own half. But really, you can't shut up shop against teams like this. It's not bad when they can bring players like Drogba and Ballack off the bench.
'We have had had a tough run of fixtures. No one likes being bottom. I'm confident, though, that this group of players can comfortably stay in the division.'
James Morrison's meaty 22-yarder a foot too high reflected his team's bright start. Then Ishmael Miller curled a shot beyond the far post when fed by Borja Valero. Chelsea's first clear chance fell to Frank Lampard, from Florent Malouda's volleyed pass. He had space to advance on Scott Carson, but the goalkeeper was equal to the shot.
Carson parried a solid attempt by Malouda before he was beaten at his near post - and looked culpable - as Jose Bosingwa fired the ball in with his left foot from near the junction of the penalty area. He got a hand to the ball, but not strong enough to keep it out. Before Albion could regroup, Malouda's forward header released Anelka, who cut in from the left and, under some pressure, dinked the ball delightfully over Carson for 2-0.
The game was all over on the stroke of half-time as Lampard found Salomon Kalou, whose pass sent Anelka goalwards for another silky finish, this time beyond Carson at his near post.
The Frenchman could easily have had a hat-trick after the restart. Another shot on target was deflected behind, then he fired over when Deco's corner came loose at the far post. Anelka then set up a chance, which Malouda put wide, before being called off and replaced by Didier Drogba.
Ishmael Miller persevered while substitute Kim Do-Heon volleyed a chance beyond the far post, without Albion ever looking like gaining a foothold back in the game.
Although Scolari would not discuss Drogba's FA charge of violent conduct for throwing a coin at Burnley supporters during the midweek Carling Cup defeat, he insisted that Anelka and Drogba can play together 'when they are in good condition and can train together'.
Of more immediate concern is a foot injury sustained by John Terry, the extent of which will be determined after a scan today, after which a decision will be made on whether he can join the England squad for Wednesday's friendly in Germany.
THE FANS' PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT
Steve Wilton, WBA.VitalFootball.co.uk We always expected to lose, but I thought Miller's pace would cause Terry problems. Miller did work his socks off and gave Terry a hard time, but he couldn't find the net. Realistically, we were undone by the quality of Anelka and a cracking strike by Bosingwa. He looked like he was going to cross but he shaped to shoot, which fooled Carson, who didn't have the best game and was perhaps responsible for all three goals, beaten twice at his near post. We're lacking a midfield with the quality to pick the pass and score goals. We're in a false position in that we've played many of the top teams – we've competed well, but we need more urgency, getting the ball forward, though without sacrificing our passing game.
The fan's player ratings Carson 5; Zuiverloon 6, Olsson 7, Meite 6 (Donk 5), Robinson 5; Morrison 6 (Teixeira 7), Valero 7, Greening 5, Koren 6; Bednar 5 (Kim 6), Miller 8
Mike Martin, Soccer.Suite101.com It was not a great game. It was a bit like the match at Boro, where the other team weren't particularly awful except that they can't score goals but we can, because they can't afford players like Anelka, who's been brilliant lately. He's doing so well because of the fact that he's playing – and playing without Drogba. He's assumed a Michael Owen role and the service to him has been great, so being a great striker he's going to score. Drogba still seems to be in a semi-stupor, though he seems to come on only when we're 3-0 up. Lampard's playing the best football of his career. We're combining attacking thrust with patience, though we seem to score goals in rushes – we're a bit like the team version of Wayne Rooney.
The fan's player ratings Cudicini 7; Bosingwa 8, Ivanovic 6, Terry 7 (Ferreira n/a), Bridge 6; Lampard 7, Mikel 7, Deco 6; Kalou 6 (Ballack 6), Malouda 6 Anelka 9 (Drogba 5)
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Mail:
West Brom 0 Chelsea 3: Albion hit by Anelka firepower as Blues issue warning
By Daniel King
After Didier Drogba and Chelsea had plumbed the depths against Burnley, Nicolas Anelka and his team hit the heights again.
A difficult week ended with a return to the easy life for Luiz Felipe Scolari as a comprehensive victory sent his side back to the top of the table and set a Premier League record for consecutive away victories into the bargain.
The only statistic the Brazilian ultimately cares about is bringing the title back to Stamford Bridge, and Chelsea will have to prove that they are more than flat-track bullies, starting with Arsenal at the end of this month, if they are to realise that ambition.
But for now, Scolari’s team continue to trade victories with Liverpool and the goal difference which gives them the edge over their nearest rivals is compelling evidence that they are a class apart when it comes to putting away the socalled lesser teams.
After being second best in the opening exchanges at The Hawthorns, Chelsea took advantage of a gaffe by West Bromwich keeper Scott Carson to take the lead through Jose Bosingwa, and they never looked back, with Anelka’s clinical brace ending the game as a contest before half-time.
November is the cruellest month for Carson. It is a year to the week since his calamitous error allowed Niko Kranjcar to give Croatia the lead at Wembley in a game which ended England’s hopes of qualifying for Euro 2008.
This time, poor positioning and a slow reaction prevented him from stopping a longrange, left-footed shot from Bosingwa which was impressive but should not have beaten a goalkeeper with pretensions to rebuilding an international career.
Another pair of fine finishes from Anelka took his tally for the season to 13 goals and ensured Chelsea beat their own record of nine Premier League away wins in a row and equalled Tottenham’s all-time top-flight landmark of 10.
West Bromwich boss Tony Mowbray badly needs a striker to convert into goals the sort of pretty football which allowed them to enjoy the better of the opening 20 minutes or so. But players with even a fraction of Anelka’s undoubted ability will not come cheap in the January transfer window.
Scolari has achieved a lot in his short time at Chelsea, not least in making the team attractive as well as effective, and conducting himself with a dignity not usually associated with the club. But coaxing goals out of a player who has for so long failed to realise his potential is another significant item on the credit side of the Brazilian’s managerial ledger.
Scolari said: ‘Nicolas Anelka is happy because he has more confidence. The other players believe in him more than before and give him more chances to score.
‘Maybe the system that we play is better for Anelka.’
There remains the suspicion that a fully fit and focused Drogba is a more powerful weapon against stronger defences, but Anelka is filling his boots against the weaker rearguards. Just four minutes after Bosingwa had flattered Chelsea by catching Carson out, the French striker darted on to Florent Malouda’s header, left Abdoulaye Meite for dead and dinked the ball inside Carson’s near post for a finish which was a little touch of genius.
Moments before half-time, the game was over as a contest when Meite, playing for the first time since August, once more betrayed his lack of speed and match fitness, this time allowing Anelka to race on to Salomon Kalou’s pass and embarrass Carson again by beating him at the near post.
There is much to admire about Albion as a team and a club, and neither Mowbray’s men nor the home crowd allowed the inevitability of defeat to overwhelm them. But for all the singing in the stands and the neat football on the pitch, Chelsea should have scored more goals.
Substitute Filipe Teixeira’s shot just over the bar early in the second half was the closest the home team came to beating Carlo Cudicini, who played because Petr Cech had joined Chelsea’s long list of casualties.
Not that Scolari will receive much sympathy on that score from Mowbray. The Albion manager said: ‘It was 34 minutes until they scored and we were in the game. But Nicolas Anelka gets chances and he very rarely misses. ‘That’s the quality their team can afford. And it’s not bad when you can bring [Michael] Ballack and Drogba on.’
With 15 minutes left, Drogba received a predictably derisive welcome on to the pitch from the West Bromwich fans. It is understood that he will not contest his violent conduct charge for throwing a coin back into the Burnley fans, which will mean he must serve an automatic three-match ban.
But by then the Chelsea supporters were far more concerned with singing Anelka’s name to the incongruous tune of Black Lace’s ‘Agadoo’.
Penny for your thoughts, Didier.
WEST BROM (4-4-2): Carson; Zuiverloon, Olsson, Meite (Donk 68min), Robinson; Morrison (Teixeira 58), Koren, Greening, Valero; Miller, Bednar (Kim 46). Subs (not used): Kiely, M Cech, Brunt, Moore.
CHELSEA (4-1-4-1): Cudicini; Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry (Ferreira 85), Bridge; Mikel; Kalou (Ballack 68), Deco, Lampard, Malouda; Anelka (Drogba 74). Subs (not used): Hilario, A Cole, Sinclair, Mineiro. Booked: Terry, Bosingwa, Ivanovic. Sinclair, Ferreira, Mineiro.
Referee: S Bennett (Kent).
MATCH FACTSHERO: NICOLAS ANELKA —Who needs Drogba?
VILLAIN: SCOTT CARSON — Caught out for the crucial opening goal.
MAGIC MOMENT: ANELKA’S exquisite finish for his first goal.
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NOTW:
WEST BROM 0, CHELSEA 3 French ace proves he's Anel of a striker By DAVID HARRISON, 15/11/2008
NICOLAS ANELKA threw missiles around with deadly accuracy at The Hawthorns — and Chelsea were coining it in.
The striker’s double blast took his team back to the top of the table as he continued his amazing scoring streak.
His two goals made it eight from his last four matches and he is now the runaway leader at the top of the Premier scoring charts with a round dozen.
Bench
No wonder Luiz Felipe Scolari can afford to leave Didier Drogba on the bench awaiting his fate from the FA and the police after his coin-throwing in midweek.
Anelka is the man of the moment for the Blues and Drogba can anticipate a prolonged stretch on the sidelines on top of any suspension he gets.
West Brom’s willingness to take on all-comers with an attacking formation might be viewed as a kamikaze mission by a team rooted to the bottom of the table. But boss Tony Mowbray’s refusal to compromise his beliefs was again evident in an opening spell which took Chelsea by surprise.
The Baggies ventured forward with some purpose and James Morrison and Borja Valero both struck long-range shots which were too high to trouble Carlo Cudicini.
Even better was a flowing move which ended with Valero picking out Ishmael Miller. The former Manchester City striker dragged his shot across the face of the goal but it almost became a perfect pass for the onrushing Roman Bednar, who was inches away from converting at the far post.
That early spell of Albion pressure triggered a response from Chelsea which emphasised how anxious they had become about their spirited opponents.
Block
Frank Lampard took it upon himself to orchestrate the visitors’ response in midfield.
The England player, released into the box by Florent Malouda, forced Scott Carson to make a brave block with his legs at the near post.
Soon after, Malouda had the Baggies keeper at full stretch with a swerving effort.
The force was now with Chelsea as Lampard drove them forwards, though their opening goal in the 34th minute contained a big element of surprise.
Jose Bosingwa stepped inside from the right and curved a 25-yarder towards Carson’s near post. The keeper’s positioning was suspect and, though he got a hand to it, could not stop the ball flying into the top corner.
Four minutes later, the game was over as a contest. Malouda’s header sent Anelka free down the left and the French striker accelerated into the box before calmly lifting his shot over Carson.
Streak
Anelka’s hot streak continued with his second just before the break. Salomon Kalou picked him out and his shot from 10 yards again left questions about Carson, who left his near post unprotected.
The full length of the Premier League separated the two teams at the start of the day and, by half-time, the gulf in class was even wider than that.
Albion had been taught a lesson in how to play the game with a ruthless efficiency.
The Midlands club passed the ball into endless cul-de-sacs and got nowhere.
Chelsea moved it around economically into areas where they could punish their opponents and finished their chances with a clinical and deadly touch.
Adventure
But Scolari’s men are not just a team of workmanlike labourers. There is an air of adventure about them which is proving irresistible.
Albion struggled to contain them at the start of the second half but, oddly, Chelsea’s finishing touch temporarily deserted them.
Lampard’s pass opened up the home defence, yet Malouda allowed Carson to close him down and spread himself across the line of the shot.
Anelka was unusually unselfish when presented with a hat-trick chance 10 minutes into the second half. There was ample time for him to unleash a shot but he chose to pass to Deco and the midfielder was crowded out.
Chelsea have lost none of their aggressive bite despite the extra entertainment value they have added to their game.
Skipper John Terry and Bosingwa were both booked for crunching challenges when the Blues needed to establish their physical presence. But they do not need to resort to thuggery. There is too much quality in the side for that.
It is a pity Albion do not carry some of their devilment.
They cannot continue their season earning admiring glances for their pretty approach play.
Ugly does not appear to figure in manager Mowbray’s vocabulary but he might have to resort to something less elegant if Albion are to claw their way out of trouble.
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morning papers burnley home cc 1-1

Times:
Burnley hand Chelsea shock Carling Cup defeat
Chelsea 1 Burnley 1 (aet; Burnley win 5-4 on pens)Nick Szczepanik
The Carling Cup has been boom or bust for Chelsea since 2004-05 and last night it was bust again as they went out at home to Burnley, of the Coca-Cola Championship.
Winners twice and losing finalists once in the past four seasons, Chelsea also recorded the only domestic home defeat in José Mourinho’s time as manager in this competition, when they were eliminated on penalties by Charlton Athletic after a 1-1 draw in the third round in October 2005.
When last night’s match finished on the same score after 90 minutes, many sensed a repeat and almost expected Burnley to add the scalp of the Barclays Premier League leaders to those of Liverpool, Aston Villa and Fulham, their victims in recent seasons, and so it proved as Brian Jensen, the Burnley goalkeeper, saved Chelsea’s first penalty in sudden death, from John Obi Mikel, to send his side through to the quarter-finals.
Didier Drogba’s first goal of the season, after 27 minutes, had looked as if it would be enough to send Chelsea through to the last eight until Burnley struck back after 69 minutes through Ade Akinbiyi, a substitute.
Luiz Felipe Scolari had said that he was taking the competition seriously, as befitted the manager of a club with Chelsea’s recent record. Even so, he rested Nicolas Anelka in order to restore Drogba to the starting line-up for the first time since he injured a knee in a Champions League tie away to CFR Cluj on October 1 and began with John Terry and Frank Lampard on the bench. Scolari also gave a first start to Mineiro, the 33-year-old former Brazil midfield player, whom he signed as a free agent in September, ostensibly to cover for the absence through injury of Michael Essien, although in appearance and playing style Mineiro evoked memories of Claude Makelele.
Burnley, though, commanded respect. They occupy fifth place in the Championship and had not conceded a goal in their three matches in the Carling Cup, the most recent a 1-0 victory over Fulham, Chelsea’s neighbours.
It took Chelsea 14 minutes to test Jensen and when they did he came through with flying colours. Drogba’s pass put Salomon Kalou through on goal, but Jensen met him just outside the penalty area, executing a tackle of which any central defender would have been proud.
However, Jensen was beaten after 27 minutes when Lampard, who had come on two minutes earlier in place of the injured Juliano Belletti, played a pass forward to Drogba. The Ivory Coast forward jinked inside Michael Duff 18 yards out and, as other defenders rushed across to cover, curled his shot out of the goalkeeper’s reach to score his first goal of the season.
It could have been 2-0 shortly afterwards as Jensen had to save at full stretch from Kalou when he shot fiercely for the bottom far corner, and the goalkeeper was lucky that the rebound eluded Drogba.
Burnley appealed half-heartedly for a penalty when Martin Paterson fell over a challenge from Lampard, but they almost conceded again when Branislav Ivanovic met Florent Malouda’s cross with a diving header that looped up and over Jensen and came back off the bar.
Jensen is nicknamed “The Beast” and he showed his teeth when he reacted angrily to a challenge by Kalou before counting to ten. It was as well that he kept a cool head, for after 69 minutes his team were level.
An angled cross-shot by Chris Eagles was parried by Carlo Cudicini and it was the Chelsea goalkeeper’s bad luck that it fell kindly for Akinbiyi, who had been on the pitch only nine minutes. Showing a coolness in front of goal that has not always been his hallmark, Akinbiyi side-footed calmly into the corner of the net in front of 6,000 travelling fans packed into the Shed End. Chelsea pressed hard for a winner but Burnley were able to soak up pressure.
Lampard had the ball in the net early in extra time, only to be flagged offside, and chances began to arrive as both teams tired. Akinbiyi’s glancing header from Graham Alexander’s cross was well held by Cudicini and it seemed that Alex must win it for Chelsea when he met a cross from the left, only to scoop the ball over the bar from a yard out.
Three minutes from the end of extra time, Steven Caldwell, the Burnley captain, was sent off after being shown a second yellow card for a foul on Malouda. It seemed a harsh decision by Keith Stroud, the referee, and it could have been even more costly when Lampard belted the resulting free kick past the wall and through a crowd. Jensen must have seen it late, but somehow he held the ball at the second attempt with a scrum of Chelsea players bearing down on him.
And so to penalties. Jensen saved the second of Chelsea’s initial five, from Wayne Bridge, but Wade Elliott shot over the bar when he had the chance to clinch the shoot-out. “He did the same in training, but I fancied him to score tonight,” Owen Coyle, the Burnley manager, said.
Fortunately for them, it did not matter. Duff scored to put Burnley 5-4 ahead in sudden death and Jensen leapt acrobatically to his right to knock away Mikel’s effort to secure their passage. “We didn’t practise penalties,” Coyle added. “Who thought we’d get that far?”
Chelsea (4-1-4-1): C Cudicini - P Ferreira, Alex, B Ivanovic, W Bridge - Mineiro - S Kalou, Deco (sub: J O Mikel, 46min), J Belletti (sub: F Lampard, 25), F Malouda - D Drogba (sub: F Di Santo, 70). Substitutes not used: Hilário, J Terry, M Woods, S Sinclair.
Burnley (4-4-2): B Jensen - G Alexander, M Duff, S Caldwell, S Jordan - W Elliott, J Gudjonsson (sub: K McDonald, 97), C McCann, C Eagles - R Blake (sub: A Mahon, 76), M Paterson (sub: A Akinbiyi, 60). Substitutes not used: D Penny, A Kay, A MacDonald, J Rodriguez. Booked: Caldwell, Eagles, Akinbiyi. Sent off: Caldwell.
Referee: K Stroud.
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Telegraph:
Chelsea knocked out of Carling Cup by Burnley in penalty shoot-outChelsea (1) 1 Burnley (0) 1; aet 1-1; Burnley win 5-4 on pens By John Ley
Burnley created the shock of the season so far as they sent Chelsea out of the Carling Cup in the most dramatic of penalty shoot-outs thanks to a man nicknamed The Beast. After starting the season unbeaten, Luiz Felipe Scolari has been introduced to the London Bus syndrome: wait ages for a defeat, then three come in quick succession.
Emotion and drama echoed around Stamford Bridge as 6,000 Burnley fans celebrated a most unlikely but deserved victory when Brian Jensen, Burnley’s Danish goalkeeper and longest serving player, became the hero of the night, saving firstly from Wayne Bridge then, in sudden death, from John Obi Mikel.
The Beast was suddenly a Beauty, taking Burnley into the last eight of the competition for the first time in a quarter of a century.
After Bridge saw his penalty saved, Burnley were heading for a win, but Wade Elliott put his effort over. Florent Malouda equalized to take the shoot out to sudden death and, after Michael Duff converted, Jensen saved again, from Mikel.
So after going the season without loss, manager Luiz Felipe Scolari has now suffered defeats in the League, against Liverpool, the Champions League, in Rome, and now against Championship side Burnley, inside six games.
It was a case of déjà vu for Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, who was the goalkeeper when Chelsea last lost a domestic cup tie at home, in October 2005, when Charlton were the winners, again on penalties.
And it was also their first penalty shoot-out since the infamous Champions League final defeat by Manchester United, in Moscow in May.
Earlier, a player whose transfer fees have totaled almost £16 million over an 11-club, 15-year career, stunted the Chelsea millionaires at Stamford Bridge with a late equalizer.
Didier Drogba had claimed his first goal of the season to give Chelsea the edge but 34-year-old Ade Akinbiyi took the tie into extra time with a dramatic, yet deserved goal for the visitors.
Both teams finished with 10 men. Chelsea played the final 27 minutes with reduced numbers when Franco Di Santo limped off; with all three substitutes used, Chelsea were at a disadvantage. But Burnley also finished with 10 when captain Steven Caldwell, having been booked for fouling Drogba in the second half, was dimissed for halting Florent Malouda.
Chelsea, League Cup finalists in three of the previous four campaigns, gave a full debut to Mineiro, their 33-year-old Brazilian international midfielder signed recently after being released, in the summer, by Hertha Berlin.
That meant Frank Lampard and John Terry beginning in the unaccustomed position of substitutes, though the former was soon to be introduced after Juliano Belletti limped off.
In the 20th minute Jensen made his first mark of the evening with a double save to deny Chelsea. Drogba’s pass sent Salomon Kalou free and the goalkeeper stood his ground and saved with his legs, before blocking Drogba’s follow-up attempt, though the striker was convinced Jensen handled outside the area.
Burnley responded, in a rapidly improving game, when Chris McCann fed Stephen Jordan, who appeared to receive a push as he entered the area and lost possession.
In the 25th minute, Belletti, who had earlier required treatment, was forced off and replaced by Lampard. And his first touch was to set up Drogba for the opening goal.
His deft pass was received gratefully and after riding a challenge, from Duff, the Ivorian claimed his first fo the season. But the celebrations were tarnished when a coin, from the Burnley end, appeared to be thrown at the striker, who picked it up and returned it.
Shortly before the break, the gap could have increased but Jensen saved well, diving to his left to deny Florent Malouda. And on the stroke of half time, Malouda’s free-kick was directed into the cross bar by Branislav Ivanovic.
Chelsea made another change, at half time, replacing Deco with Mikel, and within five minutes of the restart Burnley’s goal came under threat again with Paulo Ferreira shooting just over.
But signs that Chelsea could not afford to relax were offered in the 54th minute when Robbie Blake’s direct corner was missed by Cudicini, the Chelsea goalkeeper fluffing an attempted punch, but there were no Claret bodies available to convert the loose ball.
Burnley introduced Ade Akinbiyi midway through the second half, for Martin Paterson, and he exposed Chelsea’s relaxed attitude when, after Cudicini could only parry Chris Eagles’ shot the striker converted the rebound with ease, in the 69th minute, for his first goal of the season.
Jensen punched clear to stop a Lampard free-kick at the end and, in extra time, Burnley were the stronger but Alex was guilty of missing a match winner in the 124th minute when he sent the ball over an open target to send the game to penalties.
Graham Alexander, Alan Mahon, Chris Eagles and Kevin McDonald converted for Burnley, while Chelsea’s penalties by Frank Lampard, Soloman Kalou, Paolo Ferreira and Florent Malouda were all successful, before Jensen’s saved from Mikel after Duff netted.
Match details
Chelsea (4-1-4-1): Cudicini; Ferreira, Alex, Ivanovic, Bridge; Mineiro; Kalou, Belletti (Lampard 25), Deco (Mikel h-t), Malouda; Drogba (Di Santo 68).Subs: Hilario (g), Sinclair, Terry, Woods.Burnley (4-4-1-1): Jensen; Alexander, Duff, Caldwell, Jordan; Elliott, Gudjonsson, McCann, Eagles; Blake (Mahon 76); Paterson (Akinbiyi 60).Subs: Penny (g), McDonald, Rodriguez, Kay, MacDonald.Booked: Eagles, Caldwell, Akinbiyi.Referee: K Stroud (Hants).
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Independent;
Jensen save stuns Blues in shoot-out
Chelsea 1 Burnley 1 (aet; Burnley win 5-4 on penalties)
By Hyder Jawad
The pain of Moscow came flooding back for Chelsea as they bowed out of the Carling Cup last night, losing 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out against Burnley at Stamford Bridge. The stakes might have been lower than they were against Manchester United in the Champions League final, but that was not how it felt to the Burnley supporters, all 6,500 of them, who celebrated a memorable victory.
The hero for the Championship team was Brian Jensen, who saved John Obi Mikel's penalty – Chelsea's sixth in the shoot-out – to secure an unlikely yet, by the end, appropriate victory in this fourth-round tie. Earlier in the shoot-out Wayne Bridge, the Chelsea captain, also had his penalty saved and Wade Elliott of Burnley sent his spot-kick high over Carlo Cudicini's goal.
Chelsea, the Premier League leaders, had only themselves to blame. They dominated the initial 90 minutes, took the lead through Didier Drogba, and seemed destined for a routine victory. But Burnley benefited from Chelsea's profligacy and equalised through Ade Akinbiyi, a substitute, midway through the second half.
Steven Caldwell, the Burnley captain, was sent off deep into extra-time for a second bookable offence but Chelsea could not take advantage, despite creating a host of chances. How different it seemed in the first half when the home team dominated.
Initially, Drogba was a pivotal figure until his withdrawal in the second half. Deriving energy from the jeers of the Burnley fans, the striker mixed finesse with strength to emphasise the gulf in class between the two teams. No sign of a weakened Chelsea here. They should have scored early on when Drogba's deft pass gave Salomon Kalou a clear run on goal only for Jensen to avert the danger.
It was a different story when Drogba himself found space inside the penalty area. Latching on to a pass by Frank Lampard in the 27th minute, Drogba evaded the challenge of Graham Alexander with one touch and curled the ball home with another. Drogba was pelted with coins as he celebrated and responded by gesticulating and appearing to throw one coin back, an action that is likely to attract the interest of the Football Association.
Burnley's pace and work-rate gave the Chelsea defenders, and particularly Cudicini, the goalkeeper, some anxious moments, but the home team were always the likelier of the two to score. Indeed, on the stroke of half-time, with Burnley pegged back, Chelsea nearly doubled their advantage when Branislav Ivanovic headed the ball against the crossbar from close range after a corner by Lampard. Nevertheless, the sense that Chelsea might pay for their profligacy was not confined to the visiting fans. Burnley grew in stature and, showing more fight in midfield and relishing the chance to open up the match, they equalised through Akinbiyi in the 69th minute. The arrival of Akinbiyi, who had come on for Martin Paterson on the hour mark, changed the configuration of the contest and he showed his experience and clinical finishing to score from close range after Chelsea made a mess of clearing their lines.
Chelsea should have won the tie in stoppage time at the end of the 90 minutes when Franco Di Santo, who replaced Drogba, made a clever run into the penalty area and controlled Lampard's slick pass. But with the situation calling for composure, Di Santo struck the ball wide of the post.
Chelsea missed more good chances in extra-time, particularly in the second period when, with Burnley tiring, Alex scooped the ball over the crossbar from inside the six-yard area and Lampard saw his own fierce free-kick from 20 yards saved by Jensen.
Chelsea (4-3-2-1): Cudicini; Ivanovic, Alex, Belletti (Lampard, 26), Bridge; Ferreira, Deco (Mikel, h-t), Mineiro; Malouda, Kalou; Drogba (Di Santo, 68). Substitutes not used: Hilario (gk), Sinclair, Terry, Woods.
Burnley (4-4-2): Jensen; Alexander, Duff, Caldwell, Jordan; Eagles, Gudjonsson (McDonald, 97), McCann, Elliott; Blake (Mahon, 76), Paterson (Akinbiyi, 60). Substitutes not used: Penny (gk), McDonald, Rodriguez, Kay.
Referee: K Stroud (Hampshire).
Drogba apologises for coin throw
Didier DrogBa has apologised for throwing a coin at the Burnley fans after he scored Chelsea's goal last night. Drogba was pelted with a handful of coins by the away support when he celebrated giving Chelsea the lead in the first half. One of the coins appeared to hit him.
Drogba said: "This is something I want to make clear. I tried to celebrate the goal and I received some things at me. The big mistake I did was to throw it back so if someone was hurt I just want to apologise for it. This is not something I should show in a football match and I want to apologise.It was an incident in the heat of the moment and I regret it. It was just a mistake and nothing more."
Luiz Felipe Scolari, meanwhile, refused to blame his players for the surprise defeat. "I am not angry with my players," he said. "If there is anger, it would be with me. They made two chances and scored once. We made maybe six chances. Burnley played better in the penalties."
Owen Coyle, the Burnley manager, felt that the victory was merited. "We rode our luck a little bit but we deserve this triumph."
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The Guardian
Drogba apologises as Chelsea tumble outChelsea 1 Drogba 27 Burnley 1 Akinbiyi 69
Mike Adamson at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea suffered a shock exit from this competition at the hands of a dogged Burnley after a penalty shoot-out last night, and that may not be the end of their troubles. Didier Drogba heaped further embarrassment on his side by gesturing at the away fans and throwing a coin towards them after it had apparently hit him on the pitch. It seems certain the Football Association will investigate the matter and last night the player issued an apology.
"I tried to celebrate the goal and I received some things at me," the striker said. "The big mistake I did was to throw it back so if someone was hurt I just want to apologise for it. This is not something I should show in a football match and I want to apologise. It was an incident in the heat of the moment and I regret it."
Drogba reacted after giving Chelsea the lead in the 27th minute, with a world-class finish, on his first start for six weeks since injuring his knee in the Champions League against Cluj. It was his first goal for the club since April and as he celebrated in front of the Burnley fans, a coin thrown from the visiting supporters appeared to strike him. He responded with a one-finger gesture and then picked up the coin and hurled it back into the supporters.
The 30-year-old was booked for his behaviour and Chelsea said last night that they would await the referee's report before deciding whether to take action. Drogba's coin-throwing echoed a similar incident involving Liverpool's Jamie Carragher against Arsenal in 2002.
Chelsea have other concerns because this was a second defeat in three home games, a significantly bigger blot on Luiz Felipe Scolari's copybook than Liverpool's victory here last month. Progress had seemed straightforward when Drogba struck but Scolari was punished after substituting both Deco and Drogba in the second half and the Burnley manager, Owen Coyle, was rewarded for a courageous passing game by Ade Akinbiyi's equaliser. Brian Jensen was the Championship side's hero in the shoot-out, brilliantly saving from Wayne Bridge and Mikel John Obi to spark wild celebrations in front of and among the ecstatic 6,100 visiting supporters. This latest failure means Chelsea have not won a shoot-out in a competitive game for 10 years.
There were no excuses for Scolari, who picked a far more experienced side than his counterparts from the other top-four clubs this week. Whereas Arsenal fielded a team with an average age of 19 against Wigan on Tuesday night, 23-year-old Salomon Kalou was the youngest home player on display here. Indeed it was Frank Lampard, rather than the promising youngster Scott Sinclair, to whom Scolari turned when Juliano Belletti hobbled off injured in the first quarter. The England midfielder made an instant impact with a perfectly weighted first-time pass to Drogba, who glided past Michael Duff's ineffective challenge before sidefooting the ball past Jensen into the far corner.
But since Coyle was appointed last November Burnley have played a brand of football that is most pleasing on the eye while climbing to fifth in the second tier, and they brought that attitude here. They avoided what might have been a killer blow when Branislav Ivanovic headed Florent Malouda's header on to the crossbar in first-half stoppage-time, and midway through the second half they capitalised on their good fortune.
With 20 minutes to go Chris Eagles ran in behind Paulo Ferreira and brought about a fine save from Carlo Cudicini low to his left. The substitute Akinbiyi was the first to react and he calmly slotted the ball past Alex on the line.
Chelsea's attacking options were limited further in the extra period as Franco Di Santo limped down the tunnel injured, leaving his team a man short with Scolari having already made his three substitutions. The goalscoring responsibility was thus heaped on Lampard's shoulders but he was ruled offside as he slipped the ball into the goal from close range, and foiled by the near post with a corner-kick.
The numbers were evened up when Steven Caldwell was dismissed for a second cynical hauling down of Malouda before the match reached its dramatic climax.
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Mail:
Chelsea 1 Burnley 1: The Beast is spot on as Scolari suffers a League Cup maulingBurnley win 5-4 on penaltiesBy Neil Ashton
Luiz Felipe Scolari cannot find a way to beat the biggest teams in the Barclays Premier League. Now he cannot even beat Burnley.Owen Coyle's combative side took Chelsea all the way, cancelling out Didier Drogba's first-half strike and then beating them in a penalty shoot-out at Stamford Bridge.What a night, the stuff that dreams are made of as 6,500 travelling Burnley fans lived out their footballing fantasies over 120 minutes and more. It was spellbinding stuff as this team sitting fifth in the Championship, making their first trip to the Bridge since 1982, recorded the most remarkable result at Chelsea of the Roman Abramovich era.The Stamford Bridge owner can spend £200million on a team, yet this result proves beyond all doubt that success simply cannot be bought. It has to be earned.Scolari's team have their troubles after failing to beat Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham at home and losing 3-1 to Roma in Italy in the Champions League.
Nothing will compare with the penalty shoot- out defeat in Moscow, when Chelsea were beaten to the European Cup by Manchester United. But, for tension, this ran it a close second.Burnley showed remarkable resolve, spirit and character to claw their way back into the game, putting Chelsea on notice that they were headed for extra-time when Ade Akinbiyi equalised.Delirium set in with Burnley's supporters, seemingly the entire town squeezed into The Shed end and then spilling on to the perimeter track when his strike nestled in the back of Carlo Cudicini's net.
Could they hold out? Yes they could, with Brian Jensen leading a charmed life in Burnley's goal as Chelsea sprang attack after attack after attack. They repelled them all, somehow taking the game to a shoot-out.Graham Alexander drew first blood in front of the Matthew Harding Stand, Frank Lampard levelled. Oh the tension.Alan Mahon appeared without nerves to make it 2-1 then stand-in home skipper Wayne Bridge's shot was beaten away by the man nicknamed 'The Beast' by Burnley fans.
Chelsea were on their way out until Wade Elliott lost his nerve - and his footing - to spoon the ball over Cudicini's crossbar. Surely now Scolari's team would take the chance to stumble into the quarter-final.It was into sudden-death and Michael Duff put Burnley back in front. Then it was down to John Mikel Obi.The midfielder, on as a second-half substitute for the ineffective Deco, strutted his way to the penalty area.He planted the ball on the spot and every supporter inside the stadium knew what was coming the moment he began the most casual and unprofessional of run-ups.
Moments later Burnley were through, their players hunting down Jensen and finally burying him under an avalanche of claretand- blue bodies. Disbelieving supporters celebrated in the stands.This is Burnley time, the biggest moment in the club's history since they knocked Liverpool and Aston Villa out of the FA Cup in 2005.Those were magical moments, but nothing compares to this, The Big One.Eliminating Chelsea is one thing, kicking them out of the competition on their own turf is something else. Nothing to shout about: Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari saw his side crash out of the League Cup to BurnleyThey join Barcelona, Charlton and Liverpool as the only teams to beat them at Stamford Bridge in the Abramovich era.The downside to this dramatic defeat is that football fans all over the world will have to put up with Alastair Campbell talking about his lifelong allegiance to the town of Burnley and its brave football club.They will live with it, especially after they recovered from Drogba's goal, brilliantly taken after he tuned into a stunning 40-yard diagonal pass off the boot of substitute Frank Lampard.Drogba's reaction, saluting Burnley's supporters with a one fingered gesture and appearing to throw a coin back into the stand, was as distasteful as it was disgraceful.Burnley took their medicine, treated to that rare sight of Akinbiyi's six pack as he whipped off his shirt to celebrate an equalising goal in the 69th minute.By then Chelsea had made all three substitutions, and they were down to 10 men in extra-time when Franco Di Santo was forced off with a hamstring injury.Burnley themselves were also a man down when captain Steven Caldwell was sent off for a second bookable offence, but they held on for penalties and a perfect night out in London.
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