Crystal Palace 2-1

Independent:

Oscar and Cesc Fabregas strike to maintain Chelsea's unbeaten record

Crystal Palace 1 Chelsea 2

By MIGUEL DELANEY

Chelsea may not have had Diego Costa, but they suffered no repeat of last season’s defeat at Selhurst Park. The difference could be seen in Jose Mourinho’s colourful reaction, even if he would only write the words rather than say them.

Back in March, after Tony Pulis’s Palace had inflicted a 1-0 defeat which badly damaged Chelsea’s title challenge, the Portuguese was asked what they were missing. He wrote “balls” on a piece of paper. This time, asked why they won, he wrote “big balls”.
It was difficult to dispute. This was a testosterone-filled game featuring an awful lot of aggression and red cards for Cesar Azpilicueta and Delaney– but also, crucially, a 2-1 Chelsea victory.
They showed physicality but also plenty of finesse. That could be seen in the beautifully flighted delivery of Oscar’s opening goal, and then the Brazilian’s divine exchange with Cesc Fabregas to enable the Spanish midfielder to score the second.
The lively Fraizer Campbell gave Chelsea a few nerves with a late strike to make it 2-1, but by then, Mourinho’s team had more than shown their mettle.
“I said yesterday, in [Palace’s] game [physicality], they are better than us,” Mourinho stated. “If we come here and don’t impose our game, we have no chance. From minute one to 94, we imposed our game. We had the ball. We were always in control.”
That is mostly, but not completely, true. Palace started better and could have had three in the opening minutes. Yannick Bolasie was giving Branislav Ivanovic plenty of problems, but Campbell was giving Gary Cahill even more, though he squandered a series of chances he had done so well to create.
Then Damien Delaney took down Willian, which allowed Oscar to curl an exceptional free-kick into the far corner of the net. Chelsea were 1-0 up but not completely on top. Without Costa, they were playing a little further back, and Palace were all too willing to try to intimidate Loïc Rémy, mostly through Delaney and Mile Jedinak.
That led to a few meaty challenges, and what seemed an element of retribution from Azpilicueta. Even so, there was no excuse for his wild challenge on Jedinak, which brought a deserved red card on 40 minutes. Fabregas might have been lucky to stay on the field after a flare-up with Campbell, but Delaney could have no complaints moments later after receiving a second yellow card for attempting to haul back Rémy.
Chelsea soon got their second goal, which left Mourinho purring. “My team had a fantastic performance,” he said. “From minute one we did what we wanted to do, have the ball, use the ball and control the game. The second goal was a scandal. It is unbelievably good!”
That was hard to dispute. Fabregas exchanged passes with Eden Hazard and Oscar before Rémy’s peeling run allowed the Spanish midfielder to step forward and slot the ball past Julian Speroni.
Palace could have few complaints, but that didn’t stop Neil Warnock offering some criticism of referee Craig Pawson for not booking John Terry for a similar foul to Delaney’s, even if the Palace manager did not exactly absolve his Irish centre-half: “Silly thing to do, to give the referee a decision to make. Even if the team [Chelsea] surrounded the ref. I thought they influenced him at times today, but he’s young. Inexperience, I guess. If that was my player, I thought John Terry would have been booked for definite. I thought the ref left a lot to be desired.”
Substitute Wilfried Zaha provided the cross for Campbell to score, but it was too little, too late.

Crystal Palace (4-5-1): Speroni; Kelly, Hangeland, Delaney, Ward; Puncheon (Zaha, 69), McArthur (Guedioura, 69), Jedinak, Ledley (Mariappa, 58), Bolasie; Campbell.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Matic, Fabregas; Willian (Filipe Luis, 42), Oscar, Hazard (Salah, 86); Rémy (Drogba, 90).

Referee: Craig Pawson.
Man of the match: Oscar (Chelsea)
Match rating: 7/10

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Observer:

Chelsea stay top after Cesc Fàbregas nets winner at Crystal Palace
C Palace 1 - 2 Chelsea

Dominic Fifield at Selhurst Park

Chelsea had stumbled in this corner of south-east London back in the spring, the deficiencies with which they had been saddled at the time exposed by workaholic opponents. A little under seven months on, they used their return as an opportunity to demonstrate the steel that has been instilled in the interim. They are a team transformed.
José Mourinho has recognised as much. Back in March he had scribbled the word “balls” on a journalist’s notepad at this venue having been asked what his players had lacked when succumbing to Crystal Palace. He took up his pen again post-match here, scrawling “big balls” to sum up what had made the difference this time round. This had been awkward, a fractious occasion which saw players from both sides dismissed before the interval, but it ended up feeling like a show of strength played out largely to a tempo Chelsea imposed.
Their dominance was underlined by two moments of jaw-dropping quality conjured by a fluid and inventive midfield, players revelling in Nemanja Matic’s leggy presence at their back, though it was the visitors’ ease in possession which truly separated them from their spirited hosts.
In March they had been drawn into attempting to compete physically with an imposing Palace team. Here they preferred to ping passes merrily among themselves and bypass Palace’s industry. The home side may have started brightly and finished with a flurry, courtesy of Wilfried Zaha embarrassing Filipe Luis to set up Fraizer Campbell for a consolation, but they had been eclipsed for long periods. The narrow scoreline was actually rather deceptive.
Admittedly it helped that the dismissals of César Azpilicueta and Damien Delaney opened up vast expanses of space in which Chelsea could prosper, but they could still take heart from the fact they achieved all this without Diego Costa, the Spain international absent resting his hamstring for the foreseeable future. “Our only chance was to impose our game and, from minute one to 94, we did that,” said Mourinho. “We had the ball. We were always in control. We were always very far from our box. People moved the ball well. We played between the lines. And we played very well: the way Matic, Fàbregas and Oscar moved when it was 10 against 10 was fantastic.
“We are a better team than last season. There has been a clear evolution in our team, and not just because we brought in two fantastic players [Fàbregas and Costa]. One of them wasn’t playing today, but our team was still fantastic. I’m pleased. But to win the title, it’s a long way away.”
They remain five points clear, their blistering start maintained and, even with Costa resting, they threaten to plunder goals throughout their lineup. Campbell and Brede Hangeland may have gone close early on for Palace, but the real bite was Chelsea’s. When Delaney stretched and connected illegally with Willian 20 yards out, Oscar strode up to belt the resultant free-kick majestically beyond a despairing Julián Speroni and into the top right-hand corner. The 23-year-old had only returned from Brazil’s friendly thrashing of Japan in Singapore on Thursday. It was as if he had never been away.
Delaney would not see out the half, his first caution delivered after he slid in on Loïc Rémy and his second, almost served up as an afterthought by the referee, flashed for pulling back the same player. There were covering defenders that time which made the offence unnecessary, though Palace’s real frustration was the fact they had enjoyed a man’s advantage for under four minutes. The momentum should have been theirs after Azpilicueta’s untidy lunge, studs up, into Mile Jedinak, but hope proved horribly short-lived. The Spaniard’s challenge had been wild and right in front of the overworked official, Craig Pawson.
In truth, the referee cut an increasingly fraught figure amid the niggles and was subjected to Neil Warnock’s bellowed exasperation in the tunnel as the teams retired at the break, the home manager’s gripe perceived inconsistency. “I thought [Chelsea] influenced him at times, but he’s young,” said the Palace manager. “It’s inexperience, I guess. John Terry should have been booked for definite [for fouling Campbell] earlier on, and that set a precedent.”
His team competed for all but the lull at the start of the second half, but momentum had effectively been sucked from their display by Delaney’s departure. Fàbregas duly confirmed as much, the Spaniard exchanging passes with Eden Hazard and Oscar as he danced between dizzied defenders to convert inside Speroni’s near-post as the goalkeeper slumped the other way.
It was a goal of beauty, the classy passing and movement untouchable, and it knocked both stuffing and ambition out of the hosts until their stoppage time consolation. “The second goal was a scandal, unbelievably good,” added Mourinho. His team have shown they are capable of such brilliance. A season of opportunity beckons.

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Telegraph:

Crystal Palace 1 Chelsea 2, Premier League: Jose Mourinho's side remain top after dominant victory
By Jim White, Selhurst Park

Hosts out-thought, out-paced and above all out-played by a Jose Mourinho side that purred at Selhurst Park

It was, according to Jose Mourinho, a matter of “big balls”. And he wasn’t referring to the scale of the object being kicked around the Selhurst Park pitch.
Asked what was the difference in his team’s performance compared to last season, when they had been embarrassed at Crystal Palace, the Chelsea manager reached for a reporters’ notebook and gleefully wrote out the two words in capitals.
“In that game [last March] they were better than us,” he added, by way of elucidation. “Today, from minute one to minute 94 we imposed our game, we were always in control. I think we played very, very well.”
He was right there. Rarely can a scoreline have given as inadequate summary as this. There was nothing close, tight or even about Chelsea’s 2-1 victory. The only area of the game in which Crystal Palace matched their visitors was in the production of red cards: both sides ended the game with 10 men. The difference was that Chelsea looked as if they had at least half a dozen more than their ever spirited opponents.
“Ten against 10 is easier than 11 against 11,” claimed Mourinho. “We spoke about that at half-time. The way my players demonstrated that fact was magnificent.”
As it always is, Selhurst Park was noisy in its anticipation of this derby. The welcome from the home fans as Mourinho and his team took the field was not exactly friendly. A banner was flourished in the home stand that read: “Roman’s dirty money is a disease that has plagued our game."
But it was not money alone that made the difference here. Abramovich’s source of income may not be one which withstands the most vigorous of ethical analysis, but never mind where the cash has come from, there is no question his manager has spent it well. For 90 minutes in south London his expensively acquired assets gelled to perfection.
Quick, fluid and intelligent in their running, the Chelsea midfield spent the second half of this game so dominant in possession, two Palace subs waited for a good 10 minutes on the touchline attempting to come on as their visitors played keep ball.
Chelsea had started as they intended to go on. With Willian, Oscar and Eden Hazard endlessly switching position, and behind them Cesc Fabregasceaselessly prompting, the visitors had Palace immediately on their heels.
After five minutes, Damien Delaney, who was to have a most uncomfortable afternoon, fouled Willian. A free-kick was awarded some 30 yards out, but Oscar was hardly concerned by such a distance. He bent his kick perfectly up and over the wall, past Julián Speroni into the goal.
Palace came immediately back. Less subtle in their movement, relying largely on pace they may have been, but they refused to be cowed. Briefly in the first half speed threatened to be enough. On 11 minutes, Fraizer Campbell harried Gary Cahill, flicked the ball ahead of Thibault Courtois but pushed it over bar.
Three minutes later, the Palace man’s pace again discomforted Cahill, leaving him stranded as the forward dashed goalwards. Campbell shot left-footed across Courtois, but the ball skimmed past the far post.
The frantic pace and growing passion came to the boil just before half-time. César Azpilicueta was sent off by Craig Pawson for a miscontrolled two-footed slide on Mile Jedinak.
“The point is not to worry if fair or not fair,” Mourinho said of the sending-off. “The point is to think quick and make decisions.”
He did that, sending on Felipe Luis for Willian and quickly rearranging his midfield.
Unfortunately for the home side’s hopes, however, their superiority in numbers lasted but four minutes. Delaney, already booked for a challenge on the electric-heeled Loïc Rémy, again attempted to slow the player by tugging at his shirt. It drew a second yellow card from the referee’s pocket.
As a very angry Palace fan in a black jacket was evicted from crowd, as the challenges flew in, each soundtracked by baying howls from the crowd, Mourinho was already making his way to the dressing room, plotting how best to exploit the circumstance.
His organisational rearrangement bore immediate fruit. Fàbregas, the wellspring of so much of the visitors’ endeavour, was the first to seize advantage of the extra spaces available. Five minutes into the second half, he exchanged passes with Hazard and Oscar before striding into the Palace area and firing low past Speroni. It was a lovely strike, indicative of Chelsea’s team work.
“The second goal was a scandal it was unbelievably good,” purred Mourinho.
His counterpart Neil Warnock, meanwhile, was less impressed. Semaphoring his anger, he implored his team to get forward. Perhaps spotting their manager’s rising agitation on the touchline, Palace were not about to give up.
Chelsea’s domination of the ball may have been almost total, the home side may have been pushed deeper and deeper, relying increasingly on hoof and hope, but Campbell got due reward for his unceasing endeavour when he tapped home Wilfried Zaha’s cross as injury time beckoned.
It was never going to be enough. Sensing the meaning of the win, the Chelsea fans had spent the last 20 minutes of the game chanting: “We are top of the league.”
As they did so they were bathed in unseasonably warm sun. They cannot have been alone in taking it as a symbol of Chelsea’s shining season.

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Times:

Crystal Palace 1 Chelsea 2: Red card complicates routine task

Andrew Longmore

A PREDICTABLE result, but a strange game. The Premier League leaders were never in danger of losing, but Cesar Azpilicueta’s sending off just before half-time seemed certain to complicate a relatively straightforward afternoon. At the time, Chelsea were ahead through a beautifully struck free kick by Oscar, and John Terry’s 500th game as captain was going much according to plan.
But just as Crystal Palace were sniffing a way back into the game, Damien Delaney earned his second booking of the half for another rash challenge and the numbers were evened up. 11 v 10 might have been a contest, 10 v 10 only emphasised Chelsea’s individual superiority and once Cesc Fabregas had doubled the lead just after the break, Palace had nowhere to go.
Chelsea’s manager, Jose Mourinho, was still intent on keeping up his growing feud with the Spanish football federation over Diego Costa, who played twice for Spain in the international break but, according to the Chelsea manager, returned to his club injured. “He [Costa] will be in perfect condition in time for the national team in mid-November,” said Mourinho sarcastically. The Spaniard’s replacement, Loic Remy, did nothing to lessen Mourinho’s irritation. The Frenchman was anonymous again yesterday and with back-to-back Champions League games against Maribor and visits to Old Trafford and Anfield in the coming weeks, Chelsea will need Costa’s cutting edge. Not that the idiocy of Delaney, who had been warned countless times by referee, Craig Pawson, stopped Palace’s manager, Neil Warnock, from launching an attack on the official.
“Put it this way, the referee has had better days,” said Warnock. “It was a silly thing [for Delaney to do], but I thought John Terry should have been booked and that set a precedent. I thought they influenced it out there.”
Oscar’s goal was a beauty, a free kick curled into the top corner with the minimum of fuss. The goal rather took the wind out of Palace’s sails and Chelsea, prompted by Willian, began to dictate the tempo of the game until Azpilicueta inexplicably lunged in late and high on Mile Jedinak and was given a straight red card.
Delaney, who had given away the free kick for the opening goal and been booked for another tackle, followed Azpilicueta down the tunnel for a second yellow card soon after. Warnock was apoplectic on the touchline, but Palace’s chance of seeing much more of the game disappeared with Delaney’s departure.
“The only thing we didn’t do was score a third goal to kill the game. But from minute one to minute 94 we imposed our game on them,” said Mourinho.
Fabregas elegantly scored Chelsea’s second to effectively seal Chelsea’s seventh win of the season, despite Campbell’s late consolation.

Star man: Oscar (Chelsea)

Crystal Palace: Speroni 6, Kelly 6, Hangeland 6, Delaney 4, Ward 6, Jedinak 6, Ledley 6 (Mariappa 58min, 6), Puncheon 7 (Zaha 69min), McArthur 6 (Guedioura 69min), Bolasie 7, Campbell 7

Chelsea: Courtois 5, Ivanovic 6, Cahill 5, Terry 6, Azpilicueta 4, Fabregas 7, Matic 7, Willian 7 (Luis 42min, 6), Oscar 8, Hazard 6 (Salah 86min), Remy 5 (Drogba 90min)

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Mail:

Crystal Palace 1-2 Chelsea: Oscar and Cesc Fabregas score in away win
By Patrick Collins

Cesc Fabregas saw the question coming from a hundred yards distance, and his answer was splendidly dismissive. ‘Do we feel invincible?’ he echoed. ‘This is a joke. Arsenal went unbeaten in 2003–4. That will never happen again.’
As a young player at Arsenal during that golden season, Fabregas is eminently qualified to make the judgment. But Chelsea have 22 points from the 24 available. The question will be repeated a time or two.
His manager, Jose Mourinho, has been making the same response for most of October. And yet, after such a start, he is prepared to make cautious noises about the title. ‘If we were in another league, I’d say immediately, “Yes, we will do it”. In the Premier League, we “can” do it. But it’s hard to say we “will” do it. There’s a long way to go. There’s lots of good teams and difficult games in front of us. I’m pleased, but to win the title, it’s a long way away.’
True, all true, but there is something in Chelsea’s attitude which provokes outrageous expectations. It is clear that titles are not won at places like Selhurst Park, although Chelsea might concede that they lost last season’s crown through defeat at Palace. They might also admit that Saturday's victory could have been much more emphatic had Mourinho not insisted on restraint rather than aggression when Palace were there for the taking. Finally, they might agree that their back four is suspiciously vulnerable to genuine pace, which could prove costly against more potent sides than the one they met.
But, after making all those concessions, they will be satisfied with the three points they expected from a strangely eccentric match.
Everything is falling into place for Mourinho’s team. Even when they lost Cesar Azpilicueta to a red card on 40 minutes, Damien Delaney obligingly committed a second bookable offence within two minutes to restore the numerical balance. Chelsea then settled to unchallenged control; good players doing the simple things to emphatic effect.
Oscar’s stunning free- kick had given them the lead within six minutes, and when Fabregas drove in the second soon after the interval, their task seemed blessedly simple.
And yet control did not yield further goals, and they endured the closing moments in a state of something akin to panic, when Palace substitute Wilfried Zaha created a tap-in for deserving Fraizer Campbell.
The eventful afternoon ended in traditional fashion, with the Palace manager, Neil Warnock, on the pitch, bawling at the referee and even his oen players.
The Palace fans had greeted their visitors with a cheery pre-match banner which read: ‘Roman’s dirty money is a disease that has plagued our game’.
The tone having been set, Palace made a bright start, speedily deploying Campbell and Yannick Bolasie.
But all the promise was deflated within six minutes when they conceded a free-kick 25 yards out. Oscar’s crashing strike reduced the chance to casual simplicity, the ball flying into the far top corner.
Mourinho has journalists in stitches, writing 'big balls' on notepad

Crystal Palace: Speroni 6, Kelly 6, Hangeland 6, Delaney 4, Ward 6.5, McArthur 5.5 (Guerdioura 69), Jedinak 6.5, Ledley 5 (Mariappa 58), Puncheon 6 (Zaha 69), Campbell 7.5, Bolasie 7.
Subs not used: Doyle, Hennessey, Gayle, Chamakh.
Goal: Campbell 90
Booked: Delaney, Campbell
Sent off: Delaney 43

Chelsea: Courtois 6.5, Ivanovic 6, Terry 7.5, Cahill 5.5, Azpilicueta 4.5, Matic 7, Fabregas 8.5, Willian 5.5 (Luis 42), Oscar 8, Hazard 6.5 (Salah 86), Remy 7 (Drogba 90+1).
Subs: Cech, Zouma, Mikel, Solanke.
Goals: Oscar 2, Fabregas 51
Booked: Fabregas
Sent off: Azpilicueta 40

Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire)
Attendance: 24,451
Ratings by JACK GAUGHAN at Selhurst Park

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Mirror:

Crystal Palace 1-2 Chelsea: Jose Mourinho praises his invinci-balls after victory at Palace's bearpit

By Dave Kidd
 
The ten-man Blues overcame their equally short-handed opponents in a feisty clash in South London


It's become a tradition that when Jose Mourinho visits Selhurst Park, he writes the first answer of his press ­conference on to a reporter’s notepad.
Last season when Chelsea’s title bid was severely damaged by a 1-0 defeat at this south London bearpit, Mourinho was asked what his team were lacking – and he scribbled the word ‘BALLS’. Asked yesterday why they had passed this same test of fire with a certain degree of stone-cold majesty, the manager jotted down ‘BIG BALLS’.
And although this was John Terry’s 500th game as Chelsea skipper, and although the ever-modest ‘captain, leader, legend’ had made a note of this fact on the vest beneath his shirt, Mourinho was not referring to Terry’s type of testicular fortitude.
He was referring to the way in which Chelsea had the nerve to impose their pure, passing game on a Crystal Palace side capable of ­out-muscling the best of them at a stadium which throbs and rattles to the din of a crowd with no respect for eardrums.
Even without the injured goal machine Diego Costa, a street-fighter of a striker who was born for tests like this, Chelsea extended their unbeaten start to the League campaign to eight matches.
Oscar and Cesc Fabregas provided velvety goals early in either half and even when Cesar Azpilicueta was sent off shortly before half-time, Loic Remy had the cunning to earn Palace’s Damien Delaney a second yellow card less than two minutes later.
After jotting down his tribute to the size of his side’s crown jewels, Mourinho said: “The way we imposed our game is what I mean. In the way they play, they are better than us.
“If we come here and don’t impose our game, we have no chance. From minute one to 94, we did that. We were always in control. We played a fantastic game and when it was ten versus ten, it made it even easier. The second goal was a scandal, it was unbelievably good!”
Palace started well, with Fraizer Campbell making a nuisance of himself, before Willian won Chelsea a moment of calm, Delaney bringing down the Brazilian 25 yards out.
Oscar measured up the angles and curled the dead ball close to the top corner of the net.
Campbell embarrassed Gary Cahill twice, lobbing onto the roof of the net when the England centre-back misjudged an attempted clearance and then skinning him only to shoot wide.
But John Terry had a header cleared off the line by James McArthur before Thibaut Courtois was stretched in quick succession by Yannick Bolassie and Jason Puncheon.
Then, bedlam. First Azpilicueta flew into a late, wild challenge (below) on Mile Jedinak, Terry lunged at ref Craig Pawson as soon as he spotted the red card emerging, as Fabregas and Campbell exchanged handbags.

But Palace’s numerical advantage lasted for less than two minutes, as Delaney hauled down Loic Remy for the second time in ten minutes for a second booking.
Palace boss Neil Warnock insisted: “It was a silly thing to do, to give the referee a decision to make. In slow motion, though, he pulls him back and then he goes down, but their team surrounded the ref. I thought Chelsea influenced him at times today.”
Nemanja Matic squandered a free header before the break and ­Mourinho left his technical area early to make a beeline for the dressing-room.
Whatever he said had the desired effect as Fabregas exchanged passes with Hazard and Oscar before tucking in the ball with a bedtime story and a lullaby.
Chelsea strutted their stuff for most of the second half but when Wilfried Zaha arrived as a sub, he crossed low for Campbell to tap home a consolation.
“In another sort of League, I could already say we WILL be champions,” said ­Mourinho.
“In the Premier League, I can only say that we can be.”

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Express:

Crystal Palace 1 - Chelsea 2: Fabregas fires first to keep Mourinho’s men on target

JOSE MOURINHO will not say so just yet, but Chelsea really are the next Premier League champions if this is anything to go by.

By: Colin Mafham

Forget the closeness of the scoreline, there was always a big difference in class between his unbeaten table-toppers and Palace yesterday, as Cesc Fabregas scored his first league goal for Chelsea.
And, as a genial Jose did concede, they would be crowned already if they were playing in any other league.
Echoing the words of America’s President Obama, he said: “Yes we can do it – and in any other league I would say we will.
“But in the Premier League it is much more difficult and all I can say right now is that I have a magnificent squad that can do it.”
You didn’t have to wait long to see why he’s so cock-a-hoop, why Chelsea are where they are, and why Palace’s Neil Warnock has tipped them for the title from the word go. Six minutes, to be precise, with a goal worthy of an Oscar in more ways than one.
The young Brazilian, revelling in the midfield general role Mourinho has given him, stepped up to take the free-kick his fellow countryman, Willian, won 20 yards out. The finish into the top corner was sublime.
No wonder his so elegantly suited and booted boss jumped out of the dugout out to applaud it. No wonder, either, that Julian Speroni literally didn’t see it coming.
The same could also be said soon afterwards when the Palace keeper had James McArthur to thank for clearing a John Terry header off the line.
Credit to Palace, they’re nobody’s pushovers – not even Chelsea’s – and Fraizer Campbell and Yannick Bolasie both stretched and tested the visitors in an opening half that had much to commend it.
Until five very distasteful final first-half minutes, that is. That cancelled out many of the good things that had gone before, producing a terrible tackle, two red cards and players harassing the ref to get opponents sent off.
The unacceptable face of football in all its glory. Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta was the first to see red after a dreadful studs-up lunge at Mile Jedinak.
He deserved to go, but the way the Palace players sought his departure didn’t do the game any favours.
The same can be said when Damien Delaney got his marching orders soon afterwards for a second yellow card.
This time it was Chelsea players who chased referee Craig Pawson to dish out justice for them – and make it 10-aside.
Palace boss Neil Warnock said his side “played some cracking stuff” but he rued Delaney’s dismissal, and the referee’s performance.
“Silly thing to do, to give the referee a decision like that,” he said. “Half the Chelsea team surrounded the ref. I thought they influenced him at times today.”
Chelsea’s second goal, from Fabregas, was just as wonderfully executed as Oscar’s. This time, though, it was all on the ground.
The Spaniard started and finished the move following a superb little one-two with Eden Hazard and Oscar that split Palace wide open. Even the Palace faithful, usually so vociferous with their support, were silenced.
They found their voices again two minutes from normal time, though, when substitute Wilfried Zaha produced a bit of magic to set up Campbell for a close-range goal.

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Star:

Crystal Palace 1 - Chelsea 2: Oscar and Cesc Fabregas help Blues show title credentials

ROLL out the bunting, start the band. Give the title to Chelsea now.

 By Tony Stenson

They survived a controversial visit to Palace to show they could be football's next Invincibles.
Unbeaten in eight games and today without top scorer Diego Costa, they still have a few more gears to go through.
They are top of the league and you feel they are going to stay there despite Frazier Campbell scoring an 88th-minute consolation fro Palace after a bit of magic from sub Wilfried Zaha.
Even Chelsea's goals were out of the top drawer yesterday.
First came a superb free-kick from Oscar and then there was a delightful dance through the Palace defence by Cesc Fabregas for the second.
That goal came with both teams down to 10 men.
The Spaniard took return passes from first Eden Hazard and then Oscar to score.
It was pure delight, the type of quality that wins titles along with having the grit to take on a side like Palace who refuse to lie down.
Last season, Chelsea lost at Palace to a John Terry own goal - but this is a different Chelsea.
They never buckled and played wonderful one-touch football, even when Cesar Azpilicueta was sent-off in the 40th minute for a stud-high lunge on Mile Jedinak.
But Palace found themselves in the same position two minute later when Damien Delaney saw red for a second yellow card, both brandished for fouls on Loic Remy.
Oscar was the real star - skilful, audacious and a joy to watch.
He scored the opener with a stunning 6th-minute free-kick after Delaney chopped down Willian and made the other Blues goal.
Palace's response to going behind saw Campbell just looping over and then whipping another attempt wide a few minutes later.
We had a game on our hands.
Palace were gutsy, determined and brave, creating moments of mayhem - but overall you always believed they were trying to stem a tide
Neil Warnock's men avoided going further behind when Kames McArthur cleared Terry's header off the line following Fabregas' 19th-minute corner.
Yannick Bolasie forced Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois to stretch high to clutch a 25th-minute cross destined for the far corner as Palace refuse to lie down.
But the two dismissals altered the game, with Chelsea having more quality with 10-men than Palace, which they underlined with Fabregas' second-half beauty.
But Palace didn't help themselves either as, for five minutes, they played with nine men after McArthur limped off. With Mourinho and Warnock shouting for the ball to be kicked into touch, Palace bizarrely played on.
Warnock said: "The sending-off was a silly thing to do as Damien gave the referee a decision to make.
"Yes, in slow motion he pulls him back and then he goes down. But I thought the Chelsea players influenced the ref at times today.
"It's just inexperience, I guess.
"I thought John Terry should have been booked for definite. His challenge was a booking as much as anything.
"For me, that set a precedent.
"I thought the ref left a lot to be desired. He has had better days.
"But overall, we played really well, we should have scored two or three in the first half and I really enjoyed it.
"It's just disappointing as, on another day, we might well have got a result if some things had gone our way."
On the downside for Chelsea, they will be without top striker Costa for Tuesday's Champions League game against Maribor.
Mourinho said: "No, he can't play on Tuesday. I have no idea when he can play.
"All I know is he went to the national team and played in two big matches against Slovakia and Luxembourg and he has come back in a condition where he's not available to play for his club."

Arsenal 2-0

 

Independent:

Jose Mourinho's midas touch over Arsene Wenger continues as Blues ease to victory

Sam Wallace

Like all the famous assassins in the movies, his eyes betray little emotion and the coup de grace is delivered in one devastating moment - and for the prolific Diego Costa today was no different.
There were 12 minutes left when he took a long ball from Cesc Fabregas into his stride, looked up to ascertain the position of Wojciech Szczesny and lifted a gentle lob over the Arsenalgoalkeeper that condemned Arsene Wenger’s team to yet another defeat at the hands of Chelsea. It is becoming a habit that is getting harder to break and although this was not a six-goal humiliation like last season, the old problems were just as evident.
Wenger has now failed to beat Mourinho’s Chelsea on all 12 occasions he has faced them in the latter’s two periods in charge, including seven defeats. The two men as good as squared up to each other in the first half when Wenger shoved his smaller adversary and Mourinho flicked Wenger’s red club tie in response. All that was missing was the schoolyard headlock and knuckle rub on the top of the head.
For anyone in any doubt of the level of loathing between these two men, it was an education - even if they calmed down for the second half. On the pitch their two teams fought each as fiercely as their two managers would have wanted and there might have been red cards for Gary Cahill and Danny Welbeck for wild tackles in either half. Either way, the referee Martin Atkinson kept all 22 on the pitch to the end and the game was decided by Chelsea’s ruthlessness in front of goal.

Eden Hazard scored the first from the penalty spot having torn Arsenal’s defence to win the penalty himself. Then Costa finished them off with that cold instinct of his in front of goal. As for Welbeck, he barely got a sight of the Chelsea goal, and his two-footed lunge on Cesc Fabregas in injury-time was evidence of his frustrations. For Fabregas, this will have been a satisfying afternoon.
It was a rattling good first half, complete with tackling that went right up to the limit, that moment of brilliance from Hazard and Mourinho’s best tie flick of the season so far. It meant that the most serious moment of the half, the injury to Thibaut Courtois, passed by in a blur as the two managers’ animosity increased and the pace of the game rattled on.
Courtois had come out to seize the ball from Alexis Sanchez on 12 minutes and taken a thigh from Sanchez on the right side of his face. Those thighs are not inconsiderable, Sanchez is fond of rolling up his shorts to display their full might, and for a few seconds it looks like Courtois might even have been knocked out.

As ever, it is difficult to make judgements about the condition of a stricken footballer in the immediate aftermath of an incident. However, there was enough concern for a significant break in play and then, ten minutes later, when the ball was at the Arsenal end, the Chelsea bench ran onto to the pitch to draw Martin Atkinson’s attention to their goalkeeper who had sat down in a daze.
It looked like the team doctor, Eva Carneiro, was wiping blood away from the goalkeeper’s right ear. He was replaced by Petr Cech, and later followed down the tunnel by the pitch-side paramedic team. Later Chelsea confirmed he was taken to hospital as a precaution. Back on the pitch there was barely time to draw breath.
Wenger had decided early on that his team were not getting what he considered a fair hearing from the referee Atkinson and had no hesitation in letting the fourth official Jonathan Moss know at every opportunity. When Cahill launched a right boot studs-up into Sanchez by the touchline, the situation escalated and very soon we had famous football managers shoving and flicking one another.
To be precise, Wenger shoved Mourinho in the chest and Mourinho flicked his old enemy’s tie. It was puerile stuff and marvellous entertainment. Even a stern talking to from Atkinson and the threat of being sent to the stands did not deter them. For a while it rattled on between their assistants Rui Faria and Steve Bould, a mismatch if ever there was one.
Later in the first half, Mourinho began giving the Wenger his “shut-your-mouth” gesture - the thumb pressed to his first two fingers. Only after half-time did they seem capable of moderating their behaviour.
By then Chelsea were ahead after a great moment from Hazard. His burst on 27 minutes took him past Santi Cazorla and Calum Chambers before either could decide whether to foul him or not. Laurent Koscielny had no choice. Hazard had the ball past him in an instant and then tumbled over the French defender’s leg.
It was a clear penalty and Hazard deceived Szczesny to dispatch it past the Arsenal goalkeeper. Arsenal’s grievance was legitimate: there was a case that Cahill should have gone off for his earlier foul on Sanchez. Then, Chambers, already booked pulled Andre Schurrle on the edge of his area and escaped a second yellow card.
With the managers a little more calm after half-time, Arsenal pursued the equaliser. In the first half they had done a good job of denying Fabregas time and space on the ball. Concentrating their resources there, however, meant that Hazard became a problem. A shot from Jack Wilshere on 63 minutes flicked off the hand of Fabregas and Arsenal’s appeals went unheeded.
Costa had made a chance for Hazard just minutes before the naturalised Spain international scored the second. On that occasion he broke between the two Arsenal centre-backs just as Fabregas sent the ball over the top and it took one touch with Costa’s chest to guide it into his path before he beat Szczesny.
At full-time, Mourinho went down the tunnel without waiting for Wenger to shake his hand. The Chelsea manager had already got what he wanted.

Chelsea: Courtois (Cech, 23); Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Matic, Fabregas; Hazard, Oscar (Willian, 87), Schurrle (Mikel, 70), Costa.
Substitutes not used: Luis, Zouma, Salah, Remy.

Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Wilshere (Rosicky, 83), Flamini; Cazorla (Oxlade-Chamberlain, 69), Ozil, Sanchez (Podolski, 79); Welbeck.
Substitutes not used: Martinez (gk), Monreal, Campbell, Coquelin.

Referee: M Atkinson
Man of the match: Fabregas

Booked: Chelsea Ivanovic, Cahill, Schurrle, Oscar Arsenal Chambers, Koscielny, Welbeck
Rating: 8

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Guardian:

Arsène Wenger and José Mourinho go toe-to-toe as Chelsea beat Arsenal
Chelsea 2 - 0 Arsenal

Daniel Taylor at Stamford Bridge

There was a point of this match when, briefly, Arsène Wenger had lurched into full-on Begbie-from-Trainspotting mode and was squaring up to José Mourinho by the side of the pitch, as if someone had spilled his pint one time too many. Wenger had already shoved his bete noire in the chest and when he went back to prolong the argument the Arsenal manager could be seen pushing his face into Mourinho’s so they were almost nose to nose. Those were the lingering images of a tempestuous derby when, once again, Mourinho came out on top and everyone could see exactly how much he has got under Wenger’s skin.
Mourinho’s superiority over Wenger has stretched now to 12 games unbeaten and the man he branded a “specialist in failure‚“ will be fortunate to escape further action from the Football Association. Chelsea have won seven matches during that sequence and, once we had waded through all the different subplots and controversies, the bottom line is the Premier League leaders have re-established a five-point advantage ahead of Manchester City – and nine from Arsenal – courtesy of Eden Hazard’s expertly taken penalty and the latest demonstration of Diego Costa’s penalty-box prowess.
The list is fairly considerable, though, because even ignoring, for one moment, that first-half spat between Wenger and Mourinho, with the older man very much the aggressor, it was a difficult match for the referee, Martin Atkinson, to control and one that left Chelsea facing some awkward questions about their handling of a head injury for their goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois.
Courtois had to be taken to hospital with blood coming from his right ear after the club’s medical staff decided he was fit to play on even though the Belgium international had been left flat out, eyes closed, and clearly badly hurt after a collision with Alexis Sánchez. Courtois carried on for 13 minutes before suffering a relapse and Chelsea will have to explain themselves bearing in mind the FA brought in new guidelines for head injuries at the start of the season.
Yet they emerged through the maze of side-issues in a new position of strength and the suspicion remains that Wenger would never get this worked up if it was not for the inferiority complex that tends to engulf his team during these fixtures. Arsenal, to give them their due, had played with far more authority than the 6-0 ordeal on this ground last season and, from manager down, there was far more determination to stand up to their opponents.
They might also believe Gary Cahill could have been sent off for the challenge on Sánchez that persuaded Wenger to stride from his technical area into Chelsea’s and then respond to Mourinho’s orders for a retreat by putting both hands into his chest to give him a shove and then remind him, close-up, who was the taller, more imposing man.
Wenger’s team will also reflect on that moment, at 1-0, when Cesc Fàbregas threw himself at Jack Wilshere’s shot and the ball deflected off his hands inside the penalty area. Equally, Laurent Koscielny should have been shown a red card for halting Hazard’s brilliant run into the penalty area, when the Belgian would have been running clear on goal. Calum Chambers could feasibly have been sent off for two bookable offences before half-time and Atkinson’s leniency went way too far when Danny Welbeck lunged in, two-footed, on Fàbregas. Both teams will deflect the other’s grievances with complaints of their own but ultimately the victory came down to Chelsea’s greater penetration and defensive line and a bad day for Wenger’s side was compounded by the fact it was Fàbregas playing the ball over their backline for Costa to run clear and lob Wojciech Szczesny in the 78th minute.
That was Costa’s ninth goal for his new club and an offside flag spared too much embarrassment from an inexplicable open-goal miss late on.

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Telegraph:

Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger in shoving match as Cesc Fabregas shines against his old club
Henry Winter

The only time Arsenal really got to grips with Chelsea, their serial nemesis, was when Arsène Wenger lost his temper and pushed Jose Mourinho midway through the first half. Apart from the ding-dong in the dug-out, Chelsea were again heavyweights against middleweights, again totally in control, again triumphant.
Eden Hazard scored their first, a firm, well-placed penalty after he was brought down by Laurent Koscielny. Cesc Fabregas had one of his quieter performances for Chelsea against his old club, yet still played the pass of the game, a second-half through-ball from which Diego Costa netted his ninth goal of the season. It was Fabregas’ seventh Premier Leagueassist for Chelsea. The two new boys at the Bridge have given Chelsea renewed belief that they can outlast Manchester City in the drive to the title as they moved back five points clear at the top.
Their defence was mobile and robust, far too strong for Danny Welbeck while Mesut Ozil was subdued. Wenger suggested that Arsenal had not been interested in bringing Fabregas back to Arsenal because they had bought Ozil; Fabregas looked better business on this evidence.
The Derby was delayed 15 minutes after a flare was let off in the away concourse, causing congestion for those Arsenal fans still trying to get in. Inside, new and old Derby day insults filled the air. Fabregas was villifed by the Arsenal supporters, especially when he caught Welbeck.
Frequent abuse was aimed at Mourinho from the corner of the Shed and East Stand where the Arsenal fans were situated. Chelsea supporters responded by backing Fabregas, Mourinho and reminding the visitors that Ashley Cole won a Champions League with them.
It was a game of attrition early on. Kieran Gibbs caught Hazard. Oscar nicked the ball off Welbeck. Alexis Sanchez accidentally caught Thibaut Courtois with his right thigh, the keeper appearing to be concussed but playing on for 10 minutes. It was surprised he was allowed to continue, particularly given Chelsea’s experience with head injuries following Petr Cech’s injury at Reading in 2006.
On it went, the incidents, the challenges and abuse. Andre Schurrle sent Mesut Ozil flying as Joachim Low looked on. Gary Cahill dispossessed Sanchez. Arsenal fans cheered when Ozil neatly turned away from Fabregas. It then got nastier, still lacking some of the kicking frenzies of the Seventies and Eighties but with plenty of malice aforethought. Cahill should have walked for a late, ugly challenge on Sanchez, earning only a booking from Martin Atkinson.
Wenger was enraged, marching over towards Mourinho, his tie flying up, his hackles equally raised and pushing Mourinho with both hands in the chest. Mourinho told Wenger where to go and pointed the way, indicating the away technical area that the Frenchman had vacated. The pair resembled smartly-suited commuters arguing over the last seat on the last train to Orpington. Atkinson delivered a brisk lecture when a couple of blasts of the vanishing spray might have been better.
Shortly afterwards, Mourinho was on the pitch, signaling to Atkinson that Courtois required more attention. Chelsea’s doctor, Eva Carneiro, dashed on, attending to the Belgian’s bleeding right ear. Courtois could not continue and was replaced by Cech in his protective headgear, a legacy of that incident with Steven Hunt at Reading. Courtois walked to the touchline before heading down the tunnel. Alarmingly, the paramedics were then scrambled and raced down the tunnel.
The attention was then on another Belgian. Hazard dribbled through at speed, a beautiful, weaving rund into the Arsenal area where Laurent Koscielny panicked, stretched out a leg and brought down the Chelsea No 10 for one of the clearest penalties imaginable. Koscielny could have departed but Atkinson showed some mercy, contenting himself with a caution. In a half with plenty of pointing, Atkinson then gestured to the spot. Hazard calmly placed the ball down, and then stroked it low to the left of Szczesny as the Matthew Harding Stand led the celebrations.
As the half closed, Jack Wilshere had a couple of chances but Cech was too quick for him and then Terry slid in with a perfectly-timed interception. Yet there could have been a third potential red when Calum Chambers, already booked, brought down Schurrle.
In the second half, Chelsea were annoyed when Flamini drifted an elbow into the face of Costa while Arsenal were furious at not being awarded a penalty when Fabregas handled Wilshere’s shot.
Chelsea were never really troubled. Their collective defiance was embodied by Oscar, who was back on the edge of his six-yard box to hook a Kieran Gibbs cross away. Oscar then threw himself in the way of a Flamini drive.
Midway through the half, Mourinho withdrew Schurrle for the more defensive John Obi Mikel while Wenger, surprisingly, took off Santi Cazorla, who had been one of Arsenal’s better players. Wenger unleashed the quicker Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Arsenal flattered to deceive against heavyweight opposition again. Chelsea threatened on the counter. With 15 minutes remaining, Costa dribbled past Per Mertesacker before slipping the ball inside to Hazard, who eluded Koscielny but shot over. Then came that pass from Fabregas, a sweetly flighted ball through the middle, allowing Costa to sprint between Mertesacker and Koscielny, chested the ball on and then lift it almost arrogantly over Sczczesny.
The Spaniard carried on, celebrating in front of the Arsenal fans. As he ran back to the halfway line, as Chelsea fans chorused “Arsene Wenger, we want you to stay”, the statisticians from Opta were busy, reporting that of Costa’s “19 shots this season, 16 of them have been on target (with nine resulting in goals)”. He almost scored again but Sczcseny saved well. Welbeck then clattered Fabregas and could have been sent off as Arsenal faded. It was never going to be a 6-0 like last season but Chelsea’s control over Arsenal remains.

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Times:

Chelsea too strong for Arsenal as Diego Costa strikes again
Oliver Kay Chief Football Correspondent

For once, Arsene Wenger and Arsenal seemed ready – in more ways than one – to take the fight to Jose Mourinho and Chelsea, but by the end of this fraught occasion he left Stamford Bridge with a familiar sinking feeling.
Goals from Eden Hazard, from the penalty spot, and Diego Costa, set up superbly by Cesc Fabregas, sent Chelsea five points clear at the top of the Barclays Premier League table and extended their remarkable recent record against Arsenal. In 12 meetings with Arsenal, as Chelsea manager, Mourinho has never tasted defeat.
Mourinho’s delight was tempered, however, by concern over Thibaut Courtois after the goalkeeper was taken to hospital for tests after suffering a head injury in the first half.
Any victory over Arsenal, though, will be treasured by Mourinho, whose relationship with Wenger seemed to sink to new depths as the two managers clashed on the touchline in the first half.
Wenger will feel that his ire was justified not only by Gary Cahill’s wild, dangerous challenge on Alexis Sanchez near the touchline but by the referee’s decision to show only a yellow card when, as with a later offence by Danny Welbck, a red would have seemed more appropriate.
The Arsenal manager was furious, taking out his anger on Mourinho, whom he shoved in the chest. Mourinho responded, playground-style, by flipping up Wenger’s tie. Atkinson intervened, telling them to calm down, but the hostility lingered throughout the first half.
Even once Mourinho and Wenger had calmed down a little, having been warned by Atkinson that they risked being expelled to the stands, the barbs kept going and back forth, with Rui Faria and Steve Bould continuing on their managers’ behalf. The way things finally quietened down in the second half, one can only assume that Atkinson had reinforced his message at the interval.
It was a shame that the eye was drawn to the touchline so often because it distracted from an appealing spectacle on the pitch. This was one of Arsenal’s more convincing, more assured performances away from home against a rival team. Certainly there never threatened to be a repeat of last season’s 6-0 defeat, when they were 3-0 down and a man down inside 17 minutes.
Chelsea certainly played a more patient, less proactive game than they had in that previous meeting, but they also had to be on their guard defensively. Arsenal were playing some nice stuff, with Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere taking every forward to join the front three. It was from Wilshere’s carefully weighted pass that Courtois ran out, pounced on the ball and collided with Alexis, immediately dropping to the floor.
Was Courtois concussed? The reaction of Chelsea’s medical staff appeared to suggest not, as he was given the green light to continue, but shortly afterwards he fell to the ground again, looking shaken, with blood seeping from his ear. This time he was taken off and straight to hospital for tests. Amid concern for Courtois, these were not the circumstances in which Petr Cech would have wished to return to Premier League action.
Chelsea had struggled for fluency in the early stages, but with Hazard around, a match can be changed in an instant. The Belgium winger received the ball midway through the Arsenal half and embarked on a scintillating run, away from Cazorla and Calum Chambers and into the penalty area, where Laurent Koscielny’s only answer was to bring him down crudely for what could feasibly have been deemed a professional foul. Hazard was not to be denied his goal; he rolled the penalty past Szczesny to put Chelsea In front.
Arsenal had plenty of the ball after that, but they found that Chelsea’s resistance had increased. There were few real opportunities. Cech dived at the feet of Wilshere shortly before the interval, while the Arsenal midfield player felt his team should have had a penalty in the second half when his shot struck the outstretched arm of Fabregas. Atkinson shook his head. Wenger seethed on the touchline.
With John Obi MIkel on alongside Nemanja Matic to protect an already formidable-looking back four, there seemed no way through for Arsenal, for whom Danny Welbeck found life nothing like so enjoyable as he had against Galatasaray in the Champions League on Wednesday. John Terry and Cahill defended superbly, while Branislav Ivanovic and Cesar Azpilicueta, at full-back, were similarly unyielding.
The winning goal, on 78 minutes, was made by a Fabregas-Costa combination, but the full-backs played a part too. Ivanovic won the ball and it was quickly moved via Azpilicueta and Mikel to Fabregas, who floated a perfect pass over the Arsenal defence for Costa to chase.
Costa controlled the ball on his chest and barely broke side before lobbing it over Szczesny. It was a lovely goal and a fitting way to send Chelsea five points clear at the top of the Premier League table. On this evidence, they will take some catching.

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Mail:

Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal: Gunners undone by Eden Hazard as Arsene Wenger continues to suffer against Jose Mourinho

By Martin Samuel

A one-man team? Chelsea are so much more than that this season. Those who believe the title race rests on the hamstrings of Diego Costa may have to reconsider after this.
For a good 75 minutes, Arsenal snuffed out Costa’s threat. It did not matter. Chelsea were still on course for victory, through the quite brilliant Eden Hazard.
Just when Arsenal began imagining they might get a point from the game, a perfect long pass by Cesc Fabregas killed them. 
Outstanding at the back, tireless through midfield, this Chelsea team is the real deal. They are five points clear of their nearest rival, Manchester City, after seven games going into the October international break and if that margin is repeated through the season the title comes to Stamford Bridge before the first blossoms of spring.
As the Premier League does not get won by gaps of 25 points that it unlikely to happen, but finding a way of stopping Chelsea in this form is easier said than done.
Not least because when Thibaut Courtois, arguably the best goalkeeper in the league, gets injured, his replacement is Petr Cech, arguably the second best goalkeeper in the league.
Chelsea’s strength in depth sets them apart. Jose Mourinho has built a powerful squad, full of options and nuance.
This was not the 6-0 monstering of Arsenal from a year ago, but it was impressive nonetheless.
Aside from a Jack Wilshere shot that struck Fabregas’s hand, inspiring a penalty shout, Arsenal did not really threaten.
They had good possession, minus the cutting edge and Danny Welbeck was made to work too hard to have an impact.
He ran and ran, but barely got a touch in an area that mattered. Chelsea cut to the heart of the matter at least twice. Once, when Hazard burst into the penalty area, again when Fabregas set up Costa for his ninth goal in seven Premier League games.
Sanchez immediately shows concern for Courtois as the keeper appeared badly hurt on the pitch and the Chelsea goalkeeper had to be treated by paramedics after
There were two other occasions when Chelsea could have furthered their lead, and both were Hazardous. In the 58th minute, the Belgian broke down the left and hit a cross which Mathieu Flamini almost deflected into his own net were it not for the outstretched hand of Wojciech Szczesny.
Then, just before the second goal, Costa at last broke free of Arsenal’s back line and fed Hazard, arriving late, Frank Lampard style. From close range, he fired over.
Arsenal had no real equivalency, no moments when they opened Chelsea’s defensive four as completely. It was not that they were poor, simply that they are not as good.
The game went exactly as many imagined. Chelsea on top, physically imposing and clinical when it mattered. For all of Arsenal’s beauty, Chelsea were technically superior, too – and one man, in particular, shone.
Costa closely guarded for much of the game, Hazard rose to the occasion, winning and converting the penalty that initially separated the teams. He was exceptional, running at Arsenal, committing them, unnerving them every time he got in or around the box.
Although his goal was a penalty what preceded it was quite lovely, the breakthrough coming in the 27th minute with a touch of the mazy Maradonas. Hazard jinked his way through Arsenal’s defences, before Laurent Koscielny dashed across and felled him with a clumsy tackle that earned a booking and the inevitable gesture towards the spot by referee Martin Atkinson. Hazard slipped the ball low to the right as Szczesny dived the wrong way.
And then, with 12 minutes remaining, came the moment every Arsenal fan had dreaded. Fabregas, playing his first game for his new English club against the one that made his name, striking the sort of pass that used to define matches in the red and white of Arsenal.
It wasn’t a long ball. That sounds too crude. It was accurate and intelligent and left Costa free of Arsenal’s attention for once, setting him up for a chance that was only ever going to end with the ball in the net.
On he ran, outstripping Arsenal’s defence before drawing Szczesny and lobbing him, deftly, to put the result beyond doubt.
A lesser team than Chelsea may have been rattled by the misfortune of goalkeeper Courtois after ten minutes. Then again, a lesser team than Chelsea would not have been summoning Cech from the bench.
Arsenal’s stand-in, for instance was Emiliano Martinez, a 23-year-old Argentinian who spent much of last season on loan at Sheffield Wednesday. Cech spent it being the Premier League’s best goalkeeper.
Arsenal were rumoured to have wanted him this summer, but Chelsea would not sell to a rival on this occasion. This match showed why. Losing Courtois proved no loss at all. His replacement was as good, just older.
Courtois soldiered on for 13 minutes before conceding that, yes, an earlier collision with a charging Alexis Sanchez had affected his vision. He took the full weight of Sanchez’s thigh to the head and at first looked out cold, splayed like a boxer on the receiving end of a sucker punch. Revived, Courtois continued, but a break in play saw him sit down and call for treatment, and there appeared to be evidence of bleeding in his right ear.
There has been much discussion of late about the treatment of head injuries, but one of the complications is that players tend to disguise the extent of any problem. Courtois would no doubt have been asked whether he had lost consciousness and whether he could see straight, and would have replied to the medical team’s satisfaction, either being too brave, too foolhardy, or both.
Are football’s rules sufficient? As medical staff are club employees the suspicion will always be that they are under pressure to keep the team at its strongest, although this is a grave slur against any professional carer.
A compromise would be to have independent doctors, appointed by the league, at each game making the call on head injuries, and replacements to be provided without this counting as a substitution.
Yet how long before that advance was abused by an unscrupulous coach looking to make a change without cost? It could happen. Put it this way: who would have believed the circumstances of rugby union’s Bloodgate scandal before it occurred?
Back to the game, and the value of Cech was seen almost immediately. Within seven minutes of coming on he had made a quite magnificent anticipatory save at the feet of Wilshere, put in by a square pass from Santi Cazorla. By that time, however, Arsenal were no longer searching for the lead, but an equaliser.
Of course, as always when Wenger meets Mourinho – he is still without a win in 12 meetings – there was a sideshow. It unfolded in the 21st minute when a foul by Gary Cahill on Sanchez brought Wenger to his feet in a furious rage.
He marched down the touchline towards the incident, encroaching on Chelsea’s technical area in the process. This upset Mourinho who attempted to stop him, at which point Wenger placed both hands on the Chelsea manager’s chest and gave him a shove.
For a split second, Mourinho seemed a little concerned, as if he might have to summon John Terry or Didier Drogba as back-up. Instead, the fourth official stepped in and restored order, although Wenger did seem keen to go back for seconds. He retired to his corner, an amused smile on his face, with the look of a man who had taken round one on points.
Wenger later said if he had wanted to properly push Mourinho, he would have gone at it a lot harder. He doesn’t know his strength, that boy. Worryingly, Chelsea probably do.

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Mirror:

Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal:
Cesc Fabregas returns to haunt Gunners as managers tangle at the Bridge

By Martin Lipton

Blues keeper Thibaut Courtois was also forced from the field in an action-packed afternoon where Eden Hazard and Diego Costa ensured the Blues stay top

They say the three types of falsehood are lies, damned lies and statistics.
But sometimes the numbers do add up. Sometimes the litany of figures tell a story.
Now it is 12 games unbeaten for Jose Mourinho against Arsene Wenger.
Now it is 392 minutes, more than six hours, since Arsenal last SCORED against Chelsea.
And now it is nine points between them, a yawning chasm after just seven games.
As the Stamford Bridge victory chants rang out from the moment Diego Costa burst onto Cesc Fabregas' delightful pass to claim his ninth Premier League goal in Chelsea blue, it was Celebration Day for the home fans, Groundhog Day for the visitors.
Not six this time. Not a humiliation or anything close, from a match where the details were overtaken by the sight of ambulance staff sprinting down the tunnel to rush the stricken Thibaut Courtois to hospital and the flare-up between Mourinho and his arch-nemesis.
What will hurt Wenger more than the result, more than the headlines about his touchline spat, is the basic, fundamental truth.
That even when his Arsenal side are genuinely competitive with Chelsea, as they were for long periods on Sunday, they are simply not good enough to beat them.
Where it mattered, physically, emotionally, mentally, Chelsea were stronger. Much stronger. Far too good.
Yes, there were moments where Arsenal flickered. Where they looked lively, inventive, industrious.
But never, in truth, any point in the game where you thought they might get anything from it, especially after Eden Hazard's mesmerising sleight of foot induced the foul by Laurent Koscielny the Belgian nonchalantly punished from the spot.
That opener came in the aftermath of Courtois' exit, fully 14 minutes – scandalously long – after he accidentally crashed into Alexis Sanchez when the Chilean chased Jack Wilshere's deft ball over the top.
Under FIFA's new regulations, Chelsea medics had three minutes to assess Courtois. He was cleared to continue after just 56 seconds, before slumping to the ground, fluid coming from his ear.
In between, Wenger had rushed into Mourinho's technical area, pushing the Portuguese, after Gary Cahill's shocker launched Sanchez into orbit.
Had there been any remaining love between the two, it was lost then, as Martin Atkinson gave both a final warning.
But it was Chelsea who reacted better to the mood of festering aggression, Hazard dancing away from Santi Cazorla and Calum Chambers before Koscielny – surely denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity? - to bring him crashing down.
Only a yellow for Koscielny, but a goal for Hazard, his second of the season and back in Mourinho's good books.
It was the pivotal action, allowing Chelsea to play the way they wanted, inviting Arsenal on, confident their resolve would stand up to the test.
Rightly so, too. Petr Cech, on to a hero's welcome, came out at Wilshere's feet, Cazorla was just wide from the edge of the box.
But with Fabregas, jeered throughout by the Arsenal fans who once idolised him, pulling the strings, as Hazard jinked and weaved, Chelsea always had the greater threat.
Mathieu Flamini pinged Hazard's drilled cross against the outside of his own post, the Belgian fired over after trademark foraging by Costa.
And after Mr Atkinson gave only a corner as Wilshere's strike was diverted by Fabregas' left hand – the sort of incident that can be filed in the ''I've seen them given'' category - the final act.
Fabregas, inside his own half, sensing the space between and beyond Arsenal's centre-backs, playing the perfect lofted ball.
Costa brushing between Koscielny and Per Mertesacker, controlling expertly on his chest before dinking adroitly and gloriously past Wojciech Szczesny.
Mourinho suggested: ''At 1-0 up, the game was in our pocket, almost.'' He was right.
And one or two Arsenal fans might wonder, now, if they might find Wenger in Mourinho's pocket. The stats say he owns the Frenchman, don't they?

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Express:

Chelsea 2 - Arsenal 0: Jose Mourinho lands the sucker punch in derby clash

AS USUAL, Arsene Wenger won the first round but Jose Mourinho claimed the contest. Quite handsomely and deservedly by the end here.
By: John Dillon

It is actually seconds out, round 12 to the Special One. That is how many times he and Wenger have met across the dug-out divide now without a single win for Arsenal's increasingly cantankerous boss.
This particular victory also made it six league victories out of seven for Chelsea this season, who have ensured that their undefeated run will continue at least until mid-October, after the international break.
Even though they were clearly not at their best yesterday, they still had simply too much quality for Arsenal. Both their goals, a first-half penalty won and scored by Eden Hazard and an act of sublime counter-attacking ruthlessness by Diego Costa near the end, summed up this fact emphatically.
Wenger can push and shove all he likes and, in fact, he should consider himself fortunate that he was not sent to the stands for his extraordinary act of aggression by the touchline in the 19th minute.
For the sucker punch, however, there was Costa, who barely touched the ball for 78 minutes and then finished quite brilliantly on a surging run past Laurent Koscielny, as if he had simply decided that this was the right time to get involved and put the game to bed.
That is nine goals in seven games now since his £32million move from Atletico Madrid.
Mourinho had him nailed down months before-hand. This astuteness in getting all that he wanted put in place while the rest were still wondering what to do has now become the dominant theme of the early season.
The delivery which set Costa free had been hoisted with supreme elegance from within Chelsea's own half by the fabulous Cesc Fabregas who, uncomfortable as it may be for him personally, is fast becoming the symbolic figure summing up the gulf in talent, planning, foresight and ambition between London's two leading cubs and their warring managers.
Arsenal are already nine points adrift of Chelsea. It is only early autumn. But that statistic looks a powerful one when set against the sense of completeness and purpose currently being transmitted by this team put together by Mourinho.
Yesterday, he even managed to look like the wronged party in the flare-up by the technical area where he has prompted so much bother himself. With the passing years of Arsenal's frustrations in the league, Wenger has cut an increasingly simmering, frowning figure who came close to going over the edge yesterday.
At least there was no capitulation from his team, as there had been in the 6-0 defeat here last season. This was a match with a derby's feistiness, particularly in the first half.
It was a searing, sliding challenge from Gary Cahill on Alexis Sanchez whch led to the trouble between themanagers. This was a response to a committed and positive opening from Wenger's team.
The trouble was - as it is so often - that Jack Wilshere's passing and prompting led nowhere but into the wall of a resolute Chelsea defence which did not allow Arsenal even a hint of a chance.
Santi Cazorla had even less success than Wilshere in opening up the game, while Mezut Ozil, back out wide, simply offered no presence or input at all.
There was no diminishing of this resolution at the back when Chelsea's goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, was forced off in the 24th minute - to be replaced by Petr Cech - when the after-effects of a nasty collision with Sanchez became too debiltitating and the left the pitch bleeding from inside one ear.
Three minutes afterwards, Chelsea unleashed the quality they had held in reserve and took the lead ruthlessly.
Hazard's dazzling run took him past two defenders before Koscielny was forced to stick out a leg and illegally halt his progress. From the spot, Hazard sent Wojciech Szczesny the wrong way.
There was more of the same commitment and effort from Arsenal after the break. Yet once more, it led them nowhere. Danny Welbeck's energy dimmed - he had grafted but threatened nothing - and he ended being booked for scything down Oscar.
Just before the second goal, however, Costa showed the first sign that he was rousing himself and once more Chelsea's superior quality was apparent.
His break down the left was expertly timed, as was his decision to wait and then turn in a pass for Hazard, with the subsequent shot flying just above the crossbar.
Chelsea's triumph was encapsulated in such small details yesterday. It was probably Wenger's understanding of that profoundly unassailable fact that made him so ill-tempered.

CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Courtois 6 (Cech 24, 7); Ivanovic 8, Cahill 7, Terry 7, Azpilicueta 7; Matic 7, Fabregas 8; Schurrle 6 (Mikel 69, 6), Oscar 6 (Willian 87, 6), Hazard 7; Costa 7. Booked: Ivanovic, Cahill, Schurrle, Oscar. Goals: Hazard 27pen, Costa 78.
NEXT UP: Crystal Palace (a) Oct 18, PL.

ARSENAL (4-1-4-1): Szczesny 6; Chambers 6, Mertesacker 6, Koscielny 6, Gibbs 6; Flamini 6; Ozil 5, Wilshere 7 (Rosicky 83, 6), Cazorla 6 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 69, 6), Sanchez 7 (Poldolksi 79, 6); Welbeck 6. Booked: Chambers, Koscielny, Welbeck.
NEXT UP: Hull City (h) Oct 18, PL.

Referee: M Atkinson (West Yorkshire).

STAT: Cesc Fabregas has seven Premier League assists this season - as many as any Chelsea player produced in the league last season.

===========================

Star:

Chelsea 2 - Arsenal 0: Hazard and Costa net as Mourinho maintains unbeaten run over Wenger

CHELSEA are five points clear at the top of the Premier League after goals from Eden Hazard and Diego Costa saw off Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.

By Rhys Turrell

In a lively and sometimes tetchy contest, Hazard's first-half spot kick and Costa's 78th minute strike ensured all three points for the hosts, and protected Jose Mourinho's unbeaten record against Arsene Wenger.
There was to be no repeat of last season's humiliating 6-0 defeat for the Gunners, but they now find their title dreams in tatters, with the visitors already nine points behind their London rivals in the table.
The first half was a lively and physical contest, with both players and managers getting stuck in.
Referee Martin Atkinson had to seperate Wenger and Mourinho on the sidelines after the Frenchman took exception to a rough challenge on Alexis Sanchez by Chelsea defender Gary Cahill.
Meanwhile, Blues keeper Thibaut Courtois had to be taken to hospital after injuring his head in a clash with Sanchez.
The hosts made the breakthrough midway through the first half when the lively Hazard jinked his way past a host Arsenal defenders and drew a foul from Laurent Koscielny inside the area.
The Belgian stepped up and made no mistake from the spot, as he cooly slotted past Wojciech Szczesny.
Clear-cut chances were hard to come by in the second half, until Chelsea doubled their lead in style.
It came after former Gunners captain Cesc Fabregas picked out Costa with a delightful lofted through ball which the Spain striker controlled on his chest before chipping over the stranded Szczesny.
Arsenal were unable to find a way back into the contest, to ensure Mourinho's unbeaten run over rival Wenger continues.

Sporting Lisbon 1-0

Independent:

Nemanja Matic scores only goal of the game as Blues weather late storm to earn three points

Sporting Lisbon 0 Chelsea 1

Jack Pitt-Brooke   Estadio Jose Alvalade


Jose Mourinho said last week that his Chelsea side are “far from being a perfect team” but they are obviously moving in the right direction, after producing a near-perfect away performance to win in Lisbon and go top of Group G.
 
Diego Costa played all 90 minutes, despite Mourinho admitting his inclusion was a “risk”, but he was excellent, holding the ball up, imposing himself on the game, and terrifying defenders. On another day he might have had his ninth, tenth and eleventh goals of the season, but he never appeared constrained by his troublesome hamstring and he certainly looked like a man looking forward to Sunday afternoon’s appointment with Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea’s problems this season have largely been at the other end but they were solid and disciplined here, keeping just their third clean sheet of the season. Sporting play enjoyable attacking football, and have the brilliant Nani on the wing, yet their best chances, even amid late pressure, were all from distance. John Terry and Gary Cahill had comfortable evenings while Matic – who knows Lisbon very well – was excellent with and without the ball in midfield.

With Schalke and Maribor drawing in Germany, Chelsea are now top after two games, with two matches against the Slovenian side coming up in which they can ensure passage into next year’s knock-out phases. Both of Mourinho’s other Champions League triumphs came in the second season of a spell, and this side will surely be contenders for the European Cup in 2015.

The gulf in experience, of players and coaches, was the story of the evening. While Chelsea kept their shape and waited for opportunities, Sporting – back in the competition after five years out – played with almost childish over-enthusiasm. Everyone likes expansive football but Sporting were expanded far too far, with their full-backs pushed up, their centre-backs split and huge spaces on this big pitch for Chelsea’s fast players- Schurrle, Eden Hazard and Costa – to break into.

It was clear by the second minute of the match that Chelsea would not exactly have to probe and tease in order to make chances here. In their very first attack, Oscar simply rolled the ball forwards to Diego Costa who was in on goal, storming through the Sporting back-line that was recklessly high and open wide. Costa’s hamstrings did not seem to impede him but when he reached the goal, he could only shoot at Rui Patricio.

The Portgual goalkeeper was a busy man as his team-mates continued to invite Chelsea to break into their open spaces. Andre Schurrle, preferred to Willian on the right wing, was the most dangerous player, driving through the vast gap between left-back Jonathan Silva and centre-back Naby Sarr, but never quite able to convert his chances.  Jose Mourinho salutes the travelling Chelsea fans at the final whistle

First Schurrle exchanged passes with Oscar and shot from a tight angle, forcing Patricio into a diving save. Then Schurrle robbed Sarr, started a counter-attack which ended in his heading Eden Hazard’s cross at Patricio. Then Schurrle had another shot saved from the edge of the box. The best chance of all came soon after that, Sarr slipping and Schurrle running free again, meeting Hazard’s precise low cross only to shoot carelessly wide of goal.

If Chelsea worried at that point that their chance was gone, they need not have done. After two brisk Sporting counter-attacks which came to nothing, Chelsea took the lead with a goal of surprising simplicity. Chelsea had a free-kick on the left after Hazard was fouled. Cesc Fabregas floated it over the far post where Nemanja Matic peeled away and looped a header over Patricio and into the net.

It would have been a minor miracle had Sporting been level at the break and while they felt they should have had a penalty when Adrien Silva’s shot hit Gary Cahill near his shoulder, it was a weak case. Chelsea’s only regret was that their half-time lead was just one.

If some of Sporting’s defenders looked cowed by the occasion, Nani did not. He came out for the second half desperate to punish Chelsea for their early profligacy. With Sporting’s first attack after the re-start, he stormed down the left, cut back inside and flicked the ball behind him to an overlapping run that never came.

Soon after, Nani made the same run but took on Branislav Ivanovic instead and was brought down on the edge of the box, only for Mateu Lahoz to wave play on. Sporting’s next attack ended with Nani shooting into the side netting from a tight angle.

But for all their vigour, Sporting were still just as open at the back. Oscar was next to run through on goal, denied again by the advancing Patricio. Then it was Costa, charging through the middle, and Sporting centre-back Mauricio injured himself committing a foul so cynical he might have been dismissed for it anyway. The further Sporting pushed up in pursuit of an equaliser, the more dangerous Costa was on the break. Chelsea could just launch the ball up towards him, confident he would beat every other defender to it and win possession.

Hoping to close up a game that might have felt slightly too open, Mourinho withdrew Oscar for Jon Obi Mikel. In Mikel and Matic he had a physical screen to block Sporting’s counter-attacks, while Costa continued to be dangerous up front. He hit one shot into the side netting, and overran a perfect Matic pass as Chelsea pushed for a second goal they did not eventually need, despite Sporting pressure which produced a few shots if not tooi many chances.

There were chances on offer for anyone who ran forward and Filipe Luis – advancing from left-back – should have scored, as should late substitute Mohamed Salah. But Patricio stood strong to complete a performance which earned him a warm embrace from Mourinho at the end. Mourinho might have wanted a few more goals, but will otherwise be pleased.


================


Guardian:

Nemanja Matic’s header proves decisive for Chelsea at Sporting Lisbon

Dominic Fifield at the Estádio José Alvalade

José Mourinho strode on to the turf at the final whistle, marching pointedly into his opponents’ half to offer his hand to the Sporting goalkeeper, Rui Patrício, as he trudged away from the goal-mouth digesting defeat. The gesture told some of the story of Chelsea’s utter dominance as they delivered a first proper statement of intent on a group they now lead. The scoreline may have been tight, but this was something akin to a one-goal thrashing. Yet the suspicion remained this was also a manager seeking to deflect attention.

His side should have run up a cricket score in Lisbon against a youthful yet horribly naive opponent but, instead, were undermined by profligacy and forced to endure the odd pang of anxiety in stoppage time at the end. From the second minute to the 92nd, this had been a procession of Chelsea chances spurned, their only reward secured by the outstanding Nemanja Matic, a former Benfica player, from one of the more awkward opportunities they had created. Had the lead been more assured in that second half then bodies might have been retired to rest up ahead of Arsenal’s visit in the Premier League. As it was, that privilege was denied Mourinho and his staff.

Diego Costa, whose suspect hamstring is fast becoming a tiresome theme of the campaign, was forced to play through the whole contest. The same applied to Cesc Fàbregas with the visiting defence, albeit untroubled for long periods, left on edge until the last.

“We had so many chances to kill it off, but it was just one of those nights where it didn’t quite go in for us,” offered John Terry, who did at least have a clean sheet to celebrate as he completed a century of Champions League appearances. Rui Patrício had, indeed, excelled as Mourinho’s handshake suggested, flinging himself in front of shots from Costa to Mohamed Salah, Oscar to Andre Schürrle. But the finishing was worryingly slack. Better sides than Sporting would have mounted more prolonged pressure as the contest dragged on, the scoreline still tight. Instead, Nani and the substitute Fredy Montero flashed late attempts wide and Chelsea escaped.

There will inevitably be nights like this over the course of a campaign, occasions when a glut of chances are created only for the forwards’ radar to be skew-whiff when composure is required. Perhaps the visitors had been left dizzied by the lazar pens shone from the stands into a number of their players’ eyes over the course of the evening. Maybe they were thrown slightly off kilter by the aggressive nature of some of the hosts’ tackling as they sought a make an impression of their own. Yet Sporting should still have been dispatched sooner, and probably long before the interval. Bayern Munich had won 5-0 the last time the Alvalade staged a tie in the Champions League proper, five years ago. A repeat would not have been outlandish.

Sporting’s manager, Marco Silva, spoke about satisfaction at his team’s second half display but he will still have retired scorched by what was essentially a humbling experience. There were gaping holes in his side’s ragged back-line from the opening exchanges, the yawning distance between the centre-halves, Mauricio and Naby Sarr, enough to have Fàbregas and Oscar – players always seeking to thread a delicate through-ball – drooling while William Carvalho struggled with his bearings at the base of the home midfield. He was eventually booked for bringing down Eden Hazard, the only surprise being he had been able to locate the Belgian to make sufficient contact. The whole rearguard felt rather befuddled, an accident waiting to happen.

Within 100 seconds of the start, Oscar had slipped Costa clear to test the tightness of that thigh muscle only for Rui Patrício to conjure the first of his interceptions. Schürrle should have registered a first half hat-trick. He had been denied 12 times against Bolton last Wednesday in the Capital One Cup. Add the four missed here and, at some stage, misfortune has to be discounted as a mitigating circumstance for his lack of plunder. He retired before the hour rather perplexed by it all.

The World Cup winner was most culpable when steering Hazard’s pull-back wide of the far post midway through the period with the goal at his mercy and Rui Patrício resigned to a concession. That felt less costly when Andre Carrillo floored Hazard yet again and Fàbregas clipped his free-kick early while Sporting dawdled.

Matic, heckled for his connections with those across the capital, was unmarked beyond the far post but had to crunch back his neck muscles to arc a header over the goalkeeper and finally prise out the visitors’ lead.

The positive spin on what ensued, with chances spurned on the break as Sporting desperately tried to muster some momentum of their own, is that Chelsea were relatively comfortable at the back and continued to create and are capable of slicing opponents to shreds on the counter.

But even that needs a proper context: the Portuguese were so ramshackle that they even shipped opportunities from attacking free-kicks on the edge of the visitors’ penalty area. Mauricio ended up hauling down Costa on that particular charge up-field from one simple, hacked clearance with the defender departing bloodied and bruised on a stretcher.

Sterner opposition would not have parted so obligingly. Indeed, while Arsenal had wilted alarmingly at Stamford Bridge last season to surrender 6-0, they will surely be more steeled on Sunday’s return.

This was less about Rui Patrício’s heroics, and more about Chelsea’s wastefulness. They escaped unharmed on this occasion, an away win establishing them at the top of Group G, but Mourinho will demand they are not as clumsy in front of goal from now on in. This team is capable of being more ruthless than this.


===============


Telegraph :

Sporting Lisbon 0 Chelsea 1

Nemanja Matic brings relief for Jose Mourinho's wasteful travellers

Jason Burt

So much attention, so much emotion, so much intent had centred on Jose Mourinho’s return to the club where it all started for him that everyone overlooked a player who made his name in the Portuguese capital. And a bit more recently.

Nemanja Matic’s name was whistled when it was read out prior to kick-off, a recognition of the immense presence he was at Benfica after Chelsea sold him to Sporting Lisbon’s bitterest rivals only to recognise their mistake and buy him back last January for £21 million. Matic has damaged Sporting before and delighted in doing so again. It felt a little cruel.

Matic scored the goal that gave Chelsea a crucial victory and with it firmly placed their Champions League campaign back on track, which earned a nod of reprieved approval from Mourinho afterwards.

During the encounter he had stalked the touchline as his team wasted chance after chance and ran the very real risk of somehow throwing away points in a game which they had utterly dominated. Half a dozen one-on-ones were missed by Chelsea and as dominant as the Sporting goalkeeper Rui Patricio was – he even earned some choice words in jest from Mourinho for almost ruining his homecoming – it was extraordinary wastefulness.

Mourinho’s first coaching role had been as assistant – translator – to Sir Bobby Robson at Sporting in the early 1990s. He said he did not stay long enough to make his mark. He has done so since.

He earned a warm reception in contrast to the hostility directed at Matic but the powerful Serbian midfielder simply brushed it aside. The ease with which he took his goal – pulling away beyond the back post to steer an unchallenged header back across Rui Patricio into the net – stunned the Sporting supporters into silence. The goal came courtesy of yet another assist from Cesc Fabregas as he swung in a free-kick after yet another foul on Eden Hazard.

That, by the end, Mourinho felt moved to use all his substitutes and shore up his midfield by deploying John Obi Mikel alongside Matic owed everything to Chelsea’s inability to take those chances. Sporting will argue that they rallied, and point to a fierce shot from Luis Nani – on loan from Manchester United – that flew narrowly over and a header from substitute Fredy Montero that also went wide, but they were overwhelmed for long periods.

Even though this was their first foray back into the Champions League for five years, this was the first time that Sporting had lost a European tie for 16 matches. They were summed up by William Carvalho, the physically imposing young midfielder with the ruinously expensive buy-out clause of £3 7million that led to both United and Arsenal withdrawing their interest in him during the summer, but who showed flashes that he could develop into something. But he is not quite Matic.

And nor are there many strikers like Diego Costa. Whether Mourinho is playing some long game by continually harping on about the state of the striker’s tight hamstrings, suggesting he cannot play two games in four days – and then making him do just that – and suggesting Spain would be negligent to call him up for international duty remains to be seen. But there did not appear to be anything physically limiting about him on Tuesday night.

The tone was set inside two minutes as Costa raced on to Oscar’s simple through-ball and ran at Rui Patricio. He had time; there was no defender close to him – but his side-footed shot was deflected for a corner. Costa held his head.

But it was Andre Schürrle who was the most profligate. Rui Patricio denied him from a tight angle and then Eden Hazard ran through into the Sporting area to measure a cut-back straight to the Germany international. The goal beckoned but somehow he side-footed wide.

He then fashioned various other means of missing. Shooting weakly, heading tamely before Mourinho had seen enough. Schürrle had not played badly but he had played wastefully and he was substituted.

Oscar was also culpable. Just like Costa in the first half, he was sent streaking through on goal. Rui Patricio waited and waited and Oscar tried to slip his shot under the goalkeeper. Again he blocked.

Would Chelsea play the price? Surely not? But in every contest the opposition get a chance and Nani was given a sight of beating Thibaut Courtois, who spread himself. The winger shot into the side-netting. Then the ball broke to Adrien Silva on the edge of the area but he scooped over.

Chelsea broke again. Costa ran hard at the defence and he was brutally blocked. Mauricio was cautioned and carried off on a stretcher. He should have been dismissed.

Costa was sent clear again. This time the angle was more acute and he shot into the side-netting. Incredibly he was put through once more, but his touch was heavy and Rui Patricio raced to block. Then Filipe Luis was given the chance to shoot by Willian but dragged a cross-shot across the goal. Another substitute, Mohamed Salah, was also denied one-on-one by Rui Patricio. Finally Nani delivered a warning but Sporting could not capitalise.

Chelsea had their victory, the wolf whistles at the end were aimed at the officials, as Sporting had earned back some pride if not a point and Mourinho was able to stride onto the turf to enjoy the applause not just of his own fans but the home ones also. He had taken back control of the group, he had achieved what he wanted. It was a satisfactory homecoming.


=============


Times :

Nemanja Matic gets the nod to ensure his manager’s homecoming is happy

Rory Smith

Sporting Lisbon 0 Chelsea 1


Pumping his fist in triumph, José Mourinho strode on to the pitch at the end of his homecoming. He marched towards Rui Patrício, the Sporting Lisbon captain, goalkeeper and, after a performance of stirring defiance, hero, too. The Chelsea manager shook him by the hand and whispered something X-rated in his ear. “I’m not going to repeat the words,” he said. “They would be censored. It was something to do with spoiling the evening.”

Here, at the last, a slice of vintage Mourinho. He has been uncharacteristically tender towards Sporting for the past 48 hours. There has been no sense that he was in the Portuguese capital seeking some sort of vengeance, boasting a point to prove and a knife to twist.

He has reminisced with fondness about the time he spent there working under Sir Bobby Robson. He expressed delight that they were back in the Champions League. Looking back at his side’s slender victory, secured by Nemanja Matic’s looping header, he did not even choose to chide his hosts for what may be diplomatically termed their physical approach.

Sporting clattered Chelsea for 90 minutes, the pick of the fouls an NFL-style block on Diego Costa that ended with Maurício, his assailant, being taken off on a stretcher, his nose broken. Mourinho, curiously indulgent, just said that he “liked” to see that sort of aggression.

But that walk after the whistle, that droll explanation: that was straight from Mourinho’s playbook. No manager understands the game’s iconography quite so well as he does; no manager appreciates the need to control the message quite so much. That was Mourinho taking hold of the story, making it about Patrício’s brilliance, as opposed to what it might have been about: his side’s chronic profligacy. Chelsea should have been out of sight within 25 minutes. They glistened with intent from the off. Costa — risked despite delicate hamstrings — had his first opening after three minutes, sent clean through on goal by Oscar. Patrício’s outstretched leg denied him.

That set the tone for the game. Marco Silva, the Sporting coach, is straight from the Mourinho mould, as so many Portuguese managers are now: dapper, handsome, all youth and vigour. The similarities, for now at least, are only skin deep. His side were wide open, their central defenders bad enough without being left exposed. Mourinho would never countenance such a thing.

The chances came in a flood. Gary Cahill headed over; Patrício denied André Schürrle not once but twice, then breathed a sigh of relief when the Germany forward, given the freedom of the penalty area, inexplicably slotted a shot wide. They broke through, eventually, courtesy of the last person Sporting wanted to score: Nemanja Matic, once of Benfica, his header from Cesc Fàbregas’s free kick looping past Patrício.

That should have been Chelsea’s cue to streak away, but still they could not overcome their wastefulness. Patrício denied Oscar and perhaps Costa would have done better had he not been rugby-tackled by Maurício. John Terry — on his 100th appearance in the Champions League — characterised it as “one of those nights where it would not go in, we had so many chances to kill it off”, but it is not the first time this has happened.

Chelsea were just as wasteful against Bolton Wanderers in the Capital One Cup last week, and against Schalke a fortnight before that. The presence of Costa was supposed to remedy the problem, but despite his best efforts, it did not quite work like that.

With every chance missed, Sporting realised that they had a glimmer of hope, that something might yet be salvaged. They found an intensity they had been lacking, a sense of purpose, and they started to turn the tide.

Nani, on loan from Manchester United, twice went close, including the best chance of the night, finding the side-netting from an acute angle. Adrien Silva fired over on two occasions when well placed on the edge of the box. Mourinho recognised that he needed to react, that he had to settle for what he had.

“I felt that if we couldn’t transform our dominance into a result, we would have to bring on [John Obi] Mikel to play alongside Matic,” he said. “We had to close it down. We had to make sure we closed all avenues for them to come back into the game.” It did not quite work — Fredy Montero whistled a header just past a post — but even as they grew more and more desperate, still the chances came.

Twice Costa might have sealed it, might have calmed Mourinho’s pulse and Filipe Luís, roaming forward from left back, sent one just wide. Mohamed Salah, too, should have added that second goal.

It did not come, but in the end, it did not quite matter. Not here, anyway: Chelsea will have to be rather more ruthless if they are to keep pace with better sides later in the competition. Here, they had their three points, and — as Mourinho put it — “control of their destiny” in the group. That is what Mourinho prizes above all: control. Of destiny, of the message, so long as his fist is raised in triumph.


Sporting Lisbon (4-3-3): Rui Patrício — Cédric, N Sarr, Maurício (sub: P Oliveira, 62min), J Silva — J Mário, W Carvalho, A Silva (sub: F Montero, 81) — A Carrillo (sub: D Capel, 81), I Slimani, Nani. Substitutes not used: Marcelo, Jefferson, A Martins, O Rosell. Booked: Mário, Carvalho, Maurício, Cédric.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): T Courtois — B Ivanovic, G Cahill, J Terry, F Luís – F Fàbregas, N Matic — A Schürrle (sub: Willian, 56), Oscar (sub: J O Mikel, 71), E Hazard (sub: M Salah, 84) — D Costa. Substitutes not used: P Cech, K Zouma, C Azpilicueta, L Rémy. Booked: Ivanovic, Hazard, Luís, Fàbregas.

Referee: A Mateu Lahoz (Spain).


================


Mail:

Sporting Lisbon 0-1 Chelsea: Nemanja Matic gives Jose Mourinho's side Champions League victory in Portugal

Amid the fuss about Jose Mourinho’s return to Lisbon, Nemanja Matic was forgotten. At least, he was until the 34th minute when the former Benfica midfielder appeared unmarked to head Chelsea into the lead.

A less popular goalscorer it would have been hard to find inside Sporting Lisbon’s Estadio Jose Alvalade.

Matic used to play for their fierce city rivals and returned to spoil their first Champions League home game in six years.

For Chelsea it was a vital goal, giving them a grip on a game they had dominated without managing to punish Sporting, with Diego Costa among those guilty of wastefulness, although not to the same degree as Andre Schurrle.

Matic stepped forward to score his second of the season and his first Champions League goal for the club he re-joined in January for £21million.

It clinched Chelsea three points and issued a reminder of how critical the tall Serb has become to Mourinho’s team. While Costa and Eden Hazard take acclaim for their work in front of goal, Matic supplies the midfield power which allows them to attack with such freedom.

Amid all the fuss about Costa’s strike-rate and hamstrings and Hazard’s jinking dribbling skills, Matic is easily overlooked. Here was the perfect moment to hail his contribution for he is every bit as important as the goals of Costa or the jinking runs of Hazard.

Sporting were very disappointing until they went behind. They appeared to freeze but generated more urgency and purpose in the second half, when Chelsea’s defensive unit had to work to protect the lead.

Matic weighed in with some of the more familiar unsung stuff, eating up the miles, disrupting the game’s rhythms, winning the ball and the Londoners moved to the top of Group G with back-to-back ties next against Maribor of Slovenia, who drew at Schalke on Tuesday night.

‘We had to win,’ said captain John Terry after his 100th Champions League appearance. ‘It puts us in control again.’

Nani and Fredy Montero both went close in a closing phase which had no right to be as nervy as it was for Chelsea. They squandered the chances to win comfortably, starting in the second minute when Costa was released by Oscar.

Costa stormed clear on goal with oodles of time, perhaps too much time, and opted for a low shot which Rui Patricio saved with his left foot.

Patricio went on to perform brilliantly and Mourinho strode into his penalty area at the final whistle to offer his hand. Unlike Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert and his sidekick Roy Keane, Portugal’s No 1 shook it.

‘I’m not going to repeat what I said because the words would be censored,’ said the Chelsea boss. ‘It was something about spoiling the night.’

After thwarting Costa, Patricio frustrated Schurrle, who tried to sidle past him but the keeper scrambled across the turf to smother his shot.

He saved again from Schurrle, a more routine catch from a header after Naby Sarr, who endured a torrid night, had been dispossessed, and again, to keep out a low strike from the edge of the box.

It was shaping up like the Capital One Cup tie against Bolton when Schurrle had a dozen shots and could not score. Midway through the first-half he managed to screw an absolute sitter horribly wide.

Mourinho spun towards the bench, throwing his hands in despair. He knew Chelsea must score during this dominant period. The chance was made by Hazard, who sped past Sarr and picked out Schurrle, arriving from deep, completely unmarked. All he had to do was roll the ball into the net but somehow he missed the target.

Chelsea wastefulness kept Sporting in the game and Marco Silva had them drilled to break at pace and numbers. Thibaut Courtois was a bystander for much of the first-half but alert to save from Islam Slimani when he needed to be.

Pressure was eased by Matic, when the Serb found space in a crowded goalmouth to apply a firm header to a free-kick delivered by Cesc Fabregas and looped over Patricio into the far corner.

There were similarities to the winner scored by Branislav Ivanovic in the Europa League final against Benfica, when Matic was on the beaten team.

Chelsea had a lead and went after the second, but it was no easier to acquire. Mauricio blocked from Costa, soon after the break, and Oscar was unable to beat Patricio when clean through on goal.

Another run by Costa was brutally halted by Mauricio, who managed to injure himself in the process. It might have been interpreted as a red-card foul by the last defender, but the referee gave him the benefit of the doubt and the centre-half left on a stretcher with a yellow.

‘It’s understandable, no problem,’ said Mourinho. ‘It is a young team, young players, a big match for them. There was some frustration because we controlled most parts of the game. The game was hard but correct.’

Sporting summoned some quality in the second half. They were spirited and much more threatening and almost found a way back into the game. Nani crashed his best chance into the site-netting from an angle and curled another close, while Montero flashed a header wide.

Chelsea survived the scares and are well placed to win the group. ‘We can control our destiny,’ said Mourinho. ‘We play two games against Maribor and if we manage six points that would be 10 and job done.’


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Mirror:

Sporting 0-1 Chelsea: Matic header hands wasteful Blues the points in Portugal
 
By Martin Lipton

 
The Serbian's first-half header was enough to leave Jose Mourinho's side sitting pretty at the top of their group          

You can get away with it in Lisbon in September.

At this point in the group stage, it doesn’t matter so much if you miss a series of chances, fail to put an inferior side away.

But after Christmas, when it’s Munich, Madrid or Barcelona, when the other lot have quality too, it will cost Chelsea, will lead to that familiar sense of what might have been.

And while Jose Mourinho’s post match walk towards Rui Patricio was all about trying to make the Sporting keeper the story, the Chelsea boss will know the real picture is different.

Four points from two games and top of Group G, yes.

Still unbeaten, after nine matches in all competitions. Very much the team to beat at home.

Yet this was an evening that could have bitten Chelsea on the backside, to make them pay for the misses that kept on coming.

From two minutes into the game, when Diego Costa streaked through and failed to thread past the Sporting keeper, to two minutes into stoppage time, when Mohamed Salah wasted Chelsea’s umpteenth and final chance, this was a story of appalling finishing.

The cast list was pretty much a team-sheet, too.

Not just Costa and Salah, but also Gary Cahill, Andre Schurrle, Oscar and Filipe Luis.

A series of shockers, the star-turn taken by Schurrle just after the half-hour, somehow managing not to hit the target from under 12 yards with all the time in the world at his disposal.

Thankfully for Mourinho, whose return to the Estadio Jose Alvalade became far more nervy than it should have been, as Sporting pressed for a get out of jail equaliser at the end, there was one man who kept his head.

Fittingly, perhaps, it was the Chelsea man who copped the flak from the Sporting fans. Not Mourinho – whose spell in Lisbon ended more than 20 years ago – but Nemanja Matic.

The Serbian midfielder had been jeered mercilessly when his name was announced before the start, the legacy of his spell across the Portuguese capital at Benfica.

Matic ignored the cat-calls, imposing himself in what has become his trademark fashion.

And when Cesc Fabregas spotted the Sporting back line was sleeping after Eden Hazard had been fouled out wide on the left, whipping over a quick free-kick, it was Matic who was the target.

The ball looked as if it might be a fraction too high but Matic did superbly, hanging in the air, finding the precision to generate enough arc and power to angle his floated header past the keeper.

It was to prove the key moment of a game that should already have been over.

Costa’s early miss, deflected over the top by Rui Patricio when the off-side trap broke down, set a frustrating pattern for Mourinho.

Cahill headed Schurrle’s resulting corner over when he should have scored, before two misses by the German, including that howler after Hazard did all the hard work and pulled back from the right.

And despite the advantage, it was a similar story after the break.

Oscar’s miss, when Filipe Luis put him through, was as bad as Costa’s had been, the Brazilian-born Spain striker’s touch was too heavy, his former Atletico team-mate shot across goal with yellow shirts awaiting a simple pass.

Has Nani been more interested in staying on his feet than hitting the floor, or substitute Fredy Montero hit the target with his late header, Mourinho would have been spewing.

Salah’s failure to convert Fabregas’ pass at the death only underlined the tale.

Sporting, game but out-gunned, were not good enough to take advantage. Mourinho knows other sides will be.


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Express:


Sporting Lisbon 0 - Chelsea 1: High-flier Matic gives Mourinho a happy return

CHELSEA moved to the top of Group G after a strike from Nemanja Matic ensured a happy return to Lisbon for manager Jose Mourinho.

By: Tony Paskin


But they wasted a hatful of chances to win even more convincingly in what was defender John Terry’s 100th Champions League game – with Andre Schurrle the biggest culprit.

Diego Costa, who played despite having a hamstring problem, failed to score in the second minute after dashing clean through on goal, with Rui Patricio blocking his shot with a boot.

Oscar, who set him up, also messed up one-on-one and it was left to Matic to show his supposedly more clinical colleagues how to score.

Mourinho’s men played some mesmerising stuff as the Blues boss returned to his homeland. But if they want to get their hands on the Champions League trophy they won in 2012 they will need to finish a whole lot better than this – Schurrle in particular.

The Germany international, right, had opportunity after opportunity, his worst miss coming in the 22nd minute. With Sporting in disarray down the left flank, as they were for much of the first half, Eden Hazard got to the byline and produced the perfect pullback for Schurrle to sidefoot just inside the goalkeeper’s right post.

The trouble was he shot the wrong side of the upright. Mourinho, could not believe it, thrusting his hands deep into his pockets in frustration. Twenty minutes later Schurrle blazed over at the near post with Matic free for a tap-in.

By then the Serbian midfielder – who managed the game brilliantly with an inspired Cesc Fabregas – had scored what turned out to be the winner in the 34th minute. After being fouled by Andre Carrillo, Hazard spotted Matic drifting into space at the far post.

His delivery was perfect for the 6ft 4ins holding midfielder to loop a diagonal header over Patricio. The home supporters did not take it well, with Matic having played for their big Lisbon rivals, Benfica, before rejoining Chelsea.

But it was the very least Mourinho’s men deserved against a team who seemed as if they had never played in the Champions League, rather than having been out of it for five years.

Chelsea fluffed three great openings after the break. In the 55th minute a simple ball over the top by Filipe Luis saw Oscar with just the keeper to beat, but Patricio was up to the task of blocking again.

Luis also dragged a late shot wide of the far post, having charged into the penalty area. Then, right at the death, substitute Mohamed Salah was thwarted by Patricio, as Sporting were exposed once more.

Costa’s suspect hamstring had a real test with him being clobbered by Mauricio, who had to go off injured because of the impact, and Patricio. But, thankfully for Schurrle and Co, Chelsea held on – something they failed to do in their opening group match, at home against Schalke.

However, Nani, on loan from Manchester United, almost bent in a last-ditch equaliser. You dread to imagine how angry Mourinho, back in the city where he managed Benfica, would have been had that chance gone in.

At the final whistle he walked 50 yards to shake keeper Patricio’s hand. Whether he would have done the same if Sporting had scored is very debatable.


SPORTING LISBON (4-1-2-2-1): Patricio; Soares, Sarr, Mauricio (Oliveira 63), C Silva; Carvalho; Eduardo, A Silva (Montero 81); Carillo (Capel 81), Nani; Slimani. Booked: Soares, Mauricio, Carvalho, Eduardo.

CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Luis; Matic, Fabregas; Schurrle (Willian 58), Oscar (Mikel 71), Hazard (Salah 84); Costa. Booked: Hazard, Ivanovic, Luis, Fabregas. Goal: Matic 34.

Referee: A Lahoz (Spain).


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Star:


Sporting 0 - Chelsea 1: Matic headers delivers the points on a tough night in Lisbon

CHELSEA proved to be sporting against Sporting in Lisbon last night.

By David Woods


The Stamford Bridge outfit wasted a hatful of chances to win more convincingly, with Andre Schurrle the biggest culprit.

Diego Costa, played despite having a hamstring problem, failed to score in the second minute after dashing clean through on goal with Rui Patricio blocking with a boot.

And Oscar, who set him up - also messed up when one-v-one, and it was left to unlikely goal hero Nemanja Matic to show his supposedly more clinical colleagues how to score.

Jose Mourinho’s men played some mesmerising stuff as the Blues boss returned to his homeland.

But if they want to get their hands on the Champions League trophy they won in 2012 again they will need to finish a whole lot better - Schurrle in particular.

The German international had opportunity after opportunity, the worst miss coming in the 22nd minute.

With Sporting in disarray down the left flank, as they were for much of the first half, Eden Hazard got to the byline and produced a perfect pullback for Schurrle to sidefoot just inside the keeper’s right post.

Trouble was he shot the wrong side of the upright. Mourinho, could not believe it, thrusting his hands deep into his pockets in frustration.

Twenty minutes later Schurrle blazed over at the near post with Matic free for a tap-in.

By then the Serbian midfielder - who bossed the game brilliantly with an inspired Cesc Fabregas - had scored what turned out to be the winner.

It came in the 34th minute. After being fouled by Andre Carrillo, Hazard spotted Matic drifting into space at the far post.

His delivery was perfect for the 6ft 4ins holding midfielder to loop a diagonal header over Patricio.

The home fans did not take it well with Matic having played for their big Lisbon rivals Benfica before rejoining Chelsea.

But it was the very least Mourinho’s men deserved against a team who looked like they had never played in the Champions League, rather than having been out of it for five years.

Chelsea fluffed three great openings after the break. In the 55th minute a simple ball over the top by Felipe Luis saw Oscar with just the keeper to beat, but Patricio was up to the task of blocking again.

Luis also dragged a late shot wide of the far post having charged into the penalty area, and right at the death substitute Mohamed Salah was thwarted by that man Patricio, as Sporting were exposed yet again.

Costa’s suspect hamstring had a real test with him being clobbered by Mauricio, who had to go off injured because of the impact, and Patricio.

Thankfully for Schurrle and Co, the west Londoners held on - something they failed to do in their opening Group G game at home to Schalke - although Nani, on loan from Manchester United, almost bent in a last-ditch equaliser.

You dread to imagine how angry Mourinho, back in the city where he managed Benfica, would have been had it gone in.

At the final whistle he walked 50 yards to shake keeper Patricio’s hand.

Whether he’d have done the same if Sporting had scored is very debatable.


SPORTING (4-1-2-2-1): Rui Patricio; Cedric, Sarr, Mauricio (Oliveira 64), J Silva; Carvalho; Mario, A Silva (Montero 81); Carillo (Capel 81), Nani; Slimani.

Subs: Marcelo, Jefferson, Andre Martins, Oriol Rosell.

CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Luis; Matic, Fabregas; Schurrle (Willian 58) , Oscar (Mikel 71), Hazard (Salah 84); Costa.

Subs: Cech, Zouma, Remy, Azpilicueta.


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