The end of our title hopes? Chelsea 2 Bolton 2
By dixon9
April 29 2007
We won the title against Bolton not so long ago but this time we have almost certainly lost it against them. The injury sustained by Carvalho makes these dropped points an even bitterer pill to swallow. We can curse the recent good fortune of Manchester United with regard to refereeing decisions against Sheff Utd and Boro and the consequent penalty we should have had against Newcastle.
Certainly, anyone who saw Everton gift them 2 goals yesterday could only shake their heads in disbelief when the stand in Everton keeper dropped the ball at the feet of Rooney and then the even stranger own goal by Neville of all people. It’s these things that can decide a title race and when it’s decided in this fashion it rankles deeply. But hold on a minute; Didn´t we have an opportunity to take control of what would have been our third successive Premier League last week at Newcastle? Weren’t we playing an injury ridden Bolton side yesterday at home? We certainly were but at least these are football performance matters rather than referee’s mistakes deciding the title race. These things even themselves out they say – well time is running out for karma to take its course if it’s going to happen this season. It appears that the superhuman blue machine is finally running out of steam in the league and we now find ourselves in the almost hopeless situation of relying on “Citeh” (the original Manchester side for those of you who are keen on HISTORY) grabbing the 3 points off Man Utd next weekend whilst we have to do the same against a possibly revenge motivated Arsenal side at the Emirates. I’m not sure however, how many Arsenal fans would feel so satisfied at essentially destroying our last vestige of hope whilst simultaneously handing the title over to a side who have also been one of their most hated rivals in more recent history (More hated than Chelsea? I would guess that any survey carried out amongst the Arsenal faithful would probably reveal that the Mancs still edge it over us in the “Who do you most loathe league?”). I’ve been through all the permutations of how the league could finally pan out and the worst case scenario is Man Utd beating their neighbours, us losing to one of ours at Arsenal which would mean us having to witness the painful scene of the blue shirts giving the red ones a guard of honour at Stamford Bridge! The other, more hopeful (and perhaps wildly optimistic ones!) are City winning and ourselves in north London followed by a subsequent win over the Manchester side at Stamford Bridge – this could possibly clinch the title for us in London (with Everton’s permission for the last match). There are more even more optimistic scenarios involving West Ham needing a win at Old Trafford to ensure premiership survival after ourselves beating Man Utd on the Wednesday before. Anyway….enough of my hopeless “Mystic Meg” ramblings – what about the match yesterday? With Tuesday’s encounter at Anfield looming, Mourinho sensibly decided to leave the likes of Lampard, Drogba, Ashley Cole and Joe Cole on the bench and given the Bolton side’s own injury situation this seemed a wise decision. Despite early dominance, on 19 minutes, a Teymourians free-kick swung in and after some brief keystone cop defending a loose ball was poked home by January signing Lubomir Michalik.
We were stunned but just two minutes later, good work from Bridge gave Kalou a glancing header adeptly dispatched by the young lad from the Ivory Coast. The Chelsea pressure continued and Shevchenko had been looking particularly bright being unlucky with a superb earlier effort. Then came what could prove to be a significant blow for our Champion’s League aspirations against Liverpool; on 29 mins Lampard had to replace Carvalho who fell injured after making what was an unnecessary tackle after the referee had already blown for an earlier foul. The Portuguese’s English replacement was to however provide the corner which Kalou rose athletically to head powerfully against the underside of the bar with the ball bouncing in of the back of the legs of the Bolton keeper. “Normality” had been restored although it wasn’t to last.
With the scoreline in our favour Drogba could then alternate his rest with Shevchenko for the 2nd half and everything looked rosy until on 54 mins when Speed delivered a free-kick which Davies seemed to almost back header in from close range. It was 2-2 but there was still time left.
With Bolton attempting to clinch a UEFA place they were content to park the bus and the kitchen sink in front of goal. The bus was large enough and no amount of pressure or invention could get past it as we almost certainly witnessed the end of our title hopes. We’ll have to hope that Carvalho´s almost certain absence for the Anfield clash and it’s consequential line up change with Essien being wasted in the centre half position doesn’t also end our Champion’s League hopes as well (unless José is bluffing again about Carvalho!).
Chelsea: Cech, Geremi, Carvalho (Lampard 29), Terry, Bridge, Diarra (Joe Cole 60), Mikel, Essien, Wright-Phillips, Kalou, Shevchenko (Drogba 46).Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Boulahrouz. Goals: Kalou 22, Jaaskelainen 34 og. Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Campo, Meite, Michalik, Gardner, Teymourian, Thompson (Vaz Te 46), Tal (Sinclair 77), Speed, Davies, Anelka (Martin 90).
Subs Not Used: Al Habsi, Augustyn. Booked: Gardner, Davies, Michalik. Goals: Michalik 19, Davies 54.