Come and Catch Us If You Think You're Good Enough

SAF said a few weeks ago 'Chelsea have to win in the North-West.' Jose Mourinho can quietly and confidently begin to think to himself that Chelsea are starting to ram SAF's words straight back down the Scottish's one great big gob. If SAFs remarks were psychological kidology then they have truly backfired on the one that JM calls 'The Boss.' With the exception of the defeat at Man City, Chelsea have now won at Liverpool, Blackburn, Everton in the League and at Man Utd in the Carling Cup. With only Man Utd and Bolton remaining to visit in the League - would you back against Chelsea avoiding defeat?

All week speculation was abound how Chelsea would react to the dropping of two points the previous Sunday and importantly the loss of Arjen Robben. On a pitch that would not look out of place in a Sunday League, Chelsea were together, unified and committed to the cause. There is no doubt about it. Everton is and will be at least for the rest of this season be a dangerous place to visit. Once Everton re-organised after the Beattie sending off, Chelsea took control and dominated the proceedings and were proudly trying to play their football. Chelsea shots were flying in from all directions, mainly going high and wide but the stats will show that Chelsea had over 20 attempts at goal of which only seven were on target. Importantly though one of those seven resulted in a goal. In the 70th minute, Paulo Ferreira swung a cross in from the right, the ball bounced up eluding the Everton defence, Gallas got a boot to it, his effort hit the bar and the ball fell nicely to Eider who gratefully stroked the ball into the net from a few yards.

Everton did throw Duncan Ferguson into the fray and there were a few 'sticky' moments in the Chelsea penalty area as the clock ticked down. Yet Petr Cech was immaculate again as he kept is tenth consecutive Premiership clean sheet and Cech has now gone an amazing 961 minutes since he last conceded a goal. As Chelsea do not play in the Premiership again until the first week in March it is going to be a few weeks before we see if Cech can beat the English record of 1103 minutes without conceding a goal. A record currently held by Steve Death who played for Reading.

The only sour note on an excellent day for Chelsea was the booking of John Terry. As this was his 5th booking of the season, Terry automatically misses the FA Cup tie at Newcastle next Sunday.

v Man Utd (L) W1-0

v Birmingham (L) W1-0

v C Palace (L) W2-0

v Southampton (L) W2-1

v Aston Villa (L) D0-0

v PSG (CL) W3-0

v Spurs (L) D0-0

v Middlesbrough (L) W1-0

v Porto (CL) W3-1

v Liverpool (L) W1-0

v Man City (L) L0-1

v CSKA Moscow (CL) W2-0

v Blackburn Rovers (L) W4-0

v West Ham Utd (CC) W1-0

v WBA (L) W4-1

v CSKA Moscow (CL) W1-0

v Everton (L) W1-0

v Newcastle Utd (CC) W2-0

v Fulham (L) W4-1

v Bolton (L) D2-2

v PSG (CL) D0-0

v Charlton Athletic (L) W4-0

v Fulham (CC) W2-1

v Newcastle Utd (L) W4-0

v Porto (CL) L1-2

v Arsenal (L) D2-2

v Norwich City (L) W4-0

v Aston Villa (L) W1-0

v Portsmouth (L) W2-0

v Liverpool (L) W1-0

v Middlesbrough (L) W2-0

v Scunthorpe Utd (FAC) W3-1

v Man Utd (CC) D0-0

v Tottenham Hotspur (L) W2-0

v Portsmouth (L) W3-0

v Man Utd (CC) W2-1

v Birmingham City (FAC) W2-0

v Blackburn Rovers (L) W1-0

v Man City (L) D0-0

v Everton (L) W1-0