Frank Equals Premiership Appearance Record
By 40 Years A Blue
November 21 2005
I have to admit and I did say on the message board that Alan Shearer and Michael Owen were both bound to score had they played against the League leaders and Premiership Champions. With their reputations you would be mad to think otherwise.
Certainly if not one, but the other would. Already we knew that Shearer was struggling with fitness after his hernia operation, but the surprise was that Owen was out of the Toon's starting line-up with a groin injury. The GLORIOUS UNPREDICTABILITY syndrome which began to surface after our defeat at Man Utd two week's previous began to pale into significance once the teams were announced. Or did it really? For the majority of the first half it looked like the confident Chelsea team of the past, become shaky and unsure of themselves - Super JT looked like he gave away a first half penalty but from the view I was afforded, the tricky, cunning and nasty Lee Bowyer tried to con to Assistant Referee on my side and although he was slow in other decisions kept his flag hard and fast down by his left hand side. It took Chelsea sixty-minutes to break down a resolute Newcastle defence last season in their resounding 4-0 win and although the first goal was scored by Man of the Match Joe Cole on forty-seven minutes, after fifty-one minutes and a goal by Hello Hello Hernan Crespo, Hernan Crespo, Newcastle as a team were broken. Newcastle though to their credit stirred to life and the hardworking Charles n'Zogbia forced the giant Petr Cech into two saves of which they were only his contribution to the afternoon's events. Cech's that is. In truth it wasn't a convinicing Chelsea performance in fact until Joe Cole scored the first, I thought the game was abysmal as a spectacle. In the 90th minute Damien Duff scored Chelsea's third with a shot that looped up over the hapless Given from a Scottie Parker deflection. Frank Lampard equalled the Premiership record of 159 consective appearances which should be broken this Saturday when Chelsea travel to Pompey and in another tale of Chelsea history the returning Celestine Babayaro and Scott Parker were afforded welcome accustomed only to those playing in Blue shirts. Well Done Chelsea 40 YEARS A BLUE!