Hazard Penalises Plucky Rangers

League leaders Chelsea may have dominated their west London tussle against stubborn QPR, but the Blues returned to their bad old habit of making life difficult for themselves and their supporters. Maximum points may be all that matters, and yes it was mission accomplished, but to take an early lead, then fail to add to it, then concede the lead against the run of play, before being bailed out by a penalty was scarcely worthy of self-congratulations.

Of course QPR had the potential to be an awkward assignment, and so it proved, but one would hope that Chelsea rediscover the knack of converting prolonged ascendancy into goals, or else they might fall into the bad habit of drawing matches that they should win. Anyhow, the table-topping troops are three more points closer to glory, and still unbeaten. I just wish that Courtois could start accumulating a few more clean sheets. Meanwhile, we must not assume that Liverpoor will under-perform when their beloved friends from London pay a nice visit next weekend. Hopefully Mourinho won't again slip into the default nonsense of showing our opponents far too much respect and putting too many of our personnel behind the ball. We are better than that. Get out of the Shamfield trenches, our lads, and shove your bayonets into those pesky Liverfool footballers.

CHELSEA 2 Queen's Park Rangers 1; half time: 1-0. Saturday 1st November 2014.

CHELSEA goal scorers: Oscar; Hazard (Penalty)

CHELSEA team: Courtois, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Filipe Luis, Matic, Fabregas, Hazard, Oscar, Willian, Costa. Used substitutes: Drogba, Schurrle, Ramires.

CHELSEA LEADING SCORERS:

Costa - 9 goals

Hazard - 5 goals

Oscar - 4 goals

Drogba - 3 goals

Fabregas, Ivanovic, Matic, Remy, and Schurrle - 2 goals