Arsenal - Chelsea - Live text and updates!

Emirates, November 29 2009

One game I cannot take sides for. May the best team win.

Quick words:
Seven minutes into the game and Arsenal are in full control.
Arshavin, Song, Cesc, Cech and Essien are doing their job pretty well.

10:47 - Mikel gets a warning for targeting Cesc.
13th: Nasri wins a throw in from a fine position.
14th: Drogba is offside.
15th: Ashley Cole is still settling in.
16th: Arsenal look dangerous. Chelsea is clueless as people in red and white assume important positions all over the place.
16th: Drogba tries to sneak one in.
17th: Essien and Carvalho have a handful to handle, as Arsenal take a corner.
18th: Cech takes an easy one from the corner.
18th: Chelsea threatened one and HOW! Mikel takes one, pushes to Lampard, wonderful pass past Drogba to Anelka, who was, I think, tugged down just in time.
20th: Sagna's been having a busy day near the Chelsea box.
20th: Looks like Gallas pushed Anelka down. lampard takes a free kick, defenders clear it for a corner.
22nd: Lampard takes the corner as well, Essien taking what I call the central header place.
23rd: Drogba and Almunia's header/catch practice session.
24th: Nasri fires into Cech's hands.
25th: Essien's proving to be a big obstacle for everyone in Arsenal.
25th: Ivanovic runs faster than Traore. Traore doesn't like it, pulls Ivanovic down, and gets a yellow card.

Funny, but Chelsea get better with time.

27th: Essien misses one, takes Cech to stop an Arsha-win.
28th: Sagna believes Cesc's pass was too fast. I believe Sagna wasn't fast enough.
29th: Offside - Arsenal. Would have been a penalty if not an offside.
30th: Mikel's too...casual? Arshavin's literally taking the ball away from Mikel's feet.
32nd: Joe cole has been warned. 'No, you can't have Nasri's trousers'
34th: Drogba apologises to Anelka for picking a packed up Joe Cole instead.
35th: Confusion in the Chelsea box.
36th: Ivanovic is getting the bettrer of Nasri today.
37th: Yellow for Drogba! Medicos for the defender.
38th: ESPN shows the foul each team committed in its own D and how well they got away with it. Sagna definitely was the culprit there. (refer minute 18)
40th: Eduardo would have scored had Peter Cech not run in to scoop the ball!
41st: Traore can't understand what he should be doing anymore.
42nd: DROGBA SCORES. Terry to Ashley. Ashley to Drogba. Amazing followup. I can't decide which of the three is better. Terry's superb pass or Ashley's superb cross or Drogba's neat finish. I'll go with Ashley.

Ancelotti punches an invisible demon to show his happiness. Eleven appearences for Drogba against Arsenal; nine goals! And some people wonder why I am beginning to like Drogba!

43rd: Gallas ensures that Drogba doesn't get two in two minutes!
44th: When Mikel wins the ball from two Arsenal players, you can say Arsenal is shaken.
45th: GOAL TWO for Chelsea. Wonderful cross from J Cole. Vermaelen puts it in (OG) before Drogba can get anywhere near! Arsenal are repeating the same mistakes they did against ManU. The rule's "Don't get shaken so much!"

HT: Chelsea 2 - 0 Arsenal

Aswin's HT Analysis:
Outstanding first twenty minutes from Arsenal. Equally good performance from Chelsea in the next twenty five. Arsenal's last five minutes of the half was poor despite some valiant attempts; and these five minutes have been the difference.

SECOND HALF underway. Theo Walcott's here. Arsenal's in a definite attacking mood, no doubt.

47th: Good defending to stop Eduardo da Silva.
48th: Nasri hits in to the D, Terry heads it out. Arsenal try again. Essien's here.
49th: Commotion all around. Many hits. Many saves. Arshavin slots one. Not a goal.

Chelsea need time to settle in. Just like ever.

51st: free kick for Arsenal.
53rd: Arsenal want to attack. Chelsea's still 'analyzing', except for Carvalho, Essien and the man, John Terry.
54th: Anelka's the "name of the blog". Offside.
55th: Corner for Arsenal. Absolutely sorry, but no time to write about the finer details of the moments on screen (or I'll miss them! At least I get to watch this way!). If only I had a speech to text converter!
56th: Cleared just in time by John terry. JUST in time.
57th: Eduardo out. Vela in. Arsene's going for it on one hand, and saving Eduardo for the rest of the season on the other.
58th: Arsenal discover that beyond Terry, there's a man named Cech.
59th: Traore's not happy, I think, with his game.
60th: Lampard and the pass of grace.
60th: Anelka's offside, yet again.
61st: Arsenal freekick. Punched out by cech.
62nd: Freekick for Arsenal. Fabregas is wondering why the rest of Arsenal didn't put that into the net. Gallas is not able to reach the ball before Cech does.
64th: Almunia saves it one second before the ball creeps into the net off a Lampard deflection.
65th: Joe Cole thinks he deserves a free kick too.
66th: Terry's complaining that Vermaelen hugs him tight whenever he's in the Chelsea box and rightly so (TV replays show Terry's right). That's not football. This is not how you 'mark' people.
67th: Rosicky in for Nasri.
68th: Arsenal says Sagna can attack. Chelsea says anyone can defend that.
69th: Deco in for Joe cole.
70th: Free kick for Arsenal from close range. Yellow for Essien.
72nd: Ashley Cole is out. Ferreira's in.
73rd: People think they can jump on Drogba and push him down. Small boys.
74th: Deco gives it away. Arshavin threatens. Carvalho saves the day.
75th: No one knows who owns the ball.
76th: Two men down. Play continues. (Denilson and Drogba). Play finally stopped.
77th: Vela needs to realise that falling inside the box does not mean a penalty would be given. Someone needs to push him down!
78th: Desperate game from both sides. A little funny at the moment.
79th: The ball's stayed in the Almunia half for more than two mins now.
80th: Ivanovic's doing a great job out there. Nasri didn't read him. Vela's finding him difficult too.
81st: Goal kick for Arsenal.
81st: Lampard and Sagna play Shaolin soccer.
82nd: Noone knows who owns the ball now. How would they calculate possession percentage for this match?
83rd: Deco gives it away, yet again!
84th: Essien's thinking of attacking...finally!
85th: Some people start leaving the Emirates. They didn't come to watch this!
85th: Fabregas brings down Essien near the box. close range free kick for Chelsea.
86th: DROGBA fires it in! 3-0 Chelsea! Far end of the post. Almunia didn't have much of a chance there. Ten goals in eleven appearences for Drogba against the Gunners. People are walking out of the Emirates now.
88th: Deco does the first good thing of the day, wins a freekick. Drogba out. Malouda in.
88th: Gallas marshals the Arsenal. They begin to look good when Sagna fires it into the stands which are becoming increasingly empty now. Wait, is it the Chelsea crowd I am hearing?
91st: Essien's faster than anyone else on the ground now.
93rd: Why is Arsenal defensive now??
94th: Malouda misses what would have been a fourth for Chelsea.
95th: Fabregas is frustrated and eventually gets an yellow.

It's all over. Chelsea 3 - 0 Arsenal.
Chelsea have beaten the rest of the big four season so far and is on top of the table for good reason. Arsenal did not have it in them to convert efforts into goals and that's a reason they're going further away from the top of the table today.

FT words:
Barcelona or Madrid can not come up with anything better than what Arsenal did in their moments. if Arsenal had stuck to that attack and played like Gods, I doubt if things would have been different. The bottom line is that Chelsea survived, and they are all set to survive any further attacks. If only Deco improves his touch vastly, Chelsea need not worry about the African cup of nations. Losing Essien and Drogba will be hard, and Chelsea will look at extending their lead considerably before that.

Nobody visits this blog for live updates. I am just wondering why I am doing all this. :)
Heck, who cares?

Chelsea, ManU and Gabriel Obertan

Chelsea 1 - 0 ManU, Sunday Nov 8 2009

It wasn't the great game people thought it would be, at least in my opinion. It was a game that was full of energy channeled into all the wrong departments, tempers flying high, happenings that did not meet the referees' eyes, so on and so forth. It was a match right out of Bundesliga, what with all the hits and pushes.

To begin with, the blues deserve the lead they have at the moment, not for the effort they put in yesterday but for the effort they have been putting in all season. Yesterday though, they were mediocre compared to what they can do. Without Vidic and Rio, Chelsea should have ideally annihilated the Manchester United defence. Instead, they were left with problems in their own, unable to contain Antonio Valencia in many situations. ManU midfield was having a field day passing the ball into the Chelsea box at will. Terry and Carvalho had a tiring day clearing the ball by all means possible. Overall, it was no impressive performance from Chelsea, although credit has to be given to Ivanovic for a fine attacking(?) display.

To ManU's credit, they kept the opposition's defence busy, limited Ashley Cole's running time & space (worked wonders) and came up with an artistic midfield display. Fletcher, Rooney, Obertan and Giggs were impressive. I have a feeling Terry's goal can be attributed to missing Vidic and Rio. It wouldn't have been that easy with them around. Another positive point for ManU is that they did not concede a single corner. The number of shots off target is something SAF should look into. Only two of them even threatened to be a goal if hit right (esp the Rooney one).

Next, I must come to the case of Gabriel Obertan. The French Winger is clearly an amazing talent with an amazing Arsenal-ish style of play. He is still settling in, with his performance against Chelsea much better than his Blackburn outing. I am sure he would be a force to reckon with, post January, given time and importance. With Chelsea losing players to the african cup of nations and Obertan fitting in the ManU first team with Rooney and Fletcher, my opinion is that five points will not be a good enough lead. Hope SAF gives Obertan more playing time in the first team in local cups before that. He is clearly better than Macheda.

And oh, shouldn't forget an Arsenal waiting to swwwishhhh past the two teams. Arshavin & Fabregas together can create more opportunities than any other combo in England at the moment.

Chelsea
# 01 Cech - got the job done with one superb save
# 02 Ivanovic - Brilliant performance
# 03 A Cole - good, as usual
# 06 Carvalho - one amazing block, man-marked rooney very well, but had his bad moments.
# 26 Terry - Ref's eyes did not see him tugging Valencia. Saw Chelsea through.
# 05 Essien - Was all over the place. Very intelligent passes.
# 08 Lampard - The freekick that decided the result. Go Frank!
# 13 Ballack - A really wonderful cross into no man's land is what I remember of him from yesterday's game.
# 20 Deco - Lot of effort but ineffective due to many reasons. Will be the difference as the season progresses.
# (J Cole) - Nothing much to say
# 11 Drogba - Nothing much to say
# (Kalou 83) - Did not have enough time to prove anything
# 39 Anelka - Surprisingly good
# (Alex 90+3) - Did not have any time at all

ManU
# 01 Van der Sar - Good game. Had his moments.
# 03 Evra - Tried much to prove his talk off the pitch. Couldn't.
# 06 Brown - Good enough to block Chelsea yesterday
# 22 O'Shea - Nothing much to say
# 23 Evans - I really did not like the way he played
# 08 Anderson - lot of tricks. no results.
# (Owen) - Nothing much to say
# 11 Giggs - Very good. Except that I believe he should have taken on Cech initially when he had a go. Cech was clearly tensed when Giggs had the ball at his feet with no defender in between.
# (Obertan) - Very very impressive style of play.
# 16 Carrick - Somehow don't like him as much as I like Fletcher. Not half as impressive.
# 24 Fletcher - Developing into something solid.
# 25 Valencia - Brilliant stuff. In amazing touch.
# 10 Rooney - Lone fighter yesterday. Berbatov's presence would've unleashed rooney on Chelsea. If not for the harsh offside, ManU would have been ahead early.

Chelsea 3 - 0 Burnley : Aug 29, 2009

Awesome display by Chelsea!

Awesome, but not perfect. Chelsea had so many shots on target not because of an imperious setup; it was just weak defence. Caldwell was heavily missed by Burnley defence today and they know it. They had no answer to Didier's speed or Essien's long passes. And boy! Essien was just on fire, sending in superb passes the likes of which I haven't seen of late. His excellent performance was matched only by the amazingly resilient brian jensen, who kept out too many good shots, which could have gone in, even past Van der Sar. The difference, here, is that VDS will never be alone with Vidic and Rio. Jensen was at bay.


Chelsea - Amazing team, this. On track for the title :)

* 01 Cech - Had nothing much to do today.
* 03 A Cole - Awesome. Superb enthu. His goal was a stunner, if I ever saw one.
* 06 Carvalho - Had a practice outing.
* 17 Bosingwa - Very good performance and involvement.
Belletti 66 - Practice game. Looked a little outta sorts.
* 26 Terry - Couldn't stay away from the ball too much that he lunged into an attacking mode as often as he could.
* 05 Essien - God.
* 08 Lampard - Amazing amazing passes. Two stunners to Ballack (one of which was a goal) and an amazing corner, again to Ballack, somehow saved by Jensen.
* 13 Ballack - Very good !
Mikel 83 - Practice run.
* 20 Deco - Superb involvement, great game. Will be an asset when we meet the rest of the big four.
* 11 Drogba - Super enthusiasm, missed one awesome pass from Essien, and made sure the second went in, deflected of carlisle/anelka. Good game overall.
Kalou 75 - Had a good game, given that he wasn't on the field for long. Got the ball past Jensen once intelligently, only to be saved on the line by Myers.
* 39 Anelka - Probably the slowest of the lot, rivalled only by Belletti. Took a pass in great style. A run or two. Nothing much apart from that.



Burnley - Forgettable day

* 12 Jensen - The best keeper in the league by far so far. Saved Burnley from sure hell.
* 02 Alexander - Tried a lot. Wasn't up to the standard.
McDonald 74 - Good show.
* 05 Carlisle - Again , tried a lot. I think the incoming passes were too much for him.
* 14 Mears - Good take off the line.
* 21 Bikey - Injured?? He was the only one in the Burnley defence who could match Drogba.
* 23 Jordan - Didn't notice.
* 11 Elliott - Didn't notice.
* 16 McCann - Good show.
* 09 Fletcher - Got frustrated towards the end. Let it go.
* 10 Paterson - Too much of a defensive outlook. More back passes than otherwise.
Gudjonsson 58 - Good show.
* 20 Blake - good show.
Guerrero 78 - good enthu.

If we forget the defence, Burnley wasn't so bad.
They'll be ready when Chelsea visit Turf moor. I could see that in Coyle's smile. ;)

May the best team win!

=Arsenal vs Chelsea=

This is one fixture for which I have never managed to take sides for a few years now. It was Arsenal before Mourinho and Chelsea under the Special One. No particular side now. But then, I want the winenr of this match to take the FA Cup Home.

And much as I am crazy about this match, It sucks to think I won't be watching it. I need to check the news tomorrow morning...

All the best everybody!

UEFA Champions League 2009 - The second leg of the Round of 16

First Leg: Chelsea 1 - 0 Juventus

One Straight point. I did not expect this first leg result. I was expecting a 0 - 0. Drogba put in an early goal, and that could just manage to take Chelsea through to the next round.

Guus Hiddink will be a happy man. There is always the fear of Juve squeezing a draw back home. And this victory will put that fear behind. Juve will have to attack now, atleast in the last 30 minutes. And judging by the first leg, blocking delPiero and Nedved could be an easier assignment to take care of for Guus than we'd have imagined. But then, accept the bitter piil, Chelsea were more unconvincing than ever before at Stamford Bridge, and that is a point of concern for the English Club.

That could well be the case Ranieri will be dreaming about.. Yet another such display from Chelsea. He has a biggg task on his hands, and unless Chelsea fail to deliver miserably, he can kiss this league Goodbye. Add to it the not so convincing recent home record for the Italians. The only thing he can harp on is the second place in Serie - A, ahead of AC Milan. If they can manage that, why not this! Also, Nedved will be ready to give his best ahead of his retirement. So, Juve can turn out to be that magic pot which doesn't even know what it will throw up next!

My Prediction. Chelsea's through, either with a draw or with an Anelka brace.

Chelsea 1 - 1 ManU , Stamford Bridge, September 21 2008

7 cards in one game for ManU..

Now, Is that a new record? ManU rocks. Somethin's gotten into SAF for 3 seasons now.. The team is a far shade of the late nineties.. I Miss the style.

Saw in an orkut community in a post match discussion thread : "All teams try to foul CR7, don't blame him"..

Oh puhleez.. see this match's replay for CR7's dramatics. His dramatic effort deserves red. Same goes to every other diver in the sport. This is a sport to show your football skills. Only that. Neither acting nor diving. when is the guy ever going to learn that???

Let's say "u dive one more time and u get banned foreva" to mista cr7. i have a feeling that he wont concentrate on his amazing football abilities till then.

Same to Mista Drogba..

Say, Did Anelka have a crazy idea that he was the referee in this match??? He moved away from the ball whenever it came to him.

OMG, It was the cross of the season from Joe Cole.
And Sir Anelka! He gets the MISS of the season award.


LFS, U dont put Anelka as a lone striker unless u wanna lose. Guess u got the point today.

Chelsea: Missed Deco
ManU: Missed tevez

Star performers: JOE COLE, Salomon Kalou, Alex, Rio Ferdinand (except for the kalou header), JS Park.