Premier League - Anelka puts Chelsea top

Eurosport - Mon, 10 Nov 08:58:00 2008

Nicolas Anelka struck twice as Chelsea went back to the top of the Premier League table with a 2-0 win over Blackburn Rovers at a rain-soaked Ewood Park.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Premier League Chelsea Nicolas Anelka - 0

A torrential downpour made conditions almost unplayable in Lancashire but Anelka overcame the elements to find the net in each half and fire Chelsea back above Liverpool on goal difference.

Anelka broke the deadlock on 39 minutes, deflecting a long-range Alex shot past Paul Robinson, before adding a second in the 68th minute with a cool dinked finish over the otherwise excellent Rovers keeper.

The win - on manager Luiz Felipe Scolari's 60th birthday - was Chelsea's sixth out of six on the road so far this season and did much to make amends for their Champions League defeat to Roma in midweek.

Despite the appalling playing conditions, the visitors flew out of the blocks and went on to dominate the first half, even though it took them the majority of the opening period to find a way through the Rovers defence.

That the deadlock lasted so long had much to do with the form of Robinson, who pulled off a string of fine saves to deny Anelka two headed efforts, a John Obi Mikel header and Frank Lampard's bouncing strike before even 20 minutes were on the clock.

Chelsea had earlier seen a loud penalty shout waved away by referee Chris Foy when Anelka tumbled to the ground under a challenge from Robinson after having latched onto a suicidal Keith Andrews back pass. Replays showed there was minimal contact between the two.

Terry saw a header fly over the bar before Anelka and Lampard were again thwarted by Robinson as Chelsea pressed for an opener.

The pressure finally told as Anelka netted his first of the day six minutes before the half-time whistle; the goal stood despite loud calls from Robinson for handball against the Frenchman.

During the break, the skies cleared and by the time the second half kicked off the weather were far more clement - Blackburn capitalised and began to work their way back into the game as Chelsea eased off the gas.

During the opening period, Blackburn had just a Carlos Villanueva shot on the break to shout about - an effort which brought a fine save out of Petr Cech - but once the rain had stopped, Paul Ince's side looked far more threatening.

The hosts could have equalised soon after the restart when Jason Roberts - asked to play as a lone striker due to Blackburn's injury problems - turned John Terry with some neat control on his chest to make space for a shot. Only a fine save by Cech foiled him.

Blackburn continued to press for an equaliser, but Chelsea hit them on the break on 68 minutes to effectively seal all three points.

Anelka registered his sixth goal in the last three league games when he reacted sharply to pounce on a loose ball in the box ahead of Robinson, clipping it over the keeper and into the back of the net.

At 2-0 up, Chelsea were able to cruise for the remainder of the game, and they should have added to their tally, Lampard rattling the cross bar with a terrific free-kick moments before Terry missed his kick from close range with eight minutes left.

Mike Hytner / Eurosport

Comment 45 - 64 of 104

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  1. Listen to ya like cockrels crowing on your dung heaps!!­ Do you have nothing of intrest to say about the game,­ like what about Anelka (writtten off so many times but­ what a player) top scorer in the league with ten goals­ and who'd of thought it!! You gotta respect the­ opposition in this league because there is no walk over­ anymore, the quality is so high. Do you not appreaciate­ it or what? I follow neither Liverpool or Chelsea but­ they are seriously good and I respect that , bad­ weekend for Man U (YES!! up the Gunners!!!) but hey­ they'll be back. What a season we have in store,­ ENJOY fool.

    From Peter, on Sun 9 Nov 8:13PM

  2. I wish that all u guys that think that Chelsea are @#$%­ should die... Basically even if you dont like chelsea­ they are still a bloody gd team
    face it...

    From Alb123!, on Sun 9 Nov 8:11PM

  3. anfield fortress, what a plank.

    From Andrew, on Sun 9 Nov 8:03PM

  4. message54 flipthetop you tard... I tucked in and the 3­ points tasted lovely. Idiot.

    From anfield.fortress, on Sun 9 Nov 8:00PM

  5. 118m cant buy history and respect so get your neck in

    From john, on Sun 9 Nov 7:57PM

  6. Chelsea fans never sang at Ewood even when they were­ 2-0 up. What a bunch of glory supports.

    18 million v­ 118 million

    From dianesellars, on Sun 9 Nov 7:48PM

  7. Chelsea fans never sang at Ewood even when they were­ 2-0 up. What a bunch of glory supports.

    18 million v­ 118 million

    From dianesellars, on Sun 9 Nov 7:48PM
  8. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    @#$% off chelsea fc you anit got no history 18 leagues­ and 5 cups were just waiting for you to slip which you­ lot will look at roma you lot anit @#$% just wait when­ you get to anfield and get your pants pulled down and­ spanked again by us 2009, 19 league cups and 6 times­ baby oh yeah bring it on

    From john, on Sun 9 Nov 7:46PM
  9. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    HaHa I find it funny that the Chelski worms umm­ hooligans can't come up with a valid response to my­ statement in message46. All they can do is give it the­ thumbs down.
    The truth hurts, eh?

    From anfield.fortress, on Sun 9 Nov 7:42PM

  10. taff and jurgistan... PL rules without a doubt. The­ league is becoming tighter and tighter. It's no­ longer a case of pinning 3 teams to go down to the­ Championship (Which is a very hard league to play in)­ as you could take your pick from about 10 teams this­ season to go down. Tight at the bottom and just as­ tight at the top this season.
    I doubt very much the PL­ is a 2 horse race for the title, yet...
    I would rather­ watch LaLiga than SeriaA as I find Italian football­ boring, except Roma teaching SCHOOLBOY chelski a lesson­ in the week!

    From anfield.fortress, on Sun 9 Nov 7:34PM

  11. Yeah Chelsea were beaten by Roma in mid week and yet­ still top their group, the league and anything else you­ care to put in front of them this year! And as for­ anfield.fortress talking about lucky breaks, how did­ Liverpool beat Chelsea? Was it a defelcted shot? Take­ you words, put them on a plate, season to taste, and­ tuck in! You doofus!

    From flipthetop, on Sun 9 Nov 7:33PM

  12. 2-0 to the referre is the only thing i can say after­ being at Ewood Park. CHELSEA ARE A BUNCH OF DIVERS,­ EVEN WHEN THEY SLIPPED THEY GOT A FREE KICK.

    From dianesellars, on Sun 9 Nov 7:32PM

  13. WHERES MY BUT GONE

    From kevin_holian, on Sun 9 Nov 7:18PM

  14. 47 jurgistan, how dare you disagree with me!!You sound­ like my wife!! Seriously, it is nice to hear some other­ views, expressed properly if I may say so, without all­ the spelling and grammar mistakes which have come about­ by the overuse of texting on the mobile. I only watch­ football on the box as I cannot stand the agrro from­ the yobs at the matches any more. I used to watch Serie­ A a lot a few years ago on Ch 5 and wil certainly do so­ again. They writhe around in agony a lot but there is­ far less arguing and swearing at the ref as I recall.

    From taff, on Sun 9 Nov 7:17PM

  15. ANELKA IS CLASS AND BACK

    From kevin_holian, on Sun 9 Nov 7:14PM

  16. Any team that rely on just luck to grab this­ premiership is daydreaming.Teams need hard­ work,skills,experience and above all a good coach.These­ CHELSEA has,and not on a platter of gold.Teams need to­ learn from all clubs about their successes and­ failures,so as to make the premiership more competive­ than it is now.God bless all the teams,and prosper my­ dear CHELSEA forever!
    From DAVIDSON IZEGAEGBE

    From davidson i, on Sun 9 Nov 7:10PM

  17. Chelsea is somehow good only with local teams while­ Roma which cannot even stand Liverpool trash them 3-1.­ Liverpool can perform within and without England. Even­ in the sky. That is to proof how good a team is. Thanks­ God Liverpool break the bridge at StamfortBridge

    From Michael, on Sun 9 Nov 7:10PM

  18. taff, have to disagree with you. i like PL very much­ and follow every game, but it's getting kinda­ boring. no one's gonna break into the top four..­ before the start city and spurs were doing a lot of­ talking but where is the result? and battles for the­ last 3 are always a lot more interesting in Italy. so­ lately i find seria a more interesting than PL to tell­ the truth. at least Udineze, Fiorentina and Napoli are­ fit for the job there. last year, milan dropped out,­ this year its gonna be roma and perhaps Juve too, if­ Delpo doesn't stop showering free kicks into the­ net. and at the same time, Genoa are showing a great­ football. and in EPL its the same, chelsea's turn­ this year.

    From jurgistan, on Sun 9 Nov 6:58PM
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Chelsea had two lucky breaks when their first goal went­ in. First was the long range shot deflected off Anelka­ and the second was Robinson appealing for nothing when­ Scolari (60 today) himself could have run on the pitch­ and saved the shot. At 1-0 Blackburn still had chances.­ Chelski aren't that great... spanked in Europe­ midweek HaHa.
    Don't forget they lost to the­ SUPERIOR team at HOME to the mighty LIVERPOOL. You will­ drop points sooner rather than later all your hefty­ goalfests have come against (no disrespect) shìt­ opposition. 3 games away you have Arsenal at Emirates.­ Tough test for Chelski. ManUre LOST yesterday there,­ the team that beat sorry chelski to the league title­ last year and beat them in Champions League!
    There is a­ long way to go on the league and that goal difference­ won't matter cos Chelski will choke this season­ like they did last season when the pressure is on.

    From anfield.fortress, on Sun 9 Nov 6:38PM

  20. i was sceptic when ince took over. this league is to­ big for a rookie manager his dealings in tranfer market­ have been bad the team don't seem to click and plat­ well enough bring back sparkie or i can see us going­ down....

    From PAUL M, on Sun 9 Nov 6:19PM
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