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 Ewood Park. More
- Thanks for joining us today... Fulham v Newcastle coming right up, so don't go anywhere!
90'+3 There goes the final whistle! And Chelsea see off Blackburn thanks to Anelka's brace.
90'+2 Chelsea make a late change... Ferreira on for Portuguese compatriot Deco.
88' Anelka's on a hat-trick here! Must be! No! Robinson to the rescue again!
86' Malouda now goes into the book for a challenge on Simpson.
82' Mikel swivels at the by-line... Terry should score! But he completley misses his kick!
82' Oooh! Lampard rattles the resulting free-kick against the crossbar! Robinson may have got a crucual finger to it!
81' Danny Simpson goes into the book now for a trip... nothing malicious, but he deserves a booking.
77' Blackburn make a final change as Robbie Fowler replaces Jason Roberts.
73' Ooh! Mokoena side foots a volley wide of the mark from a corner!
68' GOAL! Against the run of play Chelsea go two up and it's man Anelka again! He's so sharp to pounce on a loose ball in the box, getting to it before Robinson and dinking it over the keeper! Super finish!
62' Warnock into the book for dissent...
62' Chelsea make a change now... Belletti comes on to replace Kalou.
54' Roberts with a real chance to equalise for Rovers! Pedersen plays the ball into the lone striker, who controls on his chest, turns and fires goalwards! But Cech is there to make the stop with his body!
46' One change to tell you about at half-time... Matt Derbyshire has replaced Andrews - a positive move by Paul Ince.
46' Back underway at Ewood Park!
45'+2 There goes the half-time whistle! And Chelsea head in at the break 1-0 up!
45' Blackburn are forced into making a change just before the break as Grella - an injury doubt before the match - is replaced by Mokoena.
39' GOAL! Chelsea take the lead! It's a freak goal... Alex hits it from distance... Robinson seems to have it covered, but it takes a hefty deflection off Anelka on the way through, completley wrong footing the keeper! As the ball hits the back of the net, Robbo appeals for handball... and replays suggest the ball may well have hit Anelka's arm... or is it his thigh? Difficult to tell. No matter, it's 1-0 Chelsea!
37' Lampard lets fly once again! And guess who's there to foil the England man for about the 15th time today? That's right, Paul Robinson, who's having a stormer!
33' What a save by Robinson to deny Anelka once again! The Blackburn keeper gets down low to his left with a strong hand to divert the ball behind for a corner!
22' Chance for Blackburn now! It's Villanueva who brings a fine diving save from Cech! Great stuff at Ewood Park!
21' Robinson again called into action, this time to paw away a wickedly bouncing, skidding effort from Lampard! Surely a goal can't be too far away!
19' Ooh! Malouda should do better here! The ball falls kindly to him on the edge of the area, but he blazes high and wide!
15' And now Mikel heads goalwards with a far post effort! Again Robinson is there to deny Chelsea an opener, this time with his feet!
13' Oooh! Terry somehow manages to twist his body to direct a header towards goal! Just over the bar! Chelsea looking very dangerous at the moment.
12' Anelka again forces Robinson into a save! The Frenchman drifts off his man at the far post before planting a firm heading goalwards! But Robbo is there to turn around the corner!
6' Ooooh! Robinson is forced into tipping over the bar from an Anelka header! Super save fromn the former England number one!
5' Huge penalty shout for Chelsea! Anelka rounds Robinson after the keeper was put in trouble by a poor Andrews backpass... he tumbles to the ground on the slippy surface... but the referee waves play on! Brave decision!
3' Just a quick word on the weather in Lancashire... the skies are dark and it's absolutely pelting it down. That could be a great leveller.
1' Here we go! After a minute's silence to honour those who lost their lives in armed conflict, we're underway at a rainy Ewood Park!
- Hello and welcome to eurosport.yahoo.com's LIVE coverage of today's first Premier League game between Blackburn and Chelsea!| Blackburn Rovers | Stats | Chelsea |
|---|---|---|
| 47% | Possession | 52% |
| 8 | Shots | 20 |
| 2 | Shots on target | 10 |
| 5 | Saves | 2 |
| 5 | Corners | 9 |
| 11 | Fouls | 14 |
| 0 | Offsides | 1 |
| 2 | Yellow cards | 1 |
| 0 | Red cards | 0 |
| 24 | Tackles | 13 |
| 286 | Accurate passes | 338 |
| 80 | Bad passes | 40 |
| G | S | SoT | F | FW | O | A | AP | BP | T | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Robinson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 0 |
| 13 | Zurab Khizanishvili | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 2 | 1 |
| 3 | Stephen Warnock | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 14 | 3 |
| 29 | Martin Olsson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 13 | 5 |
| 22 | Danny Simpson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 2 | 2 |
| 6 | Ryan Nelsen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 11 | 6 |
| 19 | Carlos Villanueva | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 7 | 1 |
| 11 | Vincenzo Grella | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 4 | 1 |
| 17 | Keith Andrews | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 3 | 0 |
| 12 | Morten Gamst Pedersen | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 17 | 4 |
| 30 | Jason Roberts | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 1 |
| 15 | Aaron Mokoena | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 0 |
| 32 | Jason Brown | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Kerimoglou Tugay | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Matt Derbyshire | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Christopher Samba | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Keith Treacy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | Robbie Fowler | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| G | S | SoT | F | FW | O | A | AP | BP | T | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Petr Cech | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| 33 | Alex da Dias Costa | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 3 |
| 18 | Wayne Bridge | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 10 | 0 |
| 17 | José Bosingwa | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 31 | 1 | 4 |
| 26 | John Terry | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 3 | 0 |
| 12 | John Obi Mikel | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 47 | 4 | 3 |
| 8 | Frank Lampard | 0 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 51 | 13 | 0 |
| 20 | Anderson Deco | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | Florent Malouda | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 5 | 0 |
| 21 | Salomon Kalou | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 1 |
| 39 | Nicolas Anelka | 2 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 3 | 1 |
| 16 | Scott Sinclair | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | Juliano Belletti | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Franco Di Santo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Carlos da Silva Mineiro | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Branislav Ivanovic | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | Carlo Cudicini | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | Paulo Ferreira | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
- Thanks for joining us today... Fulham v Newcastle coming right up, so don't go anywhere!
88' Anelka's on a hat-trick here! Must be! No! Robinson to the rescue again!
82' Mikel swivels at the by-line... Terry should score! But he completley misses his kick!
82' Oooh! Lampard rattles the resulting free-kick against the crossbar! Robinson may have got a crucual finger to it!
73' Ooh! Mokoena side foots a volley wide of the mark from a corner!
68' GOAL! Against the run of play Chelsea go two up and it's man Anelka again! He's so sharp to pounce on a loose ball in the box, getting to it before Robinson and dinking it over the keeper! Super finish!
54' Roberts with a real chance to equalise for Rovers! Pedersen plays the ball into the lone striker, who controls on his chest, turns and fires goalwards! But Cech is there to make the stop with his body!
39' GOAL! Chelsea take the lead! It's a freak goal... Alex hits it from distance... Robinson seems to have it covered, but it takes a hefty deflection off Anelka on the way through, completley wrong footing the keeper! As the ball hits the back of the net, Robbo appeals for handball... and replays suggest the ball may well have hit Anelka's arm... or is it his thigh? Difficult to tell. No matter, it's 1-0 Chelsea!
37' Lampard lets fly once again! And guess who's there to foil the England man for about the 15th time today? That's right, Paul Robinson, who's having a stormer!
33' What a save by Robinson to deny Anelka once again! The Blackburn keeper gets down low to his left with a strong hand to divert the ball behind for a corner!
22' Chance for Blackburn now! It's Villanueva who brings a fine diving save from Cech! Great stuff at Ewood Park!
21' Robinson again called into action, this time to paw away a wickedly bouncing, skidding effort from Lampard! Surely a goal can't be too far away!
19' Ooh! Malouda should do better here! The ball falls kindly to him on the edge of the area, but he blazes high and wide!
15' And now Mikel heads goalwards with a far post effort! Again Robinson is there to deny Chelsea an opener, this time with his feet!
13' Oooh! Terry somehow manages to twist his body to direct a header towards goal! Just over the bar! Chelsea looking very dangerous at the moment.
12' Anelka again forces Robinson into a save! The Frenchman drifts off his man at the far post before planting a firm heading goalwards! But Robbo is there to turn around the corner!
6' Ooooh! Robinson is forced into tipping over the bar from an Anelka header! Super save fromn the former England number one!
5' Huge penalty shout for Chelsea! Anelka rounds Robinson after the keeper was put in trouble by a poor Andrews backpass... he tumbles to the ground on the slippy surface... but the referee waves play on! Brave decision!
- Hello and welcome to eurosport.yahoo.com's LIVE coverage of today's first Premier League game between Blackburn and Chelsea!
Blackburn RoversManager: Paul Ince
Captain: Ryan Nelsen
77′
45′
46′
ChelseaManager: Luiz Felipe Scolari
Captain: John Terry
×2
90′
62′ None