Chelsea FC - The Blues Brief

Article by e-Chelsea Correspondent Robert Wake

e-Chelsea Weekly News Round Up

On The Pitch

01 February – Southampton Youth 2-1 Chelsea Youth. The youngsters went down to a narrow defeat on the south coast. The Saints went two goals up either side of the break, before Charlie Colkett pulled one back with a penalty.

03 February – Manchester City 0-1 Chelsea. Chelsea produced a magnificent performance to end City’s 100% home record. After some early pressure from the home side, Chelsea gradually took control of the game with Luiz, Matic and Ramires dominating the centre of midfield against Yaya Toure and the out of sorts Demichelis. Those three broke up countless City attacks, launching rapier like counter-attacks for the visitors, with the pace and movement of Hazard, Willian and Eto’o causing problems for the City defence. From one such attack, Chelsea took the lead on 31 minutes. Hazard set up Ramires for a shot from the edge of the area. The Brazilian’s shot was blocked, but the ball rolled out favourably for Branislav Ivanovic to strike a sweet, left-footed shot into the bottom corner from 25 yards. Chelsea were good value for the three points, and struck the woodwork three times through Eto’o, Cahill and Matic.

07 February – Fulham U21’2 1-2 Chelsea U21’s. The Under 21’s put in an excellent performance to overcome previously unbeaten leaders Fulham at Motspur Park on Friday evening. First-half goals from John Swift and Lewis Baker secured the three points for The Blues.

08 February – Chelsea 3-0 Newcastle United. Chelsea moved to the top of the table with a comprehensive victory over a below strength Newcastle. Eden Hazard continued his excellent recent form with a hat-trick here. The Belgian wizard adroitly turned home Ivanovic’s pass on 27 minutes, and added a simply sublime second 7 minutes later. The goal was a thing of beauty. Luiz’s quick ball out of defence released Willian, who in turn fed Hazard on the left. The Belgian cut inside, and played a delightful one-two with Eto’o inside the box, before placing his shot beyond the stranded Krul in the Newcastle goal. Hazard completed his hat-trick on 63 minutes, converting a penalty after Eto’o had been unceremoniously wrestled to the ground at a corner by Yanga-Mbiwa. With Arsenal losing heavily at Liverpool, and Manchester City being surprisingly held at Norwich, Chelsea took over the leadership of the Premier League.

11 February – West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Chelsea. Report to follow!

Off the Pitch

01 February – Tony Hateley 1941-2014. Chelsea mourns the passing of former centre forward Tony Hateley. Hateley made 33 appearances for The Blues, scoring nine goals during the 1966-67 season. He also played in the 1967 FA Cup Final against Tottenham.

06 February – Chelsea’s 1-0 win at Manchester City has been judged as the Performance of The Week by the League Managers Association.

Looking Ahead

15 February – Manchester City v Chelsea, FA Cup 5th Round, Etihad Stadium, Kick-off 17:15hrs (GMT). This match is being shown live on ITV1.

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