Chelsea 3-0 Tottenham: On Top of the Table

Same old Chelsea! Turning up late and then turning up the heat. The first 15 minutes, I thought we were playing in White Hart Lane. Chelsea were a bit sluggish and allowed Spurs to have the ball and run with it.

That was the period Spurs must have scored if they had to have any hopes of a point from this match.  Once we woke up and turned up, Spurs never matched Chelsea in any part of the pitch.

The only blemish on a fantastic derby result for Chelsea was Drogba’s injury. Still no news about how serious it is. He’s so important for Chelsea that I can’t imagine us winning six in a row like this without Drogba. I hope it was only a scratch on his knee and he’s ready to play a match of 90 minutes even tomorrow.

We played our best possible eleven. There was no Joe Cole or Zhirkov on the bench. But there was a Borini though. Like you, I was pleased and excited to see Borini on the pitch. Borini had scored a brace for the reserves earlier this month.

Being an 18-year-old and having a name like Fabio Borini, he did thrill me as he stepped in. Like Franco di Santo, he came in around the 85th minute. He had a couple of touches on the ball which is never enough to judge a player. At least he did not pass it to Defoe like Carlton Cole did.

By the way, is Borini the only Italian company that Carletto can have. I almost forgot, what happened to Sturridge?

Typically, we were a bit forgiving at the beginning. Spurs were attacking our goal repeatedly and even had some close shots and saves. And then, at around the 20th minute, Chelsea started to settle down and by the half hour mark, we played with such authority that I thought we were never going to lose points today.

I was fearing that Bosingwa’s right back area would be cracked open but luckily it was not to be so. Instead, Bosingwa had a superb match with an outrageous long shot hitting the bar.

The first goal was a beauty. Look where Ashley Cole was. Like the Sky Sports guys noted, Bosingwa and Ashley Cole were playing like wingers. Ashley Cole was lurking in the area and also had smelled the goal at the right time. His movement inside the box and that diving header was un-defender-like (how about that for a word)!

The second goal was all Frank Lampard. Some goal mouth madness let the ball loose to the byline and Lampard was ever so aware of where he is, where the ball is and where he needs to pass. He did a perfect flick to Ballack who finished it well. Third goal was Didier Drogba’s. He waits for those kind of balls and when he sees gets one like that, he’s going do what he does best.

In the first half, Spurs should have been awarded a penalty for Carvalho’s tackle on Keane. There was enough contact for a penalty to be given. But Keane fell on the ground because he tripped himself down.

Anyway, a penalty on Ballack was not given too. And what about that handball? Lampard’s freekick was blocked by a Spurs defender in the wall. If that’s not intentional handball, what is?

I felt sorry for Carlo Cudicini. Before the kick off, Chelsea had presented Cudicini an award for his service at the club. Now, that’s how you treat an ex-player—with love and respect. I’m sorry for him as he had to at the receiving end while we notched our 11th straight league win—a club record.

Despite playing too many matches in short intervals, Chelsea were supremely fit. It looked like Spurs were the ones who had to play mid-week. As a defence lover, I must say, watching Chelsea defend and to control the midfield is so much fun. We defended superbly, we worked for each other and there was tremendous teamwork there.

Unfortunately, teamwork is more visible only in attacking moves. In reality, the teamwork that we display in midfield and in defence is as good as that of Barcelona’s teamwork in attack. But we don’t get as much credit for playing so well as a team in midfield and defence.

Oh yes, the Manchester derby was fantastic from a neutral point of view. It was a poor football match full of errors and blunders but it certainly was exciting. The game was never going to end until "Manure" scored. Because that’s exactly what the referee was waiting for.

Why on earth was there a stoppage time of seven minutes when nothing of note happened? At worst, the final whistle must have come off after 4:30 while the Owen goal was scored at around 5:30. Absolutely pathetic!

So we’re on top of the table—no problem of goal difference or no game-in-hand nonsense. We’re on top of the table by winning all six matches and having a superior goal difference of 12. A goal difference of 12 in just six matches is very impressive. And, we have passed first big test of the season.

Next week, we travel to Wigan and put Liverpool where they belong the next week. Before all that, we have another derby coming up when we play QPR on Wednesday in League Cup. We must see Joe Cole, Zhirkov, Sturridge and little more of Fabio Borini.

On the gaming side, both demos of both FIFA 10 and PES 2010 have been released. I’ve downloaded and played both. You can see my first impressions on these games in BC Huddle under the category "footie gaming."

It’s going to be a great four weeks from a football point of view. I just can’t for the final release of these games. Can’t I just move the slider from September to October tonight?