Pompey Pacified : Portsmouth 0 Chelsea 5

The Blues cut Manchester United's lead at the top of the Premier League to one point with an impressive 5-0 hammering of crisis club Portsmouth at Fratton Park.
A David James howler allowed Didier Drogba to tap into an empty net for Chelsea's opener before Florent Malouda grabbed two second-half goals in 10 minutes.
Drogba's neat finish and Lampard's late goal sealed the win against a Portsmouth side now one step closer to almost certain relegation.
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti handed Daniel Sturridge a surprise start as the Blues looked to close the gap on United and atone for their Champions League exit to Inter Milan last week.
Sturridge replaced Nicolas Anelka in Ancelotti's starting XI, which also included Petr Cech and Ricardo Carvalho, who have both been out through injury for a month. Deco was handed his first start since February 2 while Yury Zhirkov came in for the injured Branislav Ivanovic.
Portsmouth manager Avram Grant replaced Quincy Owusu-Abeyie and Nadir Belhadj with Steve Finnan and Richard Hughes, while there was no place for Aruna Dindane due to a clause in his loan agreement which would require Pompey to pay 4million pounds to Lens if he played another game for the club.
Ancelotti described the match as a ‘must win’ against Grant, who spent eight months at the helm at Stamford Bridge in the 2007-08 season.
Financially-stricken Portsmouth, who learned before kickoff they would be allowed to sell players outside the transfer window, lined up in a defensive 4-3-2-1 formation at a rain-soaked Fratton Park.
Chelsea were the most dominant team in the early exchanges and Deco combined well with Drogba before the Ivory Coast striker fired a weak shot wide.
Drogba was in the thick of the action again soon after but he wasted a good chance by volleying well over the bar from inside the box.
Lampard thought he had put Chelsea ahead in the 10th minute but James scrambled across his line to tip the midfielder's 30-yard strike around the post.
James was once again on hand to save another Lampard shot moments later from a similar distance.
Pompey started to get a foothold on the game as the pitch cut up under the rain but found themselves 1-0 down thanks to a James howler in the 32nd minute.
The England keeper raced out of his box to make a routine clearance after Deco tried to play Drogba through but James completely missed the ball, leaving the Ivory Coast man to tap into an empty net.
James was left with his hands on his hips as the Chelsea fans ridiculed the stopper for his mistake.
Ancelotti was forced into a change soon after when he brought on Alex for Carvalho, who went off clutching his ankle.
The game came close to boiling point soon after when Pompey full back Ricardo Rocha had to be carried off after colliding with Malouda.
Malouda then squared up to Hermann Hreidarsson, who claimed the Frenchman had used his elbow in the challenge, before being booked by referee Lee Mason.
Rocha, meanwhile, was carried off on a stretcher after a four-minute stoppage while wearing an oxygen mask.
Pompey's troubles worsened when Tommy Smith hobbled off after the half-time whistle.
Smith failed to emerge after half time and was replaced by Quincy, whose clever ball into the box failed to find a team-mate soon after the break.
After his booking, Malouda was booed every time he touched the ball but he soon plunged the Pompey fans into further misery when he picked up Lampard's pass and beat James from a tight angle to make it 2-0.
Joe Cole, who had voiced his frustration at his lack of first-team action earlier this week, replaced the ineffective Sturridge in the 53rd minute.
The midfielder made an immediate impact, drawing a good save from James after a clever through ball from Lampard.
Malouda then scored his second of the night when he reacted first to James' save from Lampard's shot to coolly slot the ball home to make it 3-0.
James then pulled off a flying save to deny Lampard from 20 yards as Chelsea looked to turn the screw.
Kanu replaced Mokoena with 15 minutes left in a desperate attempt to inject some life into the Pompey attack, who were being well marshalled by John Terry and Alex.
Drogba was then played in by John Obi Mikel and the striker held his nerve to slot past James from inside the box to make it 4-0.
Portsmouth then had a golden chance to pull one back but Hughes somehow put a free header from five yards out wide.
Frederic Piquionne then beat two Chelsea defenders down the right but Kanu blazed over from eight yards out.
Second half substitute Patrick Van Aanholt then squared the ball to Drogba but he just missed out on his third by firing over.
Lampard completed Pompey's misery when he finished from Drogba's knock down in the third minute of injury time to make it 5-0. (sportal.co.nz)

Rovers Resilient : Blackburn Rovers 1 Chelsea 1

Chelsea suffered a stumble in the title race that could yet prove fatal to their chances of taking the Premier League crown to round off a week of bitter disappointment for Carlo Ancelotti's side.
A match that seemed there for the taking after Didier Drogba's early goal somehow drifted out of Chelsea's grasp.
El Hadji Diouf headed a superb equaliser as Blackburn put in such a powerful second-half performance that keeper Jason Brown was barely tested.
For Chelsea, whose record in its past nine matches is now four wins, four defeats and one draw, this was hardly a display of title-winning credentials and they are now four points behind Manchester United and two behind Arsenal, though with a game in hand.
This was underlined by the fact that the clear man of the match was none other than Rovers' 18-year-old central defender Phil Jones, making his league debut and up against Drogba and Nicolas Anelka.
Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce had gambled on him in the absence of Ryan Nelsen and Gael Givet.
That gamble may have lookrd rash as Drogba carved out an early chance for himself, dinking a neat curling shot just wide of the post despite being surrounded by a posse of defenders.
That was just a foretaste of what was to come as the Ivory Coast striker opened the scoring in the sixth minute with almost effortless simplicity.
Anelka burst down the right, cut inside Jones and laid the ball back for Drogba to wrong-foot the entire Rovers defence and keeper Jason Brown with a neat left-footed finish back into the opposite corner.
Kalou threatened to further emphasise Chelsea's early dominance with a header from a corner that flew over the crossbar but from then on it was downhill for the visitors.
David Dunn won a free-kick in Morten Gamst Pedersen range after being halted by an agricultural challenge by Alex, but although the Norwegian was on target Chelsea keeper Ross Turnbull turned his effort behind.
Pedersen had another sight of goal but was wildly off-target with his volley, while Jones drew the loudest cheers from the Rovers fans so far with a series of crunching - but legal - challenges as Blackburn did their best to out-power the visitors.
Florent Malouda let fly from 20 yards out with a stinging drive but Brown managed to parry the shot, if somewhat unconvincingly.
Ancelotti was then forced to make a change just before the break with Branislav Ivanovic, who appeared to have been stood on unintentionally by El Hadji Diouf, limped off to be replaced by Zhirkov.
Blackburn, as if scenting that Chelsea may have missed a trick by scoring just a single goal in the first half, upped the tempo in the second.
Zhirkov's first involvement for Chelsea, right at the start of the second half was to head off the line after Chris Samba had beaten the flapping Turnbull to Pedersen's long throw.
Pedersen was then left cursing again when given space to shoot from 25 yards out but missing the target by some margin.
Frank Lampard, who had been having a quiet game by his standards, was much closer with a rising effort from the same range that was a whisker away from the top right-hand corner.
The suspicion that Chelsea had seemed over-confident in settling for a 1-0 win had been growing the longer the second half went on, and in the 70th minute Diouf made them pay.
The Senegal international hung in the air above Ferreira to meet Michel Salgado's cross with a superb header down into the corner.
Chelsea, stung into action, became more direct themselves and Alex struck a piledriver from a 30-yard free-kick over the bar.
With time running down, Drogba was denied a fine winner by a good block, then Jones crowned a magnificent debut with an intercepting header to keep out John Terry.
Rovers celebrated as though they had won the Premier League. Chelsea looked as though they had just lost it. (sportal.co.nz)

Sorry to keep banging on about referee's decisions but while watching this game there were several occasions when we didn't get decisions that I feel sure the likes of Man. Utd. and Arsenal would have.

You only have to look at the penalty Man. Utd. got against Liverpool the day before.

It's difficult enough for us to get a penalty when the offence is comitted inside the box let alone 10 yards outside.

We always seem to get results in spite of the officials, not because of them.

Blues Brushed Aside : Chelsea 0 Internazionale 1

Jose Mourinho enjoyed a triumphant return to Stamford Bridge as his Inter Milan side sent Chelsea spinning out of the Champions League by repeating their first-leg victory with another win at Stamford Bridge.
The former Chelsea coach had, prior to the match, promised to forego any personal celebrations as a mark of respect to his old club, but was nevertheless left filled with pride as Inter did a very professional job in west London.
After efficiently soaking up a barrage of Chelsea pressure in the first half, Inter became increasingly menacing as the second half unfolded, and in truth deserved their victory, sealed by a brilliant finish by Cameroon international Samuel Eto'o 11 minutes from time.
Worse was to follow for deflated Chelsea when Didier Drogba was shown a straight red card after 87 minutes.Mourinho's public celebrations were muted as he disappeared quietly down the tunnel just as the referee blew for full-time, but he admitted he did allow himself to enjoy the result behind closed doors. He said: "I celebrated a lot in the dressing-room when the game was over. It was a big victory for my team."Mourinho felt his team were better than Chelsea in every aspect on the night. "I think everything was superior," he added. "I don't think it was tactics, it was attitude on the pitch."
They had reactions of frustration, of a team that felt the opposition was superior. Our team started the second half in an incredible way. We were the best team by far."
Mourinho set out his stall to be positive from the start, picking three forwards. Rather than 'parking the bus' in front of goal, as he once accused a Premier League manager of doing against his old club, Mourinho chose Eto'o, Diego Milito and Goran Pandev as Inter looked to protect their 2-1 lead from the first leg. Pandev coming in for Dejan Stankovic was the only change from the Milan leg for Mourinho, who signed autographs near the dug-out before kick-off.
With the pleasantries out of the way, Inter looked to extend their advantage, with Wesley Sneijder having a shot blocked by Alex, while Maicon raided down the right and fired over. Florent Malouda led the charge for the hosts. One of his mazy runs was stopped by Lucio in the penalty area and referee Wolfgang Stark deemed the tackle fair. Drogba, always first on the scene when trouble flared, then had his first sight of goal when the ball broke for him 20 yards out – but Maicon blocked bravely.
The crucial blow came with 12 minutes to go and it was Sneijder who provided the chance. His ball over the top went over Ivanovic's head and landed perfectly for Eto'o, who took the pass in his stride and stroked his finish past Ross Turnbull.
Drogba was given a red card after a clash that had Motta clutching his shin and Inter players accusing the Chelsea striker of kicking out. (thescotsman.com)
Again, after their winning goal went in, a lot of people left their seats and exited the stadium. I commented on this in the Man. City report. These people aren't supporters, they're just paying guests (prats).
I know I'm biased, but there really does seem to be some sort of directive to stop a) too many English teams progressing in this competition or b) Chelsea progressing in this competition.
There was one nailed on penalty decision in the first leg and three in the second that we didn't get. Add to this the debacle of the semi-final second leg last season and you can see why most Chelsea supporters believe that something smells fishy.