EPL – Chelsea

In a mouth watering London Derby pitting title hopefuls Chelsea against relegation threatened West Ham, the buildup could not have been better. Chelsea desperately needed 3 points to continue their slim hopes of defending their crown whereas West Ham found themselves rooted down to the bottom of the table after results elsewhere went against them. And with football writers player of the year winner Scott Parker, injured with an Achilles problem, Chelsea looked overwhelming favourites to completely rout their opposition.

The puzzle as to whether Ancelotti will gamble with Torres was laid to rest as he put faith in the team which was performing so well upto now which meant Torres and Anelka were benched. And Chelsea wasted little time to assert themselves as they quickly came off the block and registered a wave of attacks. A beautiful one two found Florent Malouda in open space with just the goalkeeper to beat but he shot straight at the goalkeeper. Numerous chances were being dropped by Chelsea and West Ham looked like a dead team walking with their defence completely ripped to shreds. But West Ham slowly came to the grove with Spears attacking vociferously from the right flank to make amends for his defensive errors. But the strike force of Ba and Carlton Cole was largely kept at bay by the defensive pairing of Terry and David Luiz. After relentless pressure, the breakthrough finally came when a lovely cross from the left flank from Ashley Cole found Lampard on its way who slotted home the ball neatly to give Chelsea a 1-0 halftime lead.

The story started similarly in the second half too and barring some rare chances, Chelsea looked far more threatening. Avram Grant brought in Robbie Keane and he almost made a mark instantly when a neat ball fell in front of him but he shot wide much to the horror of the away fans. Chelsea kept on the pressure but the sloppy field conditions and the waterlogged pitch was proving to be a deterrent.

Then came the change which all was anxiously waiting for. Torres cam on with about 15 minutes to play and he immediately made an impression on the game with his quick runs. But the icing on the cake came in the 80th minute when a lovely through ball from Anelka found Torres. But the slippery conditions tried to rub more salt to his wounds when the ball stopped prematurely. However Torres quickly reacted and scored off his left foot to spark wild rejoice from the home crowd and his fellow teammates. Growing in confidence, he proved to be highly lively on the pitch and towards the end of the normal regulation time, his miscued pass found Malouda who slotted home a fantastic winner past Greene to cap off a memorable night for the Blues.

Tags: Chelsea, English Premier League, EPL, Fernando Torres, Football, London Derby, West Ham