Chelsea second as Everton make it to Europe
By CliveTyldesley
Sport.Telegraph, 12th May 2008
John Terry lifted his young daughter up with his right arm and motioned
to her to wave to the sun-baked crowds as the Chelsea players and their
families took their traditional end-of-season bow yesterday. Terry is
still hoping to lift the European Cup before the month is out.
The standby Premier League trophy had left Stamford Bridge in an unopened
box, and with Terry's dislocated left elbow heavily strapped following a
freak collision with Petr Cech, a small toddler appeared to be all he was
likely to be picking up for a while.
But nobody present was surprised to hear Terry declare to 40 odd thousand
Chelsea fans that "four or five days rest" would be all he will require to
revive his battered body for its biggest challenge of all in Moscow.
Manchester United may have won the war, but Terry's powers of recovery
will be the rallying point for Chelsea’s bid to win the ultimate battle
in ten days time.
The three point gap that separated United and Chelsea at the end of Avram
Grant's first game in charge last September, had been reduced to two at
the end of the final fraught afternoon of the season. Beaten by a short
head. Grant had the satisfaction of seeing another substitution pay dividends
when Andriy Shevchenko put his team in front against an obdurate Bolton.
But United were always in control of both theirs and Chelsea's destiny at
Wigan, and Grant's day fell flat when Matthew Taylor scored a late equaliser
for the visitors.
The game was only ten minutes old when Chelsea's thoughts turned abruptly
away from the English championship towards the European title. The sight of
their stricken skipper being lifted delicately onto a stretcher immediately
raised doubts about Terry's ability to lead the team in Moscow.
For his own preservation, Cech led with his knee as he came out to collect
a hopeful through ball. But the Chelsea keeper inadvertently made sickening
contact with Terry's arm, sending his captain crashing to the ground with
a cry of agony. As soon as he landed Terry was beating his leg against the
turf in acute pain. When the attending physiotherapist strapped Terry's left
arm across his chest, it seemed that he had suffered a serious injury.
With Ricardo Carvalho absent due to a worrying back complaint, Michael
Essien was switched from right-back to centre-back as Chelsea tried to clear
their minds and return to the business in hand. The atmosphere was so edgy
that a strong penalty appeal 200 miles away quickly turned into a rumour
of a Wigan goal. Disbelieving cheers sprung up in corners of Stamford Bridge,
swelling into hearty roars before anyone with a radio had the heart to
reveal that, in fact, all was going to plan for United at the JJB Stadium.
Chelsea were frantically trying to make their early pressure tell. Maybe
a little too frantically. Didier Drogba sliced anxiously wide from close
range after Michael Ballack had steered a precise low cross into his path.
However much celebrating their players have or haven't been doing in the
last week, Bolton were seeing out their responsibilities to United with
a ruggedness that infuriated the Chelsea fans. They weren't averse to
wasting every second they could either.
Joey O'Brien, Gavin McCann and Kevin Davies all collected bookings for
fouls that interrupted Chelsea attacks and broke up the home team's
attacking momentum. Gretar Steinsson came to Bolton's rescue with a
combative last-ditch challenge when Drogba again threatened, and the
Chelsea striker went close with a studied free-kick over the defensive
wall. Too many other attacks ended with hopeful floated or chipped crosses
that just played to Bolton's strengths.
Not until the opening moments of the second-half was Bolton goalkeeper
Ali Al Habsi called into significant action. A smart turn by Florent
Malouda created space for a looping pot shot from 25 yards that Al Habsi
leapt to turn against his cross-bar with the palm of his hand. A minute
later, Joe Cole unlocked the left hand side of the Bolton defence and
cut the ball back for Juliano Belletti to fire powerfully goalwards.
Only a brave block by Taylor diverted his shot for a corner.
The Chelsea assault was reaching fever pitch. Drogba saw a left-footed
shot on the run clawed over by Al Habsi before half-time substitute
Shevchenko made a deserved breakthrough just after the hour mark. A
Chelsea corner drifted through to Joe Cole, and although his snap shot
was blocked, Frank Lampard connected with the rebound and his low
drive found its way to Shevchenko who hooked it in from 6 yards. It
was his first Chelsea goal since Boxing Day, but an alert piece of
finishing that was greeted by a chuckling smile spread wide across
the face of the watching Roman Abramovich.
But the grin was almost wiped away immediately by El Hadji Diouf. When
a speculative shot from Davies ran into his path, Diouf resisted an Alex
challenge to sweep the ball towards goal only for Cech to respond with
an instinctive left-handed stop. With news of Ryan Giggs's clincher
for United filtering fatefully around Stamford Bridge, Bolton came even
closer to equalising. An arcing header from Taylor cleared the
goalmouth crowd and fell agonisingly over the leaping John Obi
Mikel onto the cross-bar. Ashley Cole was well placed to clear the
dropping ball from his goalline.
But with three minutes of stoppage time played, Chelsea's weary
resistance was broken a low shot from Taylor shot that eluded Cech's
flimsy attempt to keep it out and the sense of anti-climax was
complete. Their final tally of 85 points was the highest ever achieved
by a runner-up for the Premier League title, but no amount of
extenuating circumstances and conspiracy theories will provide real
solace or consolation for a club of Chelsea's ambition. They can only
come in Moscow.
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