Chelsea FC have beaten Swansea City 2-0 at Stamford Bridge to earn a vital 3 points at home. Its a marvelous 3 points that will really help the blues to finish in the top 4 and qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions league. Tottenham Hotspurs have drawn 2-2 away at Wigan yesterday, which leads the Blues to be in a comfortable 3rd position in the league table and gap the lead between Chelsea and thier two north London rivals(Arsenal and Tottenham).
Its two 1st half goals from Oscar and Frank Lampard at helped to get the revenge against the swans, who eliminated Chelsea from the semi-final of the Capital One Cup earlier this year. The Brazilian’s opener was beautifully assisted by Frank Lampard, who came on earlier at first-half for Ramires. And the 2nd goal came from Frank Lampard by a trade-mark penalty right before the first-half whistle. Juan Mata(who was celebrating his 25th birthday) was fouled in the penalty area by Leon Britton and Mark Clattenburg pointed to the spot to give Chelsea the penalty. Lampard then scored his 201st goal. He is one goal away from equaling club legend, Bobby Tambling(202) in the highest scoring list of Chelsea football club. That being said, lets look at 5 things we learned from today’s win:
1. Frank Lampard’s performances indicate he must be given a new contract
Frank Lampard delivered a decisive performance against Swansea City after coming on for Ramires at the first half. He exchanged passes with Captain John Terry and assisted Oscar for our first goal of the afternoon. Then in the 45th minute, Juan Mata was fouled by Leon Britton as he was trying to make his way in to the swans wall and Clattenburg gave the penalty, which Lampard fired past Michel Vorm to get his 201st goal. Lampard is helping the club coming on from bench or starting matches when he is needed. His contract will be up this summer and its all Chelsea fans hope for Roman Abramovic to offer the legend a new contract to END his career at Stamford Bridge.
2. John Terry is still one of the top defenders in the Premier League
Chelsea’s back four remained tight for the whole 90 minutes by not allowing the Welsh side to score or pose a serious threat unlike our 2-0 loss at home to the same side in the first leg of the capital one cup earlier this year. This has been influenced by skipper John Terry, who started his first EPL game since the away loss at Southampton. JT was very instrumental in organizing the back four this after noon. Also our defense was boosted by the return of Gary Cahill from injury. This proves a point to all the doubters that Terry is still one of the top defenders in the league and it has been reported on Friday that he might be considering a return to the England national team after he announced his international retirement last September. Although it will be remained to be seen whether Roy Hodgson will decide to call on the former England Captain or continue with some inexperienced or vulnerable options such as Smalling or Phil Jones to partner our own Gary Cahill for the Three Lions. But, it cannot be proven otherwise that the two Manchester United Center Backs are two of the most promising youngsters in their position. And it would for the good of the national team to have Terry return to selection ahead of the 2014 world cup in Brazil.
3. Fans need to have patience with performances of Oscar
As I was watching the game, many Chelsea fans on twitter were bashing the young Brazilian for many unsuccessful passes in the first half before he scored the opener late on. It should be taken to account that Oscar is still very young and has played to many games this season due to our congested fixture schedules. Since he arrived last summer, he was on London Olympic duties for the Selecao before he made his debut on substitute appearance against Wigan on the opening day of the Barclay’s Premier League. He has been exceptional in the way he adopted to the physical game of the EPL and was our top performer in the early exit of the Champions League. So, fans need to have patience with the Brazilian Kid as he will immensely develop in the coming years through experience.
4. David Luiz has fresh legs every single game, HIGH STAMINA
David Luiz yet again and played the whole 90 minutes against Swansea. He has been playing many games recently and still performs to the highest level without showing a glimpse of tiredness in his play. This is the 2nd back-to-back game that the Brazilian has played in Central Midfield role. He has adapted to the position since he was tried there for the first time in the Club World Cup last December in the absence of John Obi Mikel. Luiz has proven that he can adapt and play in any position he is asked to, particularly in CENTER BACK AND CDM. Even recently Gary Neville had admitted he was wrong to relate LUIZ as being “controlled by a 9 year old on Play Station”. He will continue to prove his doubters wrong and lead Chelsea to trophies in the coming years as we expect him to and It wont even be a surprise to see him getting the arm band from John Terry in the foreseeable future when the current skippers decides to pass on the torch.
5. Chelsea are more than capable of finishing in the top 4 and WIN the EUROPA LEAGUE
As we are now 1 point clear over Arsenal and 3 points over Spurs, with the Gunners having played a game more than the other two, there is a big chance of finishing in the top 4 if we continue as this level. We still have to play Spurs at home, in what would be a decider of who is going to finish in the top 4 for a champions league spot. Also we will play against Manchester United away at Old Trafford and against Everton at Stamford Bridge in the final day of the Premier League. Manchester United drew 1-1 away at the Emirates so that means United wont be able to break our record maximum point of 95 total set by Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in 2005. Chelsea have beaten FC Basel away in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final 2-1 away last Thursday. One foot is already into the final of the tournament which will be played in Veltins Arena at Amsterdam. Lets hope to win the title against the winner of the Fenerbache and Benifica to end what has so far been an inconsistent display by the Champions Of Europe.
What were your opinions on the match and what lessons have you learnt? feel free to comment your opinions below and as always KTBFFH!!!
