Wednesday December 13th 2006
CHELSEA 1 NEWCASTLE UTD 0
CHELSEA: Hilario, Geremi (Shevchenko 67),Carvalho (Makelele 46), Terry, Ashley Cole, Ballack, Essien,Lampard, Wright-Phillips (Drogba 46), Kalou, Robben.
Subs Not Used: Hedman, Bridge.
NEWCASTLE UTD: Given, Huntington, Ramage, Taylor, Babayaro, Rossi,Butt, N'Zogbia (Pattison 44), Milner, Sibierski (Luque 78),Martins.
Subs Not Used: Srnicek, O'Brien, Edgar.
Att: 41,945
Jose Mourinho's prediction came true. He was smarting because his side dropped two valuable points to Arsenal on Sunday and insisted his side wouldn't suffer the same fate against the Magpies. He got it right, but only just! He can claim bragging rights, but one thing stood out like a blind cobbler's thumb ... Manchester United will be Premiership champions come May.
Didier Drogba climbed off the substitutes' bench to score the matchwinner and cut Manchester United's lead at the top of the league to five points. But there are cracks showing in Mourinho's Billion Dollar Misfits, and the way they struggled to beat a side short of 13 first team players must be a major concern to the self proclaimed "Special One".
Andriy Shevchenko, Drogba and Claude Makelele were rested while Shaun Wright-Phillips, Salomon Kalou and Arjen Robben were given the chance to regain their first team places.
Mourinho was obviously out to put the Toon to the sword and switched from the usual midfield diamond to a 4-3-3 formation to look for goals. It seemed to rattle Newcastle in the early period, but the home side failed to convert chances.
In fact it was Newcastle who came closest to breaking the deadlock in the 16th minute when Antoine Sibierski hit the crossbar with a header from six yards after James Milner's corner had eluded the home defence.
The offside flag spared the blushes of the young Kalou on the half-hour when he got on the end of Robben's headed knock-down only to turn and fire over the crossbar from six yards.
But United were still a danger and Giuseppe Rossi emphasised the fact in the 34th minute when he sent a 25-yard drive flashing wide of Hilario's right-hand upright.
The longer the half went on the better Glenn Roeder's boys got to grips with Mourinho's formation, and debutant right-back in Paul Huntington coped adequately with any Chelsea threat.
But minutes before the break Charles N'Zogbia had to be stretchered off after a collision with Frank Lampard and he was replaced by another kid, Matty Pattison.
Mourinho was obviously starting to get concerned and Wright-Phillips was replaced at the start of the second half by Makelele. Drogba came on for injured centre-back Ricardo Carvalho.
Chelsea powered forward at every opportunity but the Newcastle rearguard stood their ground for the bulk of it. However the Blues finally broke the deadlock with an incisive move started by Robben. His pass into the penalty area was helped on by Shevchenko and Drogba pounced to provide the decisive finish.
A brave show by Newcastle, and when you consider the Toon were 19/1 to get a result, it shows how difficult a task it was.