You had to be there...

Match Review: Chelsea 0-1 QPR

Most Rangers fans made the journey to Stamford Bridge fearing the worst, but it’s a funny old game football. At a scandalous £55 per ticket (plus booking fee) and with a shocking run of form, the fact that the Shed was filled with 3,000 away fans spoke volumes for blind optimism and loyalty over level-headed analysis. But against all the odds (there were shorter odds for Chelsea to win 6-0 than QPR to win 1-0), they were rewarded.

Rangers opened with a 4-1-4-1 formation with Derry recalled to play just in front of the back four and, interestingly, Taarabt was pushed furthest up front. Armand Traore was out of the picture after his inept defensive performance against Liverpool on Sunday and the back four read Fabio, Hill, Nelsen, Onuoha. In midfield Esteban Granero was preferred to Samba Diakite who was another really off the ball against Liverpool whilst the woeful Shaun Wright Phillips was dropped at the expense of Junior Hoilett. Meanwhile Rafa made several changes for Chelsea, although with FA and Capital One Cup games coming up before their next EPL fixture it looked more like a case of over confident complacency rather than a genuine need for resting through rotation.

The teams emerge

Four minutes into his full league debut the Bosnian-come-German Marin (how many 'dual nationality' players have they claimed to be theirs now?!) should have been sent off for a two footed, off the floor and out of control scythe through M’Bia. Stunningly, referee Mason (who you will remember sent off Derry for not touching Ashley Young at Old Trafford last year) only produced a yellow. Equally stunningly M’Bia was not badly hurt. Retribution on Marin was later quietly dished out by both Derry and Hill.

QPR defended with determination and the few chances that came Chelsea’s way were as a result of mistakes. On 15 minutes Hoilett pulled up and was replaced by Wright-Phillips and a minute later Chelski did their emotionally disturbed ‘clap for Di Matteo’ thing.

Chelsea continued to huff and puff with a few long range efforts, particularly from a frustrated Branislav Ivanovic, but Hill and Nelsen snuffed out anything closer in. On 34 minutes there was an embarrassing dive in the box by Bertrand when he was several yards away from the nearest opponent. Boltonian whistleblower Mason was again deficient and no booking resulted.

Towards the end of the first half SWP had a run and shot and twice didn’t run and didn’t shoot when Taarabt threaded him decent passes to move on to. David Luiz (hereafter Sideshow Bob) had a pot shot that Cesar had to save with his legs after it deflected off Frank (‘one more to overtake Kerry Dixon’) Lampard.

Special abuse was saved for the warming up Ashley Cole and the half time appearance of ‘Suave Marv’ aka 60’s and 70’s centre back Marvin Hinton. I don’t think anyone had anything in particular against 72 year old Marv, it was more a case of his chaperon for the obligatory walk round the pitch being the personification of a smugly irritating annoying Johnny-come-lately, glory hunting tit.

The second half was more of the same, only better. Chelsea had a flurry of corners which Cesar dealt with positively, Ivanovic heading one excellent chance over. On 53 minutes Cesar saved well from the otherwise anonymous Torres. Moses should have got a touch to Marin's cross but this was to be the debutante's last involvement as he was then swapped for Hazard as Rafa began to realise more guile was needed. QPR for the first time began to string some coherent attacking moves together. Granero hit a curler to give Turnbull some catching practice. Shortly afterwards, Mackie was played through by Taarabt and he looked odds-on to score before Gary Cahill stretched out and conceded a corner. From said corner, Derry had a free header which should have troubled Turnbull more.

Home frustration grew as Lampard put the ball in from an offside position (still one more needed eh, Frank!) All the Rangers back four were now playing like men possessed with blocks and deflections keeping Chelsea out. To the delight of the Chelsea fans, their talisman Juan Mata was introduced by Rafa for Moses with sixteen minutes to play. But then, against all hopes and expectations, one of those ‘I was there’ moments happened. A partially cleared Rangers corner fell to Taarabt just outside the box. He made the sweetest lay-off into the path of SWP that since the match we have watched again and again. Time stood still as SWP hit a low 20 yard drive that arrowed into the corner of the goal. Delirium and confusion broke out in the away end, bodies everywhere. Stop the clocks at 21:20 02/01/13. Had he really done that? 969 days since his last EPL goal, you diminutive beauty, you. All is forgiven! You still owe the outstanding Fabio a beer for covering your defensive duties, though.

Ramires came on for Lampard (who, Chelsea fans, I believe still requires one more goal to overhaul Kerry Dixon). The game was now frantic. You could see the vein in Clint Hill’s neck bulging with effort. Admirable Nelsen screamed for more concentration and effort. Derry was everywhere putting out fires and Mbia and Sideshow Bob enjoyed a tussle that, although rarely legal, was sufficiently good natured that you could still see them sharing hair conditioner in the showers afterwards. Even Granero put a shift in - I noticed he went over to Joe Jordan for a word in his ear during the first half and from that moment he returned a more determined man who got stuck in, something he hasn't done since the very start of his QPR career.

On 86 minutes I called it as a pen from where I was sitting but thankfully it was a free kick that was given instead, dead centre in the D, 2 yards outside the box. D wanted Sideshow Bob to take it and blast, C wanted Mata to chip straight into Cesar's arms. Thankfully D got his wish as Wrecking Ball Luiz simply smashed it into the 9 man wall.

Supporting their local team: Bristol and Bath blues, Norwegian blues, etc. Many already gone home early in a huff

Two time wasting R's substitutions later and it was all over. Man hugs all round. Everything that QPR hadn't been 3 days earlier against Liverpool, they were today. Solid, committed, intelligent and playing like a team. The questions remain whether they can repeat this level of intensity and dream of survival but, for the moment, who cares? Chelsea 0 QPR 1. Two clean sheets against Chelsea. A first away win since November 2011. A first win away at Chelsea in my lifetime. Simply unbelievable.



Man of the Match: Playing in an unfamiliar striker's position, Taarabt's ability to keep the ball and hold the ball up was played upon by Harry Redknapp and it proved to be an incredibly inspired move. He showed his quality in his passing and the lay-off for the goal and gave QPR an outlet all game. His patience and perseverance with the inept Shaun Wright-Phillips also deserves some serious credit. Well done that man, we'll need more of this if we are to pick up more points this year away from home.

Weekend Preview: Have You All Got Over The COCup last week?

After a midweek round of the COCup (Capital One Cup) which included an incredible 36 goals we're in the uncomfortable position that the Premier League might not be able to live up to the League Cup!

Reading and Arsenal played out a thriller at the Madejski where Reading went 4-0 up before half-time, before Arsenal pulled it back to 4-4 at the end of 90 minutes with 2 goals in injury time. There was a definite shift in momentum by this point and Arsenal ran out 7-5 victors in an extraordinary game after extra time. Sky must have thought that their luck was in this week as the next televised game on Wednesday night between Chelsea and Man Utd and featured a further 9 goals! United were 3-2 up in the 92nd minute but a last minute Eden Hazard penalty again saw the momentum shift. Chelsea had by this point essentially thrown on their full strength team against a Man Utd substitute and reserve team with only really Rafael a first teamer in their XI. Chelsea eventually won 5-4 after extra time. Amazingly there were more goals in each of those two games than there were penalties scored between Wigan and Bradford. The Bantams, with their German-esque record in shootouts (six shootout victories in a row going into this one) clearly knew that the strategy here was to hold Wigan out for 120 minutes before dumping them out with their nerves of steel from the spot. The quarter final draw has pitted Leeds and Chelsea against each other (two clubs which deserve each other) and Bradford have a money-spinning tie at last at Valley Parade as they host Arsenal. The COCup has fast become one of the most entertaining competitions this season amazingly! Still, it's a mickey mouse cup that nobody's bothered about, right?

This weekend's action:

The Championship kicked us off with another 'cracking game' (Warnock, 2012) last night as Brighton and Leeds shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw, with Paddy Kenny producing some fine stops including one from the spot and one deep into added time to deny the Seagulls all three points in front of over 26,000 at the Amex (again!). I noted that Lee Mason refereed the match last night and incredibly has now given six penalties in three days (he also took charge of the Chelsea v Man Utd league cup tie).

Fulham v Everton - This looks like it could be a decent tie, given their respective good starts to the season. Everton's sparkling early form has tailed off a little with three straight stalemates, but they've still shown plenty of quality in those draws to suggest that they aren't about to embark on any kind of slump (and, Stevie G, I can verify that Everton most certainly do not play long ball football!). As we've come to expect with the Cottagers, they've been strong at home and Berbatov and Petric have certainly hit it off with three goals each so far this campaign and we can't overlook the incredible goalscoring form of Bairdinho from the back so far this year! Everton have an excellent recent record against Fulham with five wins and a draw from the last six meetings, but for us all roads lead to a score draw this time around.

Prediction: Fulham 2-2 Everton

Norwich v Stoke - We don't feel like we've featured either of these teams too much this season so we're going to give them some attention now! This is a game between two sides out of form - they've each only won one in their last 6 league games. Stoke haven't won in 3 while Norwich did win recently against Arsenal but showed their lack of clinical edge this season in their draw against Aston Villa last weekend. In the last 6 games between the two teams Stoke definitely have the edge with 4 wins against the Canaries. In that period they've scored 10 goals to Norwich's 3. However, you can almost guarantee the game will be feisty with a total of 14 yellow cards in this period and 3 reds. Stoke haven't won in 14 attempts away from home so Norwich will be feeling that this could be a good chance for them to pick up another 3 points at Carrow Road. Both sides have averaged under 1 goal a game this season in the league (Norwich have 7 goals in 9 games, while Stoke have 8 in 9). But while Norwich have been leaking goals at over 2 a game, Stoke don't concede a lot with 9 in 9 for them. It could come down to the performances respectively of Stoke's forwards. If Stoke's forwards have a good day they should win, but if they misfire it could be Norwich's day.

Prediction: Norwich 0-1 Stoke

Crystal Palace v Blackburn - Game of the week in the Championship promises to be a real treat in South East London as 4th plays 5th. Hot on the heels of the news that Ian Holloway is set to take over at Sel'urst and on the back of an excellent run of form which continued with a fantastic 2-1 win away at Leicester last week, the Eagles host the mad chicken farmers who themselves will have new boss Henning Berg in the hotseat and have shown signs of recovery again lately by grinding out victories against struggling Sheffield Wednesday and Watford. I have been incredibly impressed by the Championship's surprise package this year so far: Palace have not lost in the league since August 25th and as well as at Leicester have claimed  victory over Cardiff, Bolton and Wolves in recent weeks. With 26 goals having been scored at Selhurst Park this year, I'm expecting more of the same here. Blackburn do not roll over easily though and they are the only Championship side unbeaten on the road this year, albeit having drawn 5 of their 6 away games. We fancy another 'Desmond' here!

Prediction: Crystal Palace 2-2 Blackburn

It's the FA Cup 1st round proper this weekend in the lower echelons of the football league, and there are some intriguing encounters. Among them, Chelmsford City take on Colchester United in an all Essex derby, whilst there is the always feisty encounter of Hereford versus Shrewsbury on Sunday. Crawley Town will be glad they don't have corruption king and general criminal Steve Evans still at the club as the Met Police come to the Broadfield Stadium in an attempt to arrest the Sussex club's recent series of cup runs. Gillingham host Scunthorpe today without any detailed scouting reports on their opponents - after their scout joined the opposition's staff this week! Last night saw Cambridge City force a replay out of MK Dons. 

Our teams:

Saturday's game at Gresty Road sees the FA Cup start properly for Crewe Alex as they take on Wycombe Wanderers. Both sides lost their last league outing and will be hoping to try and begin a cup run this weekend. Wycombe are however, without a win in 3 and they are the underdogs going into the game a division down from Crewe. Interestingly both sides would have been in opposite positions last year when Wycombe were relegated from League One while Crewe were promoted from League Two. Crewe have won 3 of the last 4 meetings between these sides, however, they have lost their last 4 matches in the FA Cup.

QPR take on Reading in the battle of the hoops, which ought to be viewed as a 'win or bust' for Mark Hughes. He's had plenty of mitigating circumstances with injuries and suspensions and the team have played better football than their league position suggests at times, but ultimately football is a results business and results are dictated by goals - which QPR don't score enough of, but concede to many of. I really hope Hughes goes for it in this one and stops pissing around playing one man up top at home. This has to be 4-4-2 for me.

Saturday's early game sees Man Utd host Arsenal. None of the last 6 games between the sides have ended in a draw, so our tip is not to bet on that outcome! United have won 5 of the last 6 meetings between the two and it has always seemed that they have had Arsenal's number when it comes to these games. The same fixture last season saw United run out 8-2 winners in a thrilling game, but I think you'd go a long way to get odds on that score again! United have scored 16 goals in their last 6 games against Arsenal and they will be hoping that run continues on Saturday.

Union Berlin have a massive derby game with Dynamo Dresden on Sunday. The last 2 games between these 2 have ended in a 4-0 victory for either team so that could be a decent score to bet on! Both sides are mid to lower table in II Bundesliga and Union actually sit 2 places and 3 points better off than their hosts. Union have won 5 of the last 6 games between these two teams so they will be hoping to keep up that run. Dynamo haven't won in their last 3, and both sides lost their last game so it should be an interesting battle between two sides fairly low on confidence.

Enjoy this weekend's football everyone! C is off to Loftus Road to watch QPR take on Reading on Sunday while J is travelling to the world famous Highbury Stadium to see Fleetwood Town take on Bromley in the magic of the FA Cup First Round. Look out for match reviews and the weekend review over the next week or so!

C&J