MAYBE, just maybe, Chelsea are showing their mean streak when it matters.
Victory over a woeful Middlesbrough side stuck in the bottom three is barely anything to crow about.
But on a night when nothing but three points was good enough, Big Phil Scolari’s side delivered a win.
Ivory Coast ace Salomon Kalou scored both goals — his seventh and eighth strikes of the season — in a one-sided contest.
But forget the performance, feel the result.
Chelsea moved above Liverpool to second in the Premier League, reminding champions Manchester United they will not have it all their own way.
Given their poor home form — they have dropped 14 points at Stamford Bridge — this was as big a win as any this season.
It keeps them in touching distance of Alex Ferguson’s side and eased them ahead of Rafa Benitez’s Reds before the Blues go to Anfield on Sunday.
While Liverpool have dropped from the top like a stone, Chelsea appear to be rising to the challenge.
Under par and under performing, they somehow managed to dig out a win against a team who came to London to practise defending.
In fact, at times it was just like watching Jose Mourinho’s side.
They kept their shape, held their nerve and when the moment came to inflict punishment they did not disappoint.
Predictable
Well, you would have been hard pressed to convince the home support of that at half-time.
After an opening period when chances were more scarce than good news on the money markets, value was hard to find.
For Middlesbrough, having lost six and drawn four of their last 10 Premier League matches coming into the match, it was predictable they would look to shut up shop at the back.
Gareth Southgate’s men showed very little attacking ambition from the outset by leaving Marlon King on his own in attack.
In fact, the pattern was underlined in the opening exchanges when the Chelsea full-backs were even in the hunt for goals within 15 minutes.
Jose Bosingwa provided the cross to the back post which found Ashley Cole.
But his header was very much a defender’s effort as he put it into the side-netting and not between the posts.
The England man buried his head in his hands in frustration and chief Scolari did the same on the sidelines.
Florent Malouda was someone who saw a lot of the ball but failed to do anything very creative with it.
As the rain came down in torrents in West London, the Chelsea boss stood screaming instructions at his players.
His attention turned to Boro assistant boss Malcolm Crosby who complained Scolari had tried to get Mohamed Shawky booked.
Big Phil responded by gesturing to Crosby in the traditional way — as in “do you want some?”
He followed that challenge up by waiting for Crosby in the tunnel at the break only to be thwarted by a steward who eased him toward the dressing room.
As the home fans booed, the manager took stock and decided on a change.
His reaction was to try to give his team more bite in the second period by replacing Malouda with Didier Drogba.
The striker ran free within a minute of the restart but his attempt on goal was closer to the corner flag than the goalposts.
Impact
Six minutes later, Alex came much closer with a header from Frank Lampard’s corner only to see Kalou get in the way and head it over the bar.
This season has seen the African used more as an impact player than in the starting line-up.
And though Scolari was cursing his header on that occasion, it was just two minutes until he broke the deadlock.
The circumstances were almost identical. Lampard crossed an outswinging corner which was met by Alex.
This time the defender’s header was cleared by David Wheater but only as far as Kalou who blasted home a volley from 10 yards.
After the jeering at the interval, the home supporters were barely in the mood to cheer and so even the goal was greeted with muted applause.
For the players, however, the lead was significant for just one thing — and that was the fact they were back in the hunt for the title picture.
Kalou should have made the game safe with a second goal after 72 minutes.
Lampard tried his luck from distance with a free-kick which keeper Ross Turnbull spooned out to the Chelsea striker complete with a gift tag.
But, with a comedy swing of his right boot, Kalou kicked fresh air while the ball deflected off his left peg and out for a goal-kick. Embarrassing? You bet, though the mishap did not undermine the rest of the night.
After 81 minutes, he headed home unchallenged from Lampard’s corner.
For the second time, Kalou celebrated with a handcuff gesture backed up by Drogba who were apparently expressing support for the Ivory Coast political activist, Assale Tiemoko Antoine.
Antoine was released from prison last week but it was Chelsea who got out of jail last night.
Sources: Thesun.co.uk , Gettyimages.com
.jpg)
THE MAP TO AIANA RESTAURANT
.jpg)
THE MAP TO AIANA RESTAURANT
