Watford v Chelsea
-
Watford v Chelsea
FA Cup fifth round
Saturday, 14 February 2009
Channel 24: 1:30 am - (Live) (Sun Morning)
vs 
Ray Wilkins starts with Drogba and Anelka together... Trying to prove Scolari wrong?
Teams:
Watford: Loach, Hoyte, Mariappa, DeMerit, Doyley, Smith, Jenkins, Lee Williamson, McAnuff, Rasiak, Hoskins.
Subs: Lee, Sadler, Cowie, Priskin, Harley, O'Toole, Parkes.
Chelsea: Cech, Mancienne, Alex, Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, Lampard, Ballack, Mikel, Kalou, Anelka, Drogba.
Subs: Hilario, Di Santo, Quaresma, Ferreira, Deco, Belletti, Stoch.
-
he starts drogba and anelka...but not as 2 strikers
anelka is playing as a right wing
-
Yeah lah but better than one play the other sit on the bench... And when the bench one comes out, the one on the field is taken out... Now they get to play together...
-
Roman coming to watch an away match... Long time not seen liao...
Even home matches he hardly watch when Scolari was in charge...
So he is getting interested again...
-
The Watford pitch is in quite a bad state...
-
OMGS
drogba flick to anelka
bt anelka hit post!!!
-
Very good move that one... These two can actually work together, but must put more work on it... Cech just made a good save...
-
1nil down
and chelea now 2 nil up
-
CHELSEA’S FA Cup hopes were rescued in the Nic of time as an Anelka hat-trick saw them reach the last eight. The Frenchman’s finishing instinct and the inspired introduction of Miroslav Stoch helped the Blues bounce back from Tamas Priskin’s coolly taken opener.
But despite the win – and Roman Abramovich’s best efforts – Guus Hiddink’s first gander at his new Chelsea charges left him stony faced throughout. If the experienced Dutch coach didn’t realise before, he must now know today won't be the only time he steps into a Hornets’ nest in his quest to deliver silverware to Stamford Bridge this season.
Hiddink was far from amused as he watched the Blues struggle to breakdown the Championship outfit at a gloomy Vicarage Road - and this despite sitting next to an unusually cheery Chelsea owner.
Supremo Abramovich has missed more Chelsea games this season than he has since taking charge at Stamford Bridge but on this occasion he was whooping like a cheerleader every time Chelsea got into the opposing half.
Already missing the centre-half pairing of captain John Terry through suspension and Ricardo Carvalho, the home team could even have put the Blues out of this one.
Mauling
Grzegorz Rasiak gave Alex a mauling at times and Jobi McAnuff was more than a handful down the flank. Hiddink clearly has his work cut out but at least it looks like Didier Drogba is back in the mood to impress.
The Ivory Coast international put himself about better than at any stage under Phil Scolari and even gave a glimmer of hope that his partnership with Nicolas Anelka may one day blossom.
The big centre forward was in the thick off it, being slotted in by Frank Lampard in the first half and lashing a smart volley that brought a flying save from Scott Loach.
The closest Chelsea came to scoring in the first-half was on 34 minutes. Anelka’s pace and strength allowed him to muscle on to a Drogba flick but the right-footed finish hit the base of the post.
Polish centre-forward Rasiak served warning of the home side’s intent when his header was palmed away by Cech from close range at the end of the half. Drogba forced a save three minutes into the second-half, with Loach getting down quickly to his left to keep out the snap shot.
Lampard fired a trademark 25-yard drive past the near post and the increasingly confident Michael Mancienne cut in from the left to fire a left foot curler high and handsome.
Chelsea were really turning the screw and on the hour midfielder Michael Ballack provided a miss to rival John Terry’s howler against Hull the previous Saturday. Drogba’s turn and left foot shot was blocked but found the German less than five yards out. Ballack stuck out a right leg but amazingly diverted the ball over the bar and towards Row Z.
A crazy scramble three minute later was eventually hacked clear before Salomon Kalou picked up the loose ball and fed a jinxing Anelka who pulled his drive wide.
Priskin - looking suspiciously offside - then shocked the visitors by breaking from the halfway line to loft the ball over the onrushing Cech. But the lead lasted barely five minutes. Chelsea replaced Jon-Obi Mikel with Stoch and it turned the game on its head immediately.
Anelka scored two goals in three minutes, the first an overhead kick from two yards when he twisted his body to connect with a Ballack flick from a Lampard corner. The second was directly provided by Stoch, who threaded the ball through for the Frenchman to outpace the defence and slide a strike past Loach.
McAnuff could have forced a replay but his stoppage time strike from ten yards out was smothered before the ball was quickly returned to the other end and Anelka found space in the box to turn in his hat-trick goal.
Buoyed by the fightback Lampard insisted Chelsea could still challenge for major honours. He said: "Winning the Premier League is achievable. We just have to keep going. "We are not too many games away from Wembley now and we have a massive Champions League game coming up so we have a good chance of winning things on every front.”
It was tough on Watford but made sure that - after four draws earlier in the day - Chelsea were the first side definitely through to the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Watford: Loach, Hoyte, Mariappa, DeMerit, Doyley, Smith, Jenkins, Lee Williamson (Cowie 67), McAnuff, Rasiak (Priskin 66), Hoskins (O’Toole 76). Subs Not Used: Lee, Sadler, Harley, Parkes. Booked: O’Toole.
Chelsea: Cech, Mancienne, Alex, Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, Lampard, Ballack (Belletti 83), Mikel (Stoch 73), Kalou, Anelka, Drogba. Subs Not Used: Hilario, Di Santo, Quaresma, Ferreira, Deco. Booked: Ashley Cole.
Att: 16,851
Ref: Mike Dean (Wirral).
-
Stoch confirm first team already... lol
-
room for improvement for chelsea
-
Lolx they cahange formation to 4-3-3?
if Chelsea lose , funny lia0 , heng Chelsea win