Premier League: Chelsea v Newcastle live! | Paul Doyle
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GOAL! Bolton 0-1 Spurs (Modric 37') They sat Modric doesn't score enough. They are right. But what he lacks in quantity he offers in quality: he has just netted a stupendous goal, chestind down a corner that was pulled to him 25 yards from goal and then cracking a swirling volley into the top corner!
Half-time: A splendid half from Newcastle, whyo have been the more cohesive, cutting and accomplished team and, as such, thoroughly deserve their lead. And they'll be pleased to know that it is still 0-0 at the Reebok after 32 minutes. Van der Vaart has jsut gone close with a long shot wide.
45 min: A clever corner routine results in Ba crashing a shot off the crossbar from around the penalty spot after peeling away from his marker to meet the low delivery!
43 min: Ba collects a long ball and sidesteps Ivanovic before letting fly from the edge of the box. Cech pushes his low shot around the post for a corner.
40 min: Speaking of Messi, he has just completed his 783rd hat-trick of the season to put Barcelona 4-1 up against Malaga. And that's only a slight exaggeration: it is, in facta, his 68th goal of the season, breaking the European post-war record hitherto held by Gerd Mller.
39 min: Ben Arfa runs at the Chelsea defence and tries to slip the ball through to Ba, but over-hit his pass after a fine build-up. Newcastle have been impressive so far, showing admirable enterprise and, usually, execution. "Re: your linguistic conundrum," blurts Hugh Collins. "An American commentator recently pushed the envelope of soccer analysis by saying that Petr Cech put in a "surreal" performance in the Champions League semi. I didn't see the! game, b ut am imagining that Cech threw a fish at Leo Messi?" Clearly that American commentator was talking a load of carp.
36 min: Close! From out of nothing Chelsea nearly equalised. Torres wriggled free down the right and curled in an exquisite cross. Malouda did well to meet it but nutted just wide from eight yards.
34 min: Cabaye floats a freekick into the Chelsea box. Chelsea clear but Newcastle quickly regain possession and resume their pressure. At the moment a second Newcastle goal looks much more likely than a home equaliser.
30 min: As Lennon clips a shot just over the bar at the Reebok, Newcastle continue to bother Chelsea, besieging their box for a good two minutes. They're starting to make themselves at home at the Bridge. Di Matteo out!
27 min: Spurs should be in front! Bogdan spilled a long-range shot from Bale. Van der Vaart collected the rebound but failed to summon enough composure to stick it in the net, instead blasting it at the keeper who got up to bat it away.
24 min: Sturridghe, with a trademark ill-judged shot from a silly angle when team-mates were in a better position.
22 min: Newcastle are looking formidable now, hassling Chelsea into coughing the ball up and then circulating it nicely themselves.
GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Newcastle (Ciss 19') What a goal! Santon charged down the left and then fed it to Ciss, who had ghosted into space at the edge of the area ... and then spanked the ball into the top corner!
18 min: Bolton and Spurs has just kicked off and Arron Lennon has won an early corner for the visitors: Van der Varrt fizzes it in and Kaboul narrowly fails to get a touch from four yards.
16 min: Newcastle are growing into the gameand enjoying more possession now. But it's all in midfield and chances are few.
13 min: Early dysfunctions in the Ciss-Ba ! tandem: the latter put the former through with a flick-on, but Ciss then botched his return pass, sending it harmlessy wide.
11 min: Torres lashes down the left wing before curling a low cross into Sturridge, who shanks it wide from 10 yards. Hands up who thinks Sturridge should go to Euro 2012? I don't. Decision-making too bad.
9 min: As Ramires receives treatment following a clash with Tiot, the camera pans to Roman Abramovich, who is spoting a comfy-looking Chelsea coat. It's a good deal Chelsea offer: buy the club and invest over half a billion pounds, and they'll throw in a free coat.
7 min: Santon leads Newcastle's first dangerous attack, zigzagging his way down the left and into the Chelsea box ... before losing the ball.
5 min: Meireles curls the freekick over the wall but it's easy pickings for Krul.
4 min: An early yellow card for Tiot, who tripped Torres on the edge of the box after the Spaniard brought down a long ball from the back and shaped to shoot. "I know a thing or two about making excuses for results at work, so I can see right through Jamie Rednapp," drawls Chris Nemeh. "He's pulling the old "Make an excuse while saying it's not an excuse" trick on behalf of his dad. I write this as I sit on my couch watching the match and "working" from home, but I can assure you that this has nothing to do with my professional downturn."
2 min: We have go. And, intriguingly, it seems from the early exchanges that Newcastle are indeed playing 4-4-2, with Ciss and Ba up top. The first chance of the game, however, falls to Chelsea, as Torres is sent scampering through and rounded the keeper but found himself at a prohibitive angle from which to shoot, so knocked the ball backwards to Malouda and the move soon died.
7.41pm: According to @BenrumsbyPA, "Chelsea's stadium announcer is confidently predicting that Tottenham won't win at Bolton tonight..."
7.39pm: Speaking to Sky, Jamie Redknapp admits that his pop is disappointed not top have been given the England job and suggests he has been "in limbo" for that last couple of months, but insists that has nothing to do with Spurs' downturn.7.37pm: "Re Pardew's 'key key' game," begins Gary Naylor. "Would he consider Bafana Bafana Bafana Bafana a top top team?" No no, no no no no, there's no limit ... to these gags.
7.35pm: Fabrice Muamba has just been interviewed on Sky and looks in good health. Clearly emotional, he thanks everyone for the enormous amount of support that he has received since he suffered that cardiac arrest at White Hart Lane 47 days ago. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart," he says.
7.18pm: As we mull over the likely consequences of the inclusion of Bertrand and Malouda in the Chelsea line-up, we must also take stock of the Bolton and Spurs' line-ups. Here:
Spurs: Friedel, Walker, Gallas, Kaboul, Rose, Lennon, Sandro, Modric, Bale, Van der Vaart, Adebayor.
Bolton: Bogdan, Boyata, Wheater, Ream, Ricketts, Eagles, Reo-Coker, Mark Davies, Petrov, Ngog, Kevin Davies
Preamble:
Chelsea have taken maximum advantage of Jesper Gronjaer's most famous goal and the subsequent arrival of Roman Abramovich and his Siberia-sized wallet. They have never failed to qualify for the Champions League during the Russian's rule. Lose tonight, however, and chances are that they will need to beat Bayern Munich in this year's final in order to feature in the competition next season. Win and they will still be in the race to finish fourth and Newcastle will probably have to make do with a Europa League spot, what with their final two games being against Everton and title-chasing Manchester City. Arsenal and Spurs remain better placed than either of these clubs to finish in the top four, but both the north Londoners are highly capable of flopping as the season reaches it clim! ax, star ting with Spurs against Bolton tonight (and we'll keep you posted on how that's going). All in all, it's very difficult to predict. So let's see what the professional protagonists say:
Roberto Di Matteo: "We just have to keep winning and see where we finish up."
Alan Pardew: "We just have to keep winning and see where we finish up."
Arsene Wenger: "We just have to keep winning and see where we finish up."
Harry Redknapp: "I really hope Roy does well with England. Honest."
And what about tonight's big clash?
Roberto Di Matteo: "It will be a very difficult match."
Alan Pardew: "It will be a very difficult match."
The team selections promise to be more interesting than those declarations. Di Matteo has said he won't take any account of Saturday's FA Cup final when naming his team for tonight, which is admirable and/or reckless of him considering that Kenny Dalglish surrendered three points at Anfield last night by sending out the stiffs against Fulham. Pardew, meanwhile, will make a adjustment at right-back, as Danny Simpons misses the game through injury and is replaced by Jamie Perch. Pardew may have some tactical tricks up his sleeve after accepting the blame for Saturday's 4-0 mauling at Wigan - " Tactically, we made mistakes as a coaching team (at Wigan). The psychology of the team and the tactical side of things is my responsibility, and I felt that I let the club down a little bit as well. On Wednesday, I have to make sure I don't get that wrong." Word is he might switch back to 4-4-2, which could herald a return to goals for Demba Ba.
And another thing: In addition to saying this would be a "tough" game, Pardew described it as a "key, key game." This linguistic device has hitherto tended to be used in the football community chiefly to describe players as being "top, top". Can any linguistics experts out there confirm that what we are witnessing is an emerging epidemic of epizeuxis?
!
Chelsea: Petr Cech; Jose Bosingwa, Branislav Ivanovic, John Terry, Ryan Bertrand; John Obi Mikel, Raul Meireles; Ramires, Florent Malouda, Daniel Sturridge; Fernando Torres
Substitutes: Ross Turnbull, Ashley Cole, Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, Juan Mata, Salomon Kalou, Didier Drogba
Newcastle: Tim Krul; James Perch, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon; Cheick Tiote, Jonas Gutierrez; Hatem Ben Arfa, Yohan Cabaye, Demba Ba; Papiss Cisse
Substitutes: Rob Elliot, Shane Ferguson, Ryan Taylor, Dan Gosling, Gabriel Obertan, Sylvain Marveaux, Shola Ameobi
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