Chelsea 2 West Ham 2
Lanzini 17 Fabregas 45 Carroll 61 Fabregas 89 (pen)
We had a good day at Stamford Bridge because it’s still a football ground where you get a football experience. It’s not a shopping mall.
The matchday staff, who realise they’re in showbiz hospitality, are efficient & friendly.
We saw four really good goals and loads of attempts.
Soon after we arrived I realised that the home fans are depressed and the afternoon explained why so many regulars are so fed up.
Supporting Chelsea has been a joyride through the Drogba-Lampard years but this season was a shambles before it even started and now the team is out of everything and 10th, three points below a patchy Liverpool outfit, having played a game more than Klopp’s long-distance runners.
We sit in the corner and the big blue flag, passed along by supporters, usually goes past us just before kick-off. One day I was under it when the ball was on the centre circle and the ref was putting the whistle to his mouth.
On Saturday the match kicked off and the flag had not even reached us and I wondered if it still would. Then expert hands grabbed it and funnelled the flag down and away, so we could see the game begin. The blue flags are a small thing, a silly matchday ritual, but it’s those things, those little bits of fun, that make one club distinct from another.
We were at the end where Lanzini scored the first goal.
And where sub Loftus-Cheek went down for a penalty to save the day.
The penalty incident was right in front of of us.
Caroline, the young woman who sits next to me, didn’t think it was a penalty. I didn’t either.
But my friend Rob did – and he was right.
With the score at 1-2 and with Chelsea pressing forward, enthusiastic forward Marco Antonio did clip Loftus-Cheek’s foot, causing him to trip and fall in the box.
At that moment, because of the foreshortening effect, I didn’t realise it might have been outside the box or on the line
The Match of the Day replays showed that the first contact was just outside the box.
But this isn’t cricket, where the umpires can call for video replays.
Fabregas, who has scored the equaliser with a tremendous free-kick at the other end, now checked his run and slotted professionally for 2-2.
We didn’t see much of Dimitri Payet but he created West Ham’s second goal with a sublimely weighted pass for sub Andy Carroll, who banged the ball just inside the post to put the Hammers ahead.
The atmosphere was rowdy and enjoyable at times but the undercurrent was depressed.
Chelsea fans are fed up and have been that way all through a shambolic season of controversy and disappointment, before and after the sacking of the Special One in December.
I was surprised when Caroline said she’d never lived in London. She’s always lived in Bournemouth and come up for every home game.
And the first thing she said, before the kick -off, was, “There’s only three more games after this.”
After five minutes I said “Chelsea’s best bet is to score first. If they don’t do that they could be in a lot of trouble.”
After Lanzini scored with a beautiful bending shot from 20 yards, she was disgusted and said,”If they score again, I’ll get an early train.”
A lot of Blues fans can’t wait for this season to end.
On the way home we changed tubes at Notting Hill Gate and as we ran down some stairs one Chelsea fan was talking to his mate.
“I’m thinking of not coming to the last game.”
His mate thought this was unthinkable disloyalty.
“You can’t do that!” he bleated.
After the glorious seasons Chelsea fans have had, watching great players do memorable things, seeing titles won and trophies lifted, 2015-16 is obviously a year to forget.
You could write a book about Why Chelsea Have Played So Badly This Season. But I won’t.
What we saw on Saturday is that Luc Remy is rubbish, a passenger, a timid poacher who does nothing.
PATO WAS ON THE BENCH!
He didn’t come on because he’s a playboy who burned out years ago.
Pato being at Chelsea is even more absurd than Falcao being there.
Their best player was Ivanovic.
This was the first time I’ve seen Slaven Bilic’s West Ham in the flesh and I now understand the way they play.
West Ham are 30% power, 30% organisation, 30% desire,10% artistry.
Their teamwork is very good, a mixture of physicality & finesse.
Bilic is a great bloke who will improve them even more next season
While it’s true that Chelsea had four or five headers near the end, and a decent overhead kick by Fabregas, they were never ahead against West ham and never looked like winning the game.
Kenedy is a good player, though.
Skilful, tenacious and fast, he makes things happen, comes at you suddenly and doesn’t give you much decision time.
Kenedy is better as a left midfielder, as here.