Chelsea 0 - 2 Swansea

Wednesday 9^th January:

Chelsea 0 – 2 Swansea

Cup romance seems to be dead with only a few mild upsets in the FA Cup this term, thankfully for the neutrals it appears the League Cup has come to the rescue. Bradford have beaten more Premiership sides than an actual Premiership team this season (QPR) and Swansea travel to Stamford Bridge tonight hoping to emulate The Bantam’s cup heroics.

Chelsea began on the front foot but possession in the final third was frustratingly wasteful and lacked the clinical edge you’d expect from a top team at home – with the slight exception of Fernando Torres. The Spanish miss-hit man was booed off with 10 minutes to go. It’s the first evidence of discontent I have seen towards him since the £50m arrival; perhaps some of the more fickle fans have had enough and now place their striking faith in Demba Ba.

Chelsea came close with a tame effort from Mata before a few shots were blasted wide. After 39 minutes some poor play from Ivanovic saw the ball fall to formidable Michu and Swansea’s first half chance was curled into goal. Two Spanish strikers on the pitch tonight, one cost £2m and one cost £50m - anyone outside the religion of football would have guessed wrong.

After some Benitez booing and Lampard cheering the half drew to a close. How Chelsea FC have not offered Frank Lampard a contract extension is mind boggling. As I write this Super Frank is only 9 goals away from becoming Chelsea’s all time leading goal scorer in their 107 year history – I would love to see him complete this feat on the last day of the season with an iconic late penalty, then leave a hero like a certain Ivorian did in Munich this summer.

The second half was more of the same - relentless spells of blue dominance without any final product. The fans grew frustrated with Torres and Benitez, urging an appearance from Ba throughout the match. Finally Lampard and Ba entered the affray but it was too little too late. Chelsea’s new Senegalese acquisition did have a goal wrongly judged offside before being booked for going down too easily in the box. Both decisions were incorrect thus capping off a dreadfully clueless performance from the officials.

Things then went from bad to worse. Ivanovic attempted a blind pass back to a helpless Ross Turnbull and Danny Graham nipped in to double Swansea’s advantage going into the second leg. 2-0 is how it finished and the blues have it all to do. Hopefully Chelsea can show some of the comeback spirit displayed in Europe last year and ensure that I’m blogging from Wembley on Sunday February 24^th.