Chelsea’s woes continue with defeat to Birmingham City
Chelsea succumbed to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Mcleish’s Birmingham City on a weekend that also saw Tottenham rise against Arsenal in a thrilling 2-3 win while Manchester United claim second spot with Chelsea hanging on at the top by a mere goal difference
of six. This defeat is Chelsea’s third out of their last four Premier League games this season, a worrying fact for Blues fans as the last time Chelsea lost three games in a Premier League season this early; they ended up in 6th position.
The only goal scorer was Birmingham’s Lee Bowyer, who struck home in the 17th minute after receiving the ball from Cameron Jerome. It was the only shot on target for Birmingham during the whole game as opposed to Chelsea’s 9 shots on target. That
statistic alone reveals the noteworthy performance by Birmingham goal-keeper, Ben Foster. Birmingham’s shock goal perhaps should not be termed as surprising at all. Bowyer was unmarked and hungry for his first goal of the season and was only too eager to tuck
one in with his left foot past Cech when he was headed the ball by Jerome after he received a cross from right winger Larsson.
After going one up, Mcleish’s men seemed determined to sit on their lead and fought tooth and nail to deny Chelsea an equaliser. Foster fell to his right to stop a shot from the right side of the box by Drogba and soon after responded fantastically when
Drogba tried to head home a shot from Anelka. Ashley Cole was denied a goal by the heroic keeper after he blocked a shot from the English international who seemed determined to make something out of the pass he received from Kalou. Chelsea saw another great
chance fail as Alex headed a ball past the post from Malouda’s corner. Drogba took a 30-yard-free-kick which bounced right off Foster’s hands and the Ivorian had one more opportunity at 38 minutes when his header struck the woodwork instead of the net.
Other frustrating misses for the Blues were Kalou’s terrible kick, which went over the bar when Foster was not even at the goal-line. The visitors had a 62% possession at 66 minutes and still failed to step up. With Jose Bosingwa coming on for Paulo Ferreira,
and Cech coming all the way up to mid-field when possible, Chelsea seemed frantic and yet Birmingham stiffly stood their ground. Foster firmly caught the ball from a Drogba free kick and didn’t need to do anything to stop Kalou, whose header went wide but
did scramble to claim the ball when Kalou received it from a back-pass by Scott Dann.
Bosingwa was fouled by Ridgewell, who was subsequently shown the yellow card but it was too late for Chelsea to gain anything from their match at the midlands. Disappointed Chelsea fans could be seen leaving St. Andrew’s stadium at 80 minutes and one cannot
blame them as they are used to seeing their side win against mid-table teams. This was a match in which Chelsea ought to have won if they wanted to counter rivals, Arsenal and Manchester United’s bid for the title. Chelsea had plenty of opportunities to level,
some of the attempts on goal coming from their astounding number of 16 corners throughout the match.
Chelsea’s manager Ancelotti had a lot of answering to do in reference to Chelsea’s third loss and retorted by saying that his team “did not deserve to lose”. He elaborated further, "We didn't win because we were unlucky and because [Birmingham goalkeeper]
Ben Foster played a good game. It is just the result that was disappointing."
Meanwhile, Alex McLeish said of his Birmingham side, "We have had plenty of bad luck this season so far. Maybe we got a bit of luck today.” He was quick to sing praises of Ben Foster, calling the goal keeper “superb” and in “top-form.”
Chelsea next face MSK Zilina in a UEFA Champions League fixture on Tuesday before facing Newcastle on Saturday, the 28th of November.
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