It wasn’t pretty today. It was a slog. It was tough to watch at times. But from Chelsea’s perspective, it was worth it in the end. It wasn’t a performance that will win over the neutrals or make the accusations of tedium go away, while there are bound to be a few grumbles over the way that Eden Hazard won his penalty. But Kevin Friend’s final whistle brought confirmation of what has been on the cards for a long time: Chelsea are the champions of England for the first time since 2010. They have been the best team, Hazard has been the best player and Jose Mourinho has been the best manager. Congratulations are in order. Now they have to retain it. Thanks for reading. Bye. I’ll leave you with Daniel Taylor’s match report.
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An interview with John Terry. “Unbelievable,” Chelsea’s captain says. “We’ve worked so hard to get there. It was a little bit nervy but we’ve done it. One person said I couldn’t play two times in a week. Who knows who he is? I’ve proved him wrong. I’ve been ballboy here, I’ve been mascot, I’ve painted the stadium.”
He finishes on a classy note, sending his condolences to Rio Ferdinand after the loss of his wife, Rebecca Ellison, yesterday.
Thibaut Courtois, John Terry and Cesar Azpilicueta sink to their knees in the Chelsea area and join each other in an embrace. Soon the other two members of this formidable Chelsea defence, Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic, join them.
FULL-TIME: CHELSEA 1-0 CRYSTAL PALACE! CHELSEA HAVE WON THE PREMIER LEAGUE!
It’s over! Chelsea are the champions! Stamford Bridge wakes up erupts!
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90 min+2: One final flourish from Mourinho, Filipe Luis replacing Eden Hazard. Mourinho embraces Alan Pardew on the touchline.
90 min+1: Bolasie’s outswinger is headed down by Murray but Zouma holds Kelly off and lets the ball run through to Courtois. Chelsea have surely done it. There is one minute left.
90 min: Zaha runs at three Chelsea players on the right and crosses; Terry heads it behind. Another corner.
89 min: A free-kick to Palace on the right. It’s thrown into the area and Matic heads it behind for a corner on the left. Bolasie’s delivery is only half-cleared. Chelsea can;’t get the ball away. Zaha picks up possession on the right and sees his shot deflected wide by Zouma.
87 min: Zouma-Matic-Mikel is almost as dreamy a midfield trio as Busquets-Xavi-Iniesta. You’ve got to love the shamelessness of Mourinho.
85 min: Chelsea throw caution to the wind by bringing on Kurt Zouma for Willian. “At least they won’t win it in front of Gerrard next Sunday,” says Nick, who has no surname. “That would be too cruel.”
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83 min: Willian drills one just wide from 20 yards; up the other end, Bolasie’s shot sails off in the direction of Parsons Green.
82 min: Bolasie sends a cross into the area from the left. Sanogo wins the header and the ball drops to Zaha, whose shot from a tight angle is smothered behind by Courtois. The resulting corner is cleared.
81 min: Willian saunters down the right and drags it back to Drogba, who slashes a shot past the near post. Chelsea have woken up in the last few minutes.
80 min: Fabregas dinks a lovely lofted pass to Ivanovic. He cuts it back to Cahill - Chelsea’s defenders doing all the work - and his shot is brilliantly blocked by Ward. The ball comes to Ivanovic and he blazes the rebound over.
79 min: McArthur is booked for a shove on Willian. The free-kick is a waste of time.
76 min: Zaha tries a slide-rule pass through to Sanogo but he overhits it and the ball runs out for a goal-kick. Almost.
75 min: They could probably start erecting the podium now.
71 min: That was Jason Puncheon’s final contribution. Yaya Sanogo is on in his place. “Willian is such an important player for Chelsea - he always tracks back, can break forward quickly and, unlike Ramires, can actually dribble and take players on,” says Dante Danger. “His end product should improve, but he had had a v good season.”
69 min: Jason Puncheon shoots from 25 yards with his left foot. Courtois is beaten but the ball zips along the ground and inches past the left post.
68 min: Drogba almost bundles his way through on goal, but he can’t get his shot away. He is 37.
67 min: Chelsea’s fans are in celebratory mode.
64 min: Willian drives down the left and plays a reverse pass to Fabregas, whose low ball into the six-yard box slithers right across the face of goal. Mikel picks the ball up on the right and his cross is headed behind for a corner, which comes to nothing.
62 min: It’s probably safe to start putting the blue and white ribbons on the trophy now.
61 min: Glenn Murray replaces Jordon Mutch. Palace’s approach will be different now.
60 min: Martin Kelly replaces Adrian Mariappa.
59 min: Chelsea decide to let their hair down for a minute and John Obi Mikel gets into the spirit of the occasion by having his first shot since 2009. Drogba held the ball up for him and Mikel skipped past a challenge before shooting straight at Speroni from 20 yards.
58 min: Martin Kelly will be on shortly for Palace.
56 min: Ivanovic takes aim from 25 yards. He hits it well, but it the ball fizzes wide. Speroni had it covered.
54 min: Fabregas tries to slide Drogba through on goal, but the lines of communication break down between them.
51 min: There’s a strong chance that nothing is going to happen between now and the final whistle.
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49 min: The Chelsea fans are cheering a spell of keep-ball from their team. Mourinho won’t like that.
47 min: Hazard has a touch of the ball. The Palace fans boo. They are still aggrieved about that penalty.
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46 min: With Mikel on in place of the disappointing Cuadrado - will be loaned to Roma next January - Palace get the second half underway.
Beep! Beep! Beep! It’s the sound of the Chelsea bus reversing into position. John Obi Mikel is replacing Juan Cuadrado.
In super slo-mo, there’s an argument that Hazard’s knee clashes with McArthur. The Sky panel think that Hazard looked for contact, but are unanimous in their verdict: penalty.
Half-time: Chelsea 1-0 Crystal Palace
Eden Hazard has scored and Chelsea are 45 minutes away from the title. The champions-elect have played badly and it was a questionable penalty, but they won’t care. This isn’t over, though. Palace have arguably been the better side.
45 min+2: Adrian Mariappa is booked for fouling Hazard.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Crystal Palace (Hazard, 45 min)
Chelsea take one giant stride towards the title and how fitting that their best player has made the breakthrough. That said, it was a terrible penalty from Hazard. He tried to give Speroni the eyes and rolled a dismal effort straight down the middle, Speroni not conned. However the Palace goalkeeper only succeeded in spooning the ball into the air and Hazard headed the rebound into the bottom-left corner.
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PENALTY TO CHELSEA!
44 min: Eden Hazard has been anonymous. But this is what he can do. He bursts on to a backheel from Willian on the left and then makes the most of very minimal contact with McArthur to win a penalty! Has Kevin Friend been conned? McArthur tried to pull his leg away. Palace aren’t happy.
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43 min: Mutch slides a clever class behind Ivanovic for Ward. He reaches the byline and drills in a low cross, but Courtois is alive to the danger.
42 min: Azipilcueta finds space on the left, Palace falling asleep, but his cross is too close to Speroni.
39 min: Bolasie dinks a cross into the area from the left. It’s headed away as far as Ledley, who rushes a volley wide from 20 yards. Palace are giving Chelsea a few things to think about.
38 min: Zaha fouls Willian on the right. Fabregas’s teasing delivery is headed away by Dann and Palace attempt to counter, but Terry pulls McArthur back and picks up a booking.
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37 min: Fabregas raps a pass into Drogba’s feet. Drogba lays it off to him and Fabregas has space on the edge of the area and has a swing with his left foot, only to thrash at thin air. How embarrassing. Azpilicueta arrives on the scene, but he blasts the ball over the bar.
35 min: Fabregas shoots from 25 yards. It’s a tame effort. Speroni had time to nip out to Fulham Broadway, buy a cap, dash back into position and throw it on the ball. “I don’t understand why the debate how much we should like/respect Chelsea is always reduced to what your opinion of Mourinho and his defensive football is,” says Shaun Wilkinson. “I for one think Mourinho is perfectly entitled to set his teams up that way (even if he might want to stop whingeing when other teams do it). However, there are plenty of other reasons to dislike them that are more justified, my own personal one being their systematic stockpiling of players and subsequentabuse/manipulation of the loan system.”
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34 min: A pass from Fabregas drifts out of play. Stamford Bridge is a bit muted. The noise is coming from the Palace fans at the moment.
31 min: Chelsea aren’t doing much. Not that it necessarily means anything. This might be when they’re at their most dangerous. They’re not playing well, though.
29 min: Zaha cuts in from the left and whips a low cross into the Chelsea area. It should be cleared easily by Terry, but he fluffs his lines and sends the ball straight to Puncheon. He takes a touch and gets the ball on to his left foot. His goalbound shot takes a slight nick off Azpilicueta and flies on to the sliding Terry’s outstretched arm. Penalty? Kevin Friend waves Palace’s appeals away, ruling that it wasn’t a deliberate handball by Terry.
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27 min: A free-kick to Chelsea just outside the area, Puncheon penalised for bringing Fabregas down. It’s just to the left and Drogba shoots. His laced effort dips and wobbles in the air and although it’s straight at Speroni, the Palace keeper spills the shot and has to react quickly to claw the ball away before a Chelsea player can turn it in. From there, Palace counter and Zaha skins Ivanovic on the left, forcing the Chelsea right-back to bring him down. Ivanovic is booked.
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24 min: The corner is hung to the far post by Fabregas and Cahill heads it into the mixer, but Speroni plucks the ball off Terry’s head.
23 min: Scott Dann is booked for bringing down a scampering Willian on the left. Fabregas swings the free-kick into the area and Speroni, with a clutch of Chelsea attackers around him, makes a total mess of his punch, timing it horribly and sending the ball towards the general vicinity of his unguarded goal. Palace could argue that the Chelsea attackers are offside, mind you, but the flag stays down; no one really understands the law any more, do they? Luckily for Palace, the ball is heading wide and Speroni is back in position by the time Matic reaches it. Matic turns and shoots from an angle, but Speroni diverts it behind for a corner.
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22 min: “Yeah, nice try in your preamble but I am buying pretty much none of it,” says JR in Illinois. “I realised that I may not have much respect for Mourinho in 2004 and the amount of respect I have for him has gone down steadily since then. There’s really no room for it to go any lower. And contrary to Mr. Dony’s assertion, I actually do not have to admit that any league is better with Mourinho in it. In fact, I can’t wait for him to be out of the Premier League and preferably out of football altogether.”
20 min: Kevin Friend has a minor disagreement to deal with, Ivanovic reacting angrily after Mutch had a needless kick out at him. The referee calms both men down, although be under no illusions, Ivanovic has just written Jordon Mutch’s name down in his little black book. Watch this space.
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18 min: A moment that sums up Wilfried Zaha. The Palace winger produces an outrageous piece of skill to humiliate Cuadrado on the left, only to ruin it immediately with an abysmal cross. Combine that ability with more of an end product and he would be some player.
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17 min: Cuadrado has an ambitious pop from 30 yards. The ball flies a few yards over the bar.
16 min: Drogba walks away, leaving it to Fabregas and, er, Ivanovic. Something’s up here. Palace’s spidey senses start to tingle. Sure enough, Chelsea have worked on this one on the training ground. Ivanovic runs over the ball and peels away to the left. Fabregas clips the free-kick to him and Ivanovic heads towards the far post, but it’s too close to Speroni.
15 min: Mariappa rakes his studs down Hazard’s achilles. Hazard felt that one. He’s limping a little. Chelsea, meanwhile, have a free-kick 35 yards from goal. Does Drogba fancy it?
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14 min: Then again, maybe not. Chelsea counter, Cuadrado finding Hazard on the right. He runs at Ward, beats him on the outside and drives a low ball into the six-yard box. Palace panic it behind, but nothing comes from the corner.
13 min: A free-kick to Palace in the Chelsea half, just past the centre-circle. Another chance to put pressure on the Chelsea defence. Terry nuts it away. But Palace’s belief may well be growing.
11 min: Puncheon drifts the corner to the far post. Dann heads it back across goal, the ball landing at Bolasie’s feet. He tries to turn and shoot, but his effort is blocked by Terry. Scrappiness ensues and the ball is flung back into the area by Puncheon, only for the flag to go up for offside against Dann.
10 min: Palace are coming into this. Zaha stands Azpilicueta up again and crosses to the near post. It’s headed behind for another corner.
9 min: Mutch thinks he’s won another corner on the left, only for Kevin Friend to award a goal-kick. The Palace midfielder is unimpressed.
8 min: Palace turn up in the Chelsea area for the first time and Zaha, twisting and turning, wins a corner on the left after the linesman fails to spot an obvious offside. There will be ructions if Palace score from this. Mutch was two yards offside in that move, but the flag stayed down. Puncheon’s corner is headed away at the near post, though.
6 min: “Are you referring to ‘Glad All Over’ by the Dave Clark Five - my fave group in the 1960’s when I was about 4 or 5,” says Mark Judd. “I’ve wanted to play the drums ever since. Has to be ‘Glad All Over’.” What else?
5 min: “We’re top of the league,” chant the Chelsea fans. “We’re top of the league. We’re top of the league, we’re top of the league, we’re top of the league.” Simple but effective.
4 min: Drogba stands over the ball. It’s teed up for him to strike, but his effort is charged down.
3 min: Fabregas exchanges passes sharply with Willian and is sent flying by a late lunge from Mariappa. Palace aren’t happy but Chelsea have a free-kick 25 yards from goal, just to the left.
2 min: This is a bright, confident start from Chelsea, who have set up camp in Palace’s half. Cesc Fabregas chips a ball over the Palace defence, looking for Drogba, but it’s just over his head and Speroni claims it. A glancing touch from Drogba there and he probably would have scored, given that Speroni was off his line.
And we’re off! Chelsea, all in blue and kicking from left to right in the first half, get us underway at a sunny Stamford Bridge. Crystal Palace are wearing yellow shirts and light blue shorts. “I have never liked Chelsea, but I respect them and I completely agree with your preamble,” says Matt Dony. “I was brought up on Serie A football in the early 90’s on Sgorio (shout out to S4C!) and so naturally appreciate the fine arts of defending, and if someone doesn’t enjoy watching Hazard, then I don’t want to be friends with that person. I have less time for Costa, though. He spends more time on the ‘thug’ side of the line, rather than ‘spikey, loveable rogue’. If Liverpool had been half as ‘boring’ as Chelsea, they’d have won the league last year. And, let’s face it, for all his divisiveness, any league is inherently better with Mourinho than without.”
Which is better? Liquidator or Glad All Over?
Here come the teams. In 90 minutes or so, Chelsea are likely to be the champions of England.
The reason for Ramires’s absence is illness.
Breaking team news
There has been a change to the Chelsea team. Ramires has had to pull out during the warm-up and Juan Cuadrado has replaced him.
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An intriguing look to that Palace team. Alan Pardew has made four changes from last week’s defeat to Hull City and he has decided to go without a recognised striker, Wilfried Zaha and Jason Puncheon flanking Palace’s Messi, Yannick Bolasie. Who does Pardew think he is? Craig Levein?
Team news
Chelsea: Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Fabregas, Matic; Ramires, Willian, Hazard; Drogba. Subs: Cech, Luis, Zouma, Mikel, Remy, Cuadrado, Loftus-Cheek.
Crystal Palace: Speroni; Mariappa, Delaney, Dann, Ward; McArthur, Ledley, Mutch; Puncheon, Bolasie, Zaha. Subs: Hangeland, Sanogo, Hennessey, Jedinak, Murray, Lee, Kelly.
Referee: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire)
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Preamble
Hello. It’s probably time to give this Chelsea team some love. Sorry if that sends a chill down your spine, but it’s time. It’s May, and while I’m pretty sure you can leave filling in your tax return until then, it seems pretty off that there’s still not much praise for the country’s best side - the country’s best side by a sizeable margin, no less. Their critics say that their football is too boring and Jose Mourinho’s antics can be hard to stomach at times. But Chelsea have been top since the first day. They were often a delight to watch in the first half of the season, until injuries and suspensions to key players, coupled with Mourinho’s natural countering inclinations, began to lessen their powers of entertainment from January onwards. Yet they have had the league’s best striker, Diego Costa, and he has thrilled us with his rambunctious forward play. Eden Hazard, who collected the PFA player of the year award last Sunday, is a stunning footballer and he is surely only going to get better - a frightening prospect. Cesc Fabregas’s influence has been diminished in the second half of the season, but has there been a better midfield partnership than his one with Nemanja Matic.
Boring? Well, defending properly is not a crime and more of Chelsea’s rivals might like to give it a try. This is a team whose players have no problem with gritting their teeth and mucking in to do the ugly stuff and if that can make Chelsea look clunky at times, what you can generally count on is that they will never wilt; they are remarkably strong-willed and a champion spirit, much of it down to the mentality instilled by Mourinho in his first spell, runs through this club. Sniff all you like, but wouldn’t you like your team to have that win-at-all-costs attitude? It is wrong to say that history only remembers the winners, as Gary Neville suggested on Wednesday night, but the appeal of glorious failure wears off eventually.
Are Chelsea perfect? No, they proved otherwise when they lost to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League; the manner of that defeat still rankles and there is room for improvement. But Chelsea will be champions with three games to spare if they beat Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge today. Okay, you don’t have to love them, but you do have to respect them.
NB: The above could all be total nonsense. I’m operating on four hour’s sleep after staying up for the fight - is Mayweather boxing’s Chelsea equivalent? - and I might cry, leave me alone.
Kick-off: 1.30pm.
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