SOCCER: Chelsea 3 Birmingham City 1MANCHESTER UNITED will not be quaking in their boots just yet, but Chelsea, with little fanfare and virtually unnoticed, are creeping back into contention.
The defending champions strolled to victory here, the ease at which they had brushed Birmingham City aside even reflected in passages of sloppiness after the interval that had Carlo Ancelotti pacing his technical area in frustration. Complacency cannot be tolerated but, privately, the Italian will be buoyed. Perhaps even optimistic.
This win, and Arsenal’s inability to retain a two-goal lead at Tottenham Hotspur, meant the champions rose to second place having now claimed 19 points from the last 21 available.
United have still to visit the Emirates and, a week later on May 8th, Chelsea travel to Old Trafford for what may yet be a decisive fixture.
This had been billed as an awkward occasion, yet any thoughts Alex McLeish’s side had entertained of containment, with tactics geared towards frustrating the London side, had been jettisoned in the rat-a-tat of the opening moments.
By the interval this game felt as if it had long since been settled and Chelsea, purring at the ease of it all, were threatening a rout.
The lead stood at two goals by then, the advantage established so early as to render City’s game plan obsolete. John Terry’s raking pass to the right had found Paulo Ferreira unmarked and granted so much time he could recover from stepping on the ball to reposition his body and fling over a centre that prompted panic.
Didier Drogba, a player reborn in recent weeks, leapt to flick on at the near post with Florent Malouda bursting ahead of Stephen Carr to score with relish.
Chelsea were irresistible in passages, only occasionally exposed by Cameron Jerome’s brawn or Sebastian Larsson’s invention, to recall memories of their scintillating conclusion to last season.
Salomon Kalou rasped in a second having veered smartly away from Roger Johnson and Stuart Parnaby. Ben Foster stood static and aghast as that attempt cannoned in from his post, but was smarter in denying Drogba, twice, and Frank Lampard further reward.
City, in lower mid-table but only five points clear of the cut-off, could not afford to be embarrassed. The damage inflicted might have been as significant psychologically as it was to their goal difference and theirs remains a tricky run-in, with daunting trips to Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle to come.
Johnson’s header wide from Larsson’s corner hinted at a riposte, but that was born from the hosts’ sloppiness. The sense persisted that Chelsea would have to self-destruct to offer Birmingham any hope, a feeling confirmed when David Luiz needlessly tripped Matt Derbyshire 14 minutes from time for Larsson to score from the spot.
Yet, by then, Chelsea had long since appeared comfortable. Their lead had stretched to three for a while, the substitute Ryan Bertrand having put in a wonderful cross barely five minutes into his first-team debut for the club for Malouda, unnoticed between centre-halves, to leap and nod in a 13th goal of the season. The visiting centre-halves had dawdled, softened up by Drogba’s muscular presence.
There were flashes of the striker of last season who had scored 37 goals and left defenders’ reputations battered and bruised. His has been a timely return to form and fitness.
The introduction of Fernando Torres soon after the third only added to the visitors’ concern.
GuardianService
CHELSEA: Cech, Ferreira, David Luiz, Terry, Cole (Bertrand 56), Essien, Mikel, Lampard, Kalou (Torres 67), Drogba, Malouda (Anelka 67). Subs not used: Turnbull, Ivanovic, Benayoun, Zhirkov.
BIRMINGHAM CITY: Foster, Carr, Johnson, Ridgewell, Parnaby (Davies 79), Larsson, Gardner, Ferguson, Fahey, Hleb (Bentley 70), Jerome (Derbyshire 70). Subs not used: Doyle, Bowyer, Phillips, Beausejour. Booked: Parnaby.
Referee: M Jones (Cheshire).
