EPL Week 1: Drogba Rescues Chelsea With Double In Season Opener
August 15th 2009 19:14
It's been a long summer but the Barclay's Premier League is finally back in action with Carlo Ancelotti's Chelsea raising the curtain against Hull City.
What was promised to be an easy match for the Blues turned into a frustrating exercise as Hull basically locked down the middle of the pitch like they did last year when they held Chelsea to a 0-0 draw. This time around, Hull made their hosts' situation even worse when Stephen Hunt scored the opening goal after a mad scramble in Petr Cech's penalty box a couple of minutes before the half-hour mark. The goal was a stab in the gut especially when Didier Drogba had missed an excellent opportunity in the opening minutes of the game.
The Ivorian striker made up for this botched attempt ten minutes after Hunt's goal by equalizing the score with a superb free-kick struck à la Ronaldo. When the whistle for the break came, it was clear that Hull weren't going to step out of their territory anymore with Chelsea pressing and them trying to settle for a draw.
The second half looked quite similar to the final minutes of the first in the sense that Chelsea had most of the possession while the visitors simply hung back to weather the storm. Although the hosts struggled to get anything going in the opposition's box, their incessant attacks had the benefit of wearing down Hull players, especially the midfielders who had lost the ability to sprint by the hour-mark. Finally, it was Drogba who through once again in the 91st minute by lobbing the Tigers' goalkeeper despite having practically no angle.
With his double, Drogba fully deserves the Man of the Match title. With Frank Lampard having a terrible performance on that day – the English midfielder was like a flickering light, on and off during the whole game but mostly off – Chelsea needed someone to come through for them and Drogba did. Great performance by the striker.
Chelsea's line-up: Petr Cech, Jose Bosingwa, Ricardo Carvalho, John Terry, Ashley Cole; Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel (Michael Ballack, h-t), Frank Lampard, Florent Malouda (Deco, 68th); Nicolas Anelka (Salomon Kalou, 79th), Diddier Drogba.
What was promised to be an easy match for the Blues turned into a frustrating exercise as Hull basically locked down the middle of the pitch like they did last year when they held Chelsea to a 0-0 draw. This time around, Hull made their hosts' situation even worse when Stephen Hunt scored the opening goal after a mad scramble in Petr Cech's penalty box a couple of minutes before the half-hour mark. The goal was a stab in the gut especially when Didier Drogba had missed an excellent opportunity in the opening minutes of the game.
The Ivorian striker made up for this botched attempt ten minutes after Hunt's goal by equalizing the score with a superb free-kick struck à la Ronaldo. When the whistle for the break came, it was clear that Hull weren't going to step out of their territory anymore with Chelsea pressing and them trying to settle for a draw.
The second half looked quite similar to the final minutes of the first in the sense that Chelsea had most of the possession while the visitors simply hung back to weather the storm. Although the hosts struggled to get anything going in the opposition's box, their incessant attacks had the benefit of wearing down Hull players, especially the midfielders who had lost the ability to sprint by the hour-mark. Finally, it was Drogba who through once again in the 91st minute by lobbing the Tigers' goalkeeper despite having practically no angle.
With his double, Drogba fully deserves the Man of the Match title. With Frank Lampard having a terrible performance on that day – the English midfielder was like a flickering light, on and off during the whole game but mostly off – Chelsea needed someone to come through for them and Drogba did. Great performance by the striker.
Chelsea's line-up: Petr Cech, Jose Bosingwa, Ricardo Carvalho, John Terry, Ashley Cole; Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel (Michael Ballack, h-t), Frank Lampard, Florent Malouda (Deco, 68th); Nicolas Anelka (Salomon Kalou, 79th), Diddier Drogba.
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