3) Blackburn Rovers 0 - 2 Chelsea Fc

27TH August 2006 A penalty by Frank Lampard and an outstanding goal by substitute Didier Drogba gave Chelsea just our third away win in 12 games on the road - 14 if you include matches at neutral venues. After the defeat at Middlesbrough it was a much needed victory, but came on the back of a very unconvincing first-half performance. Khalid Boulahrouz made his debut at right-back, and Petr Cech and Michael Ballack returned from injury, the latter to make his Premiership debut. Chelsea went back to the midfield diamond shape which kicked off the Community Shield but was ditched in the first-half with the injury to Ballack. Now he and Makelele could play together for the first time. But Drogba wasn't up front, having trained very little since Wednesday's game at Middlesbrough due to a kick he received in that match. Kalou played in a two-man attack with Shevchenko. Kalou's enthusiasm led to him winning early ball a couple of times in Blackburn's half, but also to him conceding free-kicks in Chelsea's. From one, in the 22nd minute, Pedersen's shot deflected off Kalou himself leaving Cech wrong-footed, but the ball looped over the bar. Savage, of course, was in the thick of things. Ballack caught him early on and apologised. He went through Ballack a few minutes later and was talked to by the referee. Then he went high into Essien who saw it coming and turned so that Savage hit him at full pelt and bounced to the ground injured. The home crowd booed Essien. They booed referee Clattenburg even more when he correctly gave Chelsea the free-kick and booked Savage. The game had started with Chelsea's best forward possession coming from the team's pressing of Blackburn full-backs Emerton and Neill who were extremely generous with their negligence on the ball and their distribution. But Chelsea were struggling to find a tempo. Boulahrouz clearly preferred a short-ball game, Ballack was always looking to benefit from first touch, and Kalou's dribbling was not ending in product. Shevchenko was struggling to get involved at all As a result, the tempo slowed at times to almost stationery. But Chelsea still managed the first shot on target. Bridge nicked the ball off Bentley near the halfway line, Ballack swiftly moved it on to Shevchenko, and from distance he wellied a low shot which Friedel took two attempts to gather. The frustrated Chelsea following chanted: "Come on Chelsea," at the away team, and the players seemed to respond. Just before half-time the best passing movement of the match climaxed with Lampard slipping in Kalou who was clearly impeded from behind by Neill, but as at Ewood Park last season Chelsea were denied a clear penalty. But three minutes into the second-half the deserved penalty came. It started with a Lampard free-kick after Ballack had been perhaps fortunate to have won the decision off Savage. Lampard floated it in, and Blackburn new boy and debutant Ooijer wrestled Terry to the ground from behind. It was a ludicrous piece of defending, taking the recent holding episodes in goalmouths to new extremes.

Ooijer was booked, and Lampard did what he always does at penalties if there are doubts about him. He whacked. Friedel went the right way, to his right, but had no chance. Chelsea were in the lead. Blackburn's defence started deteriorating. In separate incidents Shevchenko and Kalou both nearly benefited from indecision but failed to get in a shot. Chelsea's problem was a lack of width. Four basic central midfielders meant that Essien was trying to pull wide on the right and Bridge get forward up the left. With Bentley and Pedersen on the flanks for Blackburn, the home side had enjoyed some unchallenged crosses in the first-half, and nine minutes into the second their width nearly provided the equaliser. Neill drove a cross-field pass to fellow full-back Emerton who raced forward unshadowed and crossed for McCarthy to pull the ball down and quickly shoot. Cechspread himself and deflected the effort away. The goalkeeper's value could not have been made more clear. Drogba replaced Kalou and was immediately in the thick of things, twice being whistled up by Clattenburg, and being booed by Blackburn fans like Savage is booed by everyone else. Blackburn continued to defend dreadfully. Both Bridge and Shevchenko failed when free on the left to find Chelsea shirts with their crosses. Blackburn kept pushing forward down the flanks, and Makelele was booked for holding - yes, Savage was the man -when failing to play himself out of trouble as two players Blackburn closed in. Fortunately for Chelsea Pedersen was badly out of form, and his crossing and finishing had been woeful. He became the first Blackburn player to be replaced, Gallagher coming on. As the game picked up tempo going into the final quarter, Chelsea found trouble as at Middlesbrough in keeping possession. The counter-attacks saw the forwards isolated, and the ball kept coming back. Carvalho was lucky after one Shevchenko run had been repelled to let go of Roberts' shirt in the penalty area just before the forward had an opportunity to go down. Chances still fell Chelsea's way and didn't go in, and as the frustration got to the team they became more stretched. The poor covering wide was accentuated when Emerton got forward again, and in the end Bentley had a free cross which was cleared only to the other full-back Neill who shot narrowly wide from just over 20 yards. With ten minutes left, the counter finally paid. Swift one-touch - high tempo at last resulted in Drogba racing with Ooijer one on one from Essien's pass and he muscled him off the ball and battered a right-footer from just inside the area into the roof of the net. It was a wonderful goal. There was still time left for Cech to turn over a Savage free-kick to help keep his 51st clean sheet in 91 appearances. Khizanishvili was booked before the end for a foul on Drogba as he charged through again. He was a real handful coming off the bench. It was not a masterful Chelsea performance. But the win was, in the end, by a clear margin. This was grand for confidence. As for Blackburn, who attracted a crowd of just 19,398 and saw many of them leave before the end, things may not work out so well this season.

Blackburn (4-4-2) Friedel; Emerton, Ooijer, Khizanishvili, Neill (c); Bentley, Savage, Reid, Pedersen; Roberts, McCarthy. Booked Savage (25), Ooijer (48), Khizanishvili (90). Chelsea (4-1-3-2) Cech; Boulahrouz, Carvalho, Terry (c), Bridge; Makelele (Mikel 87); Essien, Ballack, Lampard; Shevchenko (Wright-Phillips 82), Kalou (Drogba 56). Scorers Lampard (pen 48), Drogba (80). Booked Makelele (66).