34) Newcastle United 0 - 0 Chelsea Fc

Sun, 22nd Apr 2007 Chelsea failed to take advantage of Manchester United's home draw with Middlesbrough yesterday, and in a tired looking performance moved back to three points behind the Premiership leaders. Essien played at the back in the absence of injured Carvalho. Ballack limped off injured early in the game. With Essien suspended against Liverpool in the Champions League on Wednesday, Chelsea could find themselves struggling for numbers again. There was a heart-in-mouth first minute. Solano slipped and accidentally studded Lampard who needed to compose himself for a few seconds to recover; then Cech was beaten to a cross by Martins and Ferreira sliced his overhead clearance into the air, but the goalkeeper caught comfortably this time. Chelsea embarked on some fine possession play which frustrated Newcastle into giving the ball away when they finally won it on a couple of occasions. In the eighth minute Kalou raced outside Bramble, got to the by-line and pulled the ball back where Carr seemed to intercept it with his hand as Drogba challenged. Drogba fell to earth clutching his head in disbelief when no penalty was given. Soon, Ballack was in the wars as well, injuring his ankle when tackling with Bramble, and after treatment and a few minutes of limping in pain, he finally left the field of play to be replaced by Mikel. Mikel went to the left of the midfield diamond and Lampard to the front. A stalemate followed with a high number of tackles - due to poor passing, poor control and plenty of bodies in the middle of the park - and no shots. In the end it was Carr, of all people, a right-back at left-back, who got forward on an overlap and played the ball in from just wide of the six yard box. Essien got a touch, Makelele hooked away, and the danger was cleared, but it was the best position anyone had created. Terry, meanwhile, was getting increasingly angry with referee Halsey when twice he went up for Lampard free-kicks and felt he was impeded by Sibierski. Noticeably, after his first outraged reaction, Sibierski was less physical on the second one and Terry got his header in. But he still felt he was fouled. Neither side managed a first-half effort on target. The interval whistle clearly screamed at both managers to come up with new solutions for the second-half. There were no half-time substitutions and there was no change of shape by either side.

But within two minutes Kalou had tricked his way outside Solano and Bramble and pulled the ball back for Lampard who fired over. Kalou was proving Chelsea's brightest spark. A minute later he got round the back again, but this time Chelsea were crowded out and Drogba's ultimate attempted curler was badly high. But things didn't improve. So nine minutes into the half Joe Cole replaced WrightPhillips. Chelsea switched to 4-3-3. Newcastle should have taken the lead two minutes before the hour. Emre slipped past Lampard, Butt fed Dyer with a pass inside Bridge and his shot was wonderfully blocked by Cech timing his spread perfectly. It was the first on-target shot of the afternoon. From the resulting corner, Martins had a free header but missed the target. A minute past the hour Chelsea should have scored. Cole got into a good position and crossed low from the left, Lampard arrived and challenged and the ball ran to Kalou who just couldn't get the contact to finish. He sat and held his head in despair. You could sense Chelsea beginning to get frustrated. An attempted through ball by Lampard for Drogba flashed past him and both players held their heads in anguish. Immediately, at the other end, Sibierski headed over. There was still no pattern of play. Essien became the first booking midway through the second-half when he raced wide after Martins and cut him down with his attempted tackle. Chelsea cleared the free-kick. More wasted free-kicks followed by both sides, but when Sibierski again blocked Terry's run, Terry was once again whistled up and the frustrations almost boiled over. Before the next one, for a foul on Cole, and after Shevchenko had replaced Makelele,, referee Halsey pulled Solano and Terry away and lectured both. Lampard's free-kick was poor but Chelsea forced a corner. Sibierski limped away with what looked a groin strain. Shevchenko was in midfield with Cole continuing to play wide. Drogba sort-of nodded a long throw on target, Chelsea's first proper effort, though whether it would have reached the line is debateable. Mikel was booked for tripping Emre. Chelsea looked tired and not full of ideas. A lung-bursting run from Essien set up Cole to cross, but there was no threat to Harper and when Emre countered Lampard was booked for blocking him.

In stoppage time, substitute Carroll, a big forward player, crossed low and well and Chelsea were stretched to clear. With two minutes of it left, Terry was pushed forward. Immediately, Ferreira pushed forward for the first time and his cross was missed by Cole as it fizzed across the area. So Manchester United remain in the driving seat for the Premiership title… just. But with four games to go this weekend made it look like the team who can stumble over the finishing line first will win. Newcastle (4-4-1-1) Harper; Solano, Bramble, Taylor, Carr; Dyer, Butt (c), Emre, Milner; Sibierski (Carroll 78); Martins. Chelsea (4-1-2-1-2) Cech; Ferreira, Essien, Terry (c), Bridge; Makelele (Shevchenko 76); Wright-Phillips (J Cole 54), Lampard; Ballack (Mikel 17); Drogba, Kalou. Booked Essien (66), Mikel (82), Lampard (85).