Chelsea keep double dream alive

Stun leaders Liverpool with a 2-0 win at Anfield to continue EPL, CL title hunt.

LONDON:

Chelsea remain in the hunt for a Premier League and Champions League double after a 2-0 win away at leaders Liverpool on Sunday.

Victory saw Jose Mourinho’s men close to within two points of top spot in the Premier League with two games to play.

Senegal striker Demba Ba gave Chelsea the lead in first-half stoppage time when a slip by Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard allowed him to charge through and beat Reds goalkeeper Simon Mignolet in a one-on-one.



Chelsea put the result beyond doubt in added time at the end of the match when, with the hosts pressing for an equaliser, former Liverpool striker Fernando Torres led a counter-attack before squaring the ball to substitute Willian for a simple finish.

Despite Sunday’s success on Merseyside, Chelsea manager Mourinho insisted either Liverpool or Manchester City would end the season as champions of England.

“Now we can say we won both matches against the champions,” Mourinho told Sky Sports. “If it’s Liverpool, we won both. If it’s City, we won both.

“With these three points we need one point to finish third. It was a good season for us and an evolution in many aspects of this team.

“The champions will be City or Liverpool so we have nothing to celebrate.

“Obviously many people would be expecting us to come here and lose 3-0 or 5-0 like others,” the Portuguese added after making seven changes to his starting side at Anfield.

“But the boys had an amazing performance and I’m so happy for them and for the fans. This is the spirit we always want at Chelsea Football Club.”



Earlier on Sunday, Sunderland climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone with a 4-0 win at home to 110-man fellow strugglers Cardiff City.

Connor Wickham headed Sunderland, who kicked off bottom of the table, into a 26th-minute lead at the Stadium of Light but the match turned decisively in favour of the home side on the stroke of half-time.

Wickham burst clear and was bearing down on goal when his shirt was tugged by Cardiff centre-back Juan Cala, whose poor back-pass had let him in.

Phil Dowd played an advantage after Wickham stayed on his feet but, when that didn’t lead to a goal, the referee blew for a penalty and sent off Cala.

Fabio Borini, as he’d done in Sunderland’s shock 2-1 win over Chelsea last week, scored from the spot.

Emanuele Giaccherini put the result beyond doubt by making it 3-0 in the 76th minute before Wickham headed in his second goal four minutes from time.



Defeat plunged Cardiff to the bottom, two points shy of safety with two games to play.

An elated Wickham told the BBC: “I’m over the moon. I can’t ask for much more. We’re out of the relegation zone and we’ll keep fighting to stay there.”

Giggs focused on next match

Saturday saw Ryan Giggs staying adamant that he had given no further thought to the position of full-time Manchester United manager despite starting his caretaker reign with an emphatic 4-0 win over Norwich City.

“Honestly, I’m just looking forward to Sunderland now,” said Giggs ahead of United’s match at home to the relegation-threatened side on Saturday, May 3.

“That’s it. That’s what my focus and concentration is on. I’m not looking any further ahead than that.”

In Monday’s fixture, Arsenal will move four points in front of Everton with two games to play if they beat Newcastle United at the Emirates Stadium.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2014.

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