Portsmouth – Chelsea

1. John Terry and Pedro Mendes are notable absentees as Pompey and Chelsea line up against each other at Fratton Park. Chelsea will be looking to claw back the 12 point deficit which title rivals Manchester United have opened up on Jose Mourinho's men. Defeat today would surely sound a death knell to the Londoners abmitions of a third title in a row.

2. Chelsea get us underway and Pompey will be looking for their first win in fifty years against them today.

3. Linvoy Primus slices an easy clearance out for a Chelsea throw.

4. 1'

   Lampard goes in well against O'Neil to concede a throw. O'Neil then gets it back but his cross comes off Matt Taylor for a goal-kick.

5. 2'

   Arjen Robben is caught offside.

6. 3'

   LuaLua just overhits a pass to O'Neil who had got himself in to a good position.

7. 4'

   Chelsea are calmness personified as they play the ball out of defence before Ballack concedes cheaply in midfield.

8. 5'

   Diarra is brought down by Taylor out on the right wing and Chelsea get the free-kick.

9. 7'

   Kanu is felled by Lampard and Pompey take a quick free-kick. Kanu gets his lanky frame up to win a header which LuaLua latches on to before hitting a shot which Cech has to get down low to save.

10. 9'

    Lampard plays a cross-field pass to Diarra whose shot is barely worthy of the name.

11. 10'

    Portmsouth have a corner but Frank Lampard deflects it away.

12. 11'

    Portsmouth are certainly having the better of the opening part of the game and are pressing Chelsea. The Blues are soaking up the pressure though and with Robben and Drogba up front will always be confident of sneaking the first goal.

13. 13'

    Shevchenko robs Djimi Traore who was sleeping there.

14. 14'

    Free-kick to Portsmouth thirty yards out.

15. 15'

    Taylor's shot hits the wall and goes behind for a corner.

16. 16'

    Cech comes confidently to claim the ball when Pompey take the corner.

17. 17'

    Cole hits a wasteful ball over the bar after good work from Shevchenko and Drogba.

18. 18'

    Robben's cross in is cleared by Sol Campbell who dealt with the skidding ball well.

19. 19'

    Now Robben is caught offside.

20. 19'

    Drogba and Primus chase a long ball but David James rushes from the safety of his area to head the ball away.

21. 20'

    Shevchenko is getting abuse from Drogba and Lampard after he skies his shot well wide when he should have either cut it back. Or, even better, scored.

22. 21'

    Now Drogba has to hold his hands up as he selfishly tries a shot from thirty yards out.

23. 22'

    Shevchenko wins a corner for Chelsea.

24. 23'

    Portsmouth clear it though and then LuaLua is fouled at the other end.

25. 24'

    Cech gets his fingertips to the free-kick which is enough to get Chelsea out of trouble.

26. 25'

    Great tackle on Shevchenko by Hughes but Portsmouth are crowded out by Chelsea.

27. 26'

    Kanu takes a chance with a shot when he had O'Neil screaming for the ball to his right.

28. 28'

    Good pressure from Robben to stop Paramot clearing the ball from his own half.

29. 29'

    Carvalho gets forward and splits the Pompey defence with a great pass to Drogba but the big striker trips over his own feet and concedes posession.

30. 30'

    Makelele has to get back to put in an important tackle on LuaLua and Pompey are denied what looked like a certain corner by the ref.

31. 31'

    Hughes clatters in to the back of Ballack and that sounded like a painful one. Hughes evades a booking with rather more success than the German evaded his right boot.

32. 32'

    GOAL - Drogba volleys Chelsea ahead with a strike from a tight angle. Traore was not tight enough to the Ivory Coast man and Drogba makes no mistake as he buries the ball home.

33. 34'

    Campbell clears Diarra's cross and Portsmouth try to compose themselves after that Drogba goal. Chelsea have upped a gear though and look as if they want to kill this game off before half-time with another goal.

34. 34'

    Cech makes an excellent interception from O'Neil's whipped in ball.

35. 37'

    Drogba now goes off for some treatment after a tangle with Traore.

36. 38'

    Essien get back to clear a Pompey attack and then Drogba re-enters the fray after visibly wincing as he was administed some sort of spray.

37. 39'

    Oh dear Matt Taylor. Five yards out from goal he totally mis-kicks after escaping his marker. If it was sixty yards out perhaps he would have done better.

38. 40'

    O'Neil's cross is chested away by Ballack on the edge of his own area.

39. 41'

    Pompey have a throw deep in Chelsea territory but when it comes in Chelsea are first to it.

40. 41'

    Kanu flicks a header in to the path of LuaLua who is just caught offside.

41. 43'

    Too much pace on Lampard's ball from deep in his own half towards Diarra.

42. 44'

    Hughes belts a thirty yard effort just over Cech's crossbar.

43. 44'

    LuaLua is cynically taken down by Carvalho who seems surprised he is not booked. Him and everyone else inside Fratton Park.

44. 45'

    HALF-TIME: Pompey started sprightly but Chelsea have held their own and a nice piece of opportunism from Drogba, his 29th goal of the season, means the Blues are on course for the three points.

45. 45'

    Pompey are to re-start the game...once the referee addresses some sort of headphone issues.

46. 45'

    Problem sorted and the ref is now wired for sound. Straight away Davis hits a long ball right out of play. Nice.

47. 46'

    A wonderful one-two between Drogba and Robben and the Dutch winger cracks his shot against the bar as Shevchenko screams at him to square it. 'Why didn't you pass to me?'. 'Because you're not playing very well and this is how I choose to punish you'.

48. 48'

    Taylor heads it on to Kanu but his cross is weak and Chelsea clear it.

49. 49'

    A two-footed challenge from Taylor on Makele and the referee is obviously in a benevolent mood as once again there is no sign of a yellow card.

50. 49'

    Traore's cross hit behind by Lampard for a Pompey corner.

51. 50'

    Shevchenko's ambitious cross-field pass to Robben is headed out for a Chelsea throw.

52. 51'

    A poor clearance from Traore goes straight to Lampard who needs no second invitation to hit a shot from just outisde the area. Good effort, but James takes it with both hands.

53. 53'

    Makeshift central defender Michael Essien cushions a header back to Cech.

54. 54'

    Robben's cross is mis-timed by Ballack and rather then attack it with his head he contrives to put the ball out with his knee for a Portsmouth goal-kick.

55. 55'

    Carvalho goes in hard against Hughes yet once more the referee is reluctant to produce a card.

56. 56'

    Robben is blatantly pulled back on the far side of the pitch but is now being (somewhat harshly) roundly booed for his perceived theatricals by the home crowd.

57. 57'

    O'Neil wins a corner afer he and Davis contrived to make a bit of a mess with a decent opening for Pompey.

58. 58'

    Drogba twice gets his head to the ball when Pompey play it in to the Chelsea penalty area.

59. 59'

    Portsmouth are making a fight of this game and their supporters are responding to their efforts. A cacophony of noise is now reverberating around Fratton Park.

60. 61'

    Drogba just overplays a pass to Shevchenko in the Portsmouth area as Robben was lurking a decent position.

61. 62'

    Portmsouth now have a corner but once more Drogba gets back to defend it well.

62. 63'

    Primus muscles Drogba out of a header before Campbell helps his defensive partner out by clearing the ball.

63. 65'

    Campbell knocks the ball behind for a Chelsea corner.

64. 66'

    Lampard whips in the ball and Pamarot gets a great header to it for another Chelsea corner.

65. 66'

    Robben's corner goes to the near post but Portsmouth are first to it.

66. 67'

    To the disappointment of Chelsea fans everywhere, Champions League winner (!!!!!!) Djimi Traore is coming off for Niko Kranjkar.

67. 68'

    Hughes fouls Ballack from behind despite coming away with the ball.

68. 69'

    Lampard tries a long range effort from the free-kick but it is straight in to the scrum of players in the Pompey penalty area.

69. 70'

    Carvalho makes sure he gets to the ball before Kanu who is the only striker foraging up front for the home side.

70. 71'

    Drogba is down on the ground after going down hard when he and Sol Campbell went for the same ball.

71. 72'

    Andy Cole is coming on for LuaLua.

72. 73'

    An inviting cross in from Kanu is well met by the trusty head of Michael Essien.

73. 74'

    A nice chipped pass from Drogba almost reaches Michael Ballack but Taylor is able to direct the ball back to David James.

74. 75'

    Some mesmerising footwork from Kanu on the edge of the Chelsea box gives him the room to get a cross over to Andy Cole. The ex-Man United man is unable to direct his header on target though and a good chance goes begging.

75. 76'

    Robben makes way for Shaun Wright-Philips.

76. 76'

    Drogba is complaining that his back is sore.

77. 77'

    Immediately Wright-Philips gets involved, going on a run before hitting a low cross which James intercepts.

78. 77'

    A wonderful instictive save from Cech as Cole twists his head to direct the ball goal-wards this time.

79. 78'

    Another fantastic save from Cech, this time the keeper has to dive low to keep out a Kanu header. When the corner comes over he rises majestically above the crowd to pluck the ball cleanly from the air. Fantastic display of goal-keeping from the Chelsea number one.

80. 80'

    GOAL - Portsmouth deserve one but it's Chelsea who get it and wrap up the points. Cole clips the ball into Kalou, on as a sub, who rolls it under David James body. Game over.

81. 83'

    Wayne Bridge comes on for Didier Drogba and the left-back's Southampton connections ensure he is greeted heartily by the Portsmouth crowd.

82. 84'

    Portsmouth have a corner but Lampard is back to get it away. Chelsea tear up the park and Wright-Philips gets in to the Portsmouth box. He decides to cross it towards Kalou when he should have had a shot. Especially because the pass is over-hit.

83. 87'

    Kanu and Diarra indulge in a bit of mutual shirt-pulling before Bridge comes away with the ball. Wright-Philips then fires in a cross from the right which is over-hit.

84. 90'

    Kranjkar cuts inside but his shot is blocked almost before it leaves his boot by Essien.

85. 90'

    Wright-Philips embarrassment at missing an opportunity from five yards out is allayed by the offside flag which he did not see.

86. 90'

    FULL-TIME: A scoreline which flatters Chelsea but a well ground out result for Jose Mourinho's men as they continue to chase Man United. Some fine play from Petr Cech has won the points for Chelsea. If they had conceded at one nil then it could have been a different story.

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