Sunday, 3 January 2016
Crystal Palace 0-3 Chelsea: 5 things we learned as Diego Costa clipped the wings of high-flying Eagles
Goals from Costa, Oscar and Willian saw Guus Hiddink's men start the new year in fine style at a wet and windy Selhurst Park
Chelsea cruised to victory at Crystal Palace to notch their first win since Guus Hiddink's return.
Goals from Oscar, Willian and Diego Costa fired Chelsea to their first away league win since August.
Oscar tapped in the first from Costa's cross in the 29th minute. Willian than found the top corner with a stunning rising drive from outside the box to make it 2-0 on the hour.
Six minutes later Costa tapped in number three from close range after Wayne Hennessey failed to deal with Willian's cross.
An injury to Eden Hazard took some of the gloss off a satisfying away day for the Blues though He limped off with a groin injury after just 16 minutes.
Here are five things we learned:
Jon Obi Mikel is trusted again
Jon Obi Mikel is back in favour following Guus Hiddink's return to Chelsea.
Rather than drop Mikel to accommodate the returning Cesc Fabregas against Crystal Palace, it was Nemanja Matic who made way. Hiddink clearly trusts Mikel, one of three surviving players from his first interim reign, and likes the solidity, simplicity hand discipline he brings to Chelsea's midfield.
And by giving him a second start at Selhurst Park, Mikel has now made as many league starts in two weeks under Hiddink as he did in half a season under Jose Mourinho.
He repaid Hiddink with a masterclass in midfield to earn the acclaim of the travelling fans.
Eden Hazard out again
After his sensational campaign last year, this season could hardly be more opposite for reigning double player of the year Eden Hazard. He is still waiting for his first goal of the season, still missing even any spark in his performances and now injuries are hampering him.
He only recently returned from a hip injury but is now facing another spell on the sidelines after being forced off with what looked like a groin injury.
Ref justice for Palace
Sometimes officials don't help themselves, like referee Kevin Friend at Selhurst Park.
He showed Damien Delaney an early yellow, when a talking to might have sufficed, for a 12th minute foul, leaving the Palace defender on a tight-rope in tricky conditions for the rest of the game.
Then, having seemingly set out his stall, he chose not to hand out anymore first-half yellows despite a number of potentially punishable challenges from Chelsea players, much to the obvious frustration of Alan Pardew.
Friend then compounded things by finally handing out a second booking after the break to Palace captain Mile Jedinak.
Fans rarely need any added encouragement to grumble about the refs their team get but Friend's inconsistency gave Palace supporters just that.
Chelsea under Hiddink are positive
It's early days but there were more positive signs that Hiddink could salvage Chelsea's season.
With Jon Obi Mikel back in the side they looked more solid and had greater control of the game, Diego Costa is looking more like his old self under Hiddink and scored his third goal in two games for the Dutchman. A morale-boosting win away from home is not to be sniffed at either.
They hadn't triumphed on the road in the league since August when they won 3-2 at West Brom.
Chelsea fans still have a sense of humour
Chelsea fans have retained their sense of humour during this traumatic season watching their side's incredible decline from champions.
They responded to Chelsea's opener with chants of “we are staying up” before declaring “we're gonna win the league” after Willian lashed in their sensational second after the break.
And when Diego Costa forced home their third the “that's why we're champions” refrain came out.
Mirror
Pellegrini: Aguero atarudi kutamba
Meneja wa Manchester City Manuel Pellegrini ameeleza matumaini yake kwamba Sergio Aguero ataanza kufunga tena mabao.
Mshambuliaji huyo wa miaka 27 kutoka Argentina aliwafungia City bao la ushindi wakati wa ushindi wao wa 2-1 dhidi ya Watford, uliowafanya kuwa alama tatu pekee nyuma ya Arsenal.
Ilikuwa mechi yake ya tatu baada ya kukaa nje kwa zaidi ya mwezi mmoja kutokana na majeraha.
"Nina uhakika kipindi hiki cha pili cha msimu tutashuhudia uchezaji wa Aguero ambao tumezoea,” alisema Pellegrini.
Anahitaji mechi mbili au tatu kurejelea uchezaji wake wa kawaida.
“Bao alilofunga leo ni muhimu sana kwake. Kabla ya kufunga, alikuwa amecheza vyema, kuliko mechi iliyotangulia.”
Bao hilo la Jumamosi ndilo lake la 10 mashindano yote msimu huu. Matano aliyafunga mechi moja Oktoba dhidi ya Newcastle, ambayo ilikuwa yake ya mwisho kabla ya kukaa nje wiki sita kutokana na majeraha.
Sergio Aguero bado ndiye mfungaji mabao bora wa City ligini akiwa na mabao manane kutoka kwa mechi 13 za msimu huu. Anafuatwa na Raheem Sterling na Yaya Toure waliofunga mabao matano.
Chanzo : BBC Swahili
Saturday, 2 January 2016
Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle: 5 things we learned as Laurent Koscielny saves sluggish Gunners
The Frenchman poked home in the second half to give Arsene Wenger's men all three points and keep them ahead in the title race
Laurent Koscielny saved Arsenal 's blushes to keep them ahead in the title race.
The Gunners were sloppy with the visitors much the better side in the first period, with Petr Cech denying them on more than one occasion.
But defender Koscielny popped up in the right place at the right time to poke home and ensure the win.
The result sees Arsene Wenger 's men move clear of Leicester at the summit.
Here are five things we learned:
Football does tributes really well
Newcastle players wore T-shirts during the warm-up saying “Pavel is a Geordie” in tribute to Pavel Srnicek and they all wore black armbands.
Furthermore, the players staged an impromptu applause before kick-off as by way of tribute. It wasn’t planned, they just did it.
At half time, one of Arsenal’s best players, Paul Davis, paid a warm tribute to Don Howe.
Football does tributes really well.
Petr Cech is worth his weight in gold
Chelsea captain John Terry claimed Petr Cech was worth between 12 to 15 points a season.
I’m not sure how you work it out, but Cech made so many good saves that you begin to wonder whether he’s worth more than three in a single game.
Cech denied Georginio Wijnaldum three times with super saves. How Chelsea let him go is anyone’s guess. But Arsenal are glad they did.
Arsenal have talked themselves into being tired
Arsene Wenger’s men looked dead on their feet. And that was just in the warm-up.
They’ve not played since Monday and yet maybe the more it’s talked about, the more the players convince themselves they’re tired, jaded and running on empty.
Yes, Arsenal have had a busy schedule, the squad is thin because of injuries but they need to be sharper to maintain a title push.
Arsenal need reinforcements
OK, OK, so this isn’t something we’ve learned. But it’s something which was confirmed.
With so many players out injured - Danny Welbeck, Jack Wilshere, Francis Coquelin and so on - the biggest problem is that they have got nothing on the bench to change a game when needed.
That’s a big worry during a title run-in. I suspect Arsene Wenger’s definition of a “busy” January is different to yours and mine.
But unless Arsenal do give themselves a turbo boost, I suspect they’ll run out of gas.
Newcastle can survive
Oh yes, they can. Maybe it was in tribute or memory to Pavel Srnicek. Or maybe they were repeating the grit shown at Tottenham or in beating Liverpool.
But somewhere, from deep within, they have a spirit and a heart worthy of the support from the Toon Army.
In Moussa Sissoko, Ayoze Perez and Georginio Wijnaldum, they have some quality players.
And on days like these, they also show they have a pride and a spirit worthy of the shirt.
