The Sunday Times
December 2, 2007

Joe Cole's strike rescues Chelsea
Chelsea 1 West Ham United 0

Joe Lovejoy at Stamford Bridge

So much for the theory that Avram Grant is playing the football Roman Abramovich craved. A win is a win, as the professionals tell us, but this was the sort of performance that got Jose Mourinho the sack.

First, the stats. Chelsea are now unbeaten in their last 70 league matches at Stamford Bridge, and Grant has not been on the losing side in his last 14 in all competitions. Now the reality. Grant's style of play is no better than Mourinho's was, and he was left trotting out the old cliche that ugly wins are the ones that win you championships. For a long time, Curbishley's game plan worked, frustrating Chelsea to the crowd's increasingly vocal displeasure.

Without half the team they consider first choice, West Ham sought to contain their more celebrated opponents, and succeeded for 75 minutes. Once they have Dean Ashton and Craig Bellamy back in their starting lineup, the Hammers will have a tilt at any windmill. Without their cutting edge, they need to be circumspect, as they were here, with a 4-4-1-1 lineup featuring Carlton Cole as their solitary orthodox striker. Their application was such that it took Chelsea until well into the second half before they managed a decent strike at goal, and the thought occurred that had Curbishley been England's manager two weeks ago, such tactics might well have denied Croatia their fateful winner.

Grant said afterwards: "They came here to defend and they did it very well. They played with aggression which caused us a lot of problems in the first half." If only England could have said the same at Wembley 11 days ago. Frank Lampard was abused throughout by the West Ham fans, but it was another of the East End's alumni, Joe Cole, who scored for the first time against his old club to win the game. The goal the game was crying out for was delayed until the 76th minute, when Carlo Cudicini's long clearance was headed on by Didier Drogba and found its way via Salomon Kalou to Cole, who evaded Robert Green by stepping to the right before scoring with an emphatic, rising shot from six yards. Curbishley claimed Cole had been "slightly offside", but television replays suggested the officials were right to give the benefit of the doubt to the attacking side. The West Ham manager probably had more of a point when he suggested that Jon Obi Mikel, otherwise a capable deputy of Claude Makelele, might have been sent off just before half-time for a bad tackle from behind on Scott Parker.

On an afternoon that raised few pulses, and even fewer talking points, much was made of Drogba's complaint at half-time that somebody in the crowd had been disorienting him by flashing a laser in his eyes. The first 45 minutes were an eyesore, but there was no evidence of The Shining. Danny Gabbidon, preferred to Anton Ferdinand of late, made a better fist than most of marking the powerful Ivorian, and was not alone in the claret and blue ranks for assiduous efficiency in his defensive work. Matthew Upson and George McCartney also distinguished themselves in the goalless 75 minutes that had Grant looking more lugubrious than ever. In midfield, Parker and the unsung Hayden Mullins were more effective than Lampard and Steve Sidwell, who continues to look more like a Reading player than a Chelsea one, and until the goal went in, West Ham were good value for a point. "I thought we were going to come away with one, and I don't think a draw would have flattered us," Curbishley said. "My players did a really good job defensively, and I'm delighted with the way they performed. We lost concentration for the goal, but I thought Joe was slightly offside."

When it was put to him that West Ham had set out to defend, their unapologetic manager said: "We came to match them man for man, to stop them dictating, which is what we did. Unfortunately we didn't have quite enough in our locker going the other way, but we won't be the last team to come here to stop Chelsea playing." Grant admitted he would rather be in the dugout than the press room, and sounded like it. "It was not a great game, but we had the ball for most of the game", he said. "We didn't create a lot of chances, but we did enough to win by more than 1-0. We've had a fantastic run these past 14 games, but more important than that is the quality of football we've been playing."

You would hardly have noticed yesterday, but Chelsea are back in contention for the title, with the power to add three points at home to Sunderland next Saturday. Away the following week at Arsenal will be the acid test of their potential.

The Grant effect

- Grant took over at Chelsea on September 20 and has won 11 of his 15 games.

He has lost just once – 2-0 in his first match at Manchester United

- Since being booed off after a 1-1 draw with Rosenberg in Jose Mourinho's final match, Chelsea have reached the knockout stage of the Champions League and climbed to second in the Premier League

- Grant's Chelsea have conceded only five goals, and scored 33, including a 6-0 win over Manchester City

Match stats

Star man: Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

Player ratings:

Chelsea: Cudicini 6, Belletti 6, Alex 6, Terry 6, Bridge 5, Sidwell 5 (Wright-Phillips 66min), Mikel 7, Lampard 5, Kalou 6, J Cole 7 (Makelele 89min), Drogba 8
West Ham: Green 6, Neill 6, Gabbidon 7, Upson 7, McCartney 7, Solano 6 (Ljunberg 74min), Parker 6 (Spector 79min), Mullins 7, Etherington 6 (Ashton 79min), Boa Morte 6, C Cole 6
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Telegraph:

Mikel lucky as Joe Cole puts Chelsea second
By Patrick Barclay

Chelsea (0) 1 West Ham United (0) 0

Was this just an off-day for a good referee or yet another symptom of a more general malaise? The question arises because Howard Webb, who was understandably hailed as England's top official both before and after his exemplary handing of the recent draw between Arsenal and Manchester United, did little here but enhance the view that leniency, in the Premier League, is going mad.

Webb finished up showing the yellow card to eight players, five from the home side, but took too long to stamp proper authority on those who appeared willing to do anything - with the possible exception of taking part in a move of sustained elegance -to secure a result.

Although the excesses were principally their fault, Webb was responsible for the most appalling miscarriage of justice when John Obi Mikel stayed on the field in the 37th minute despite having scissor-tackled Scott Parker from behind. A double red card it merited, yet Webb contented himself with yellow: the punishment he had just meted out, correctly, to Matthew Etherington for tugging a shirt and Nobby Solano, also correctly, for a trip.

No wonder feuds continued. No wonder Parker, before being withdrawn towards the end, launched a quite ridiculous challenge on his former clubmate Wayne Bridge which missed; this time Webb chose to issue no sanction at all. Coming on top of last weekend's eyebrow-raisers - or, in the case of the knee-high assault by Reading's Steve Hunt at Manchester City, stomach-turners - it was enough to make a visitor ask what you have to do to incur a red card in this country (dive twice, I suppose).

Avram Grant, savouring the extension of his unbeaten run since becoming Chelsea manager to 14 matches in all competitions, observed only that West Ham were lucky not to have more cards against their names. Less predictably, West Ham's Alan Curbishley neglected to dwell on the Mikel issue and Chelsea's luck in having a full complement of men with which to secure victory that keeps them up with the League's pacemakers. And so you will have to take my word for it that such gladiatorial rubbish as characterised the first half was no substitute for football.

In fairness to Grant and Chelsea, West Ham did defend very well - it was not just a matter of vigour - for 75 minutes until a foray down Route One broke their resistance. A long clearance by Carlo Cudicini was headed on, first by Didier Drogba and then by Salomon Kalou, leaving the increasingly influential Joe Cole to survive a suspicion of offside, veer wide of the outrushing Robert Green, and smash a rising drive inside the near post. Grant's team had been threatening, however, only since the resumption, which saw Frank Lampard shoot off target and Green bravely deny both Drogba and John Terry.

Once ahead, Chelsea relaxed and, after Drogba had nodded wide from a cross by the substitute Shaun Wright-Phillips, Joe Cole fed Mikel, who instantly contrived a delightful flip over the defence for Kalou, who failed to bring it down with only Green to beat, enabling the goalkeeper to collect. Nothing in the match sent the spirits soaring like this piece of Mikel class: such beauty, after that beast of a tackle earlier. There was, of course, no explanation from Webb of why the young Nigerian was allowed to play on. Maybe the referee was temporarily blinded by the laser pointer some nitwit of a fan had been shining in Drogba's eyes; the Ivorian complained about it halfway through the first half and stewards appeared to intervene successfully.

It was, all in all, a particularly ugly 45 minutes and Terry did not distinguish himself at the conclusion of a week in which Chelsea had been charged with failing to control their players (for the second time this season). After Cudicini, in trying to grasp a fine through pass from the excellent Hayden Mullins, had let the ball slip, Luis Boa Morte swung a boot quite legitimately yet was barged by the Chelsea and England captain as if he had done something dangerous. Terry deserved a yellow card for that. Then came Mikel's outrageous intervention with a worse tackle than that which prompted his dismissal against Manchester United in September. You could imagine the consternation in Chelsea's PR department, even before Terry was belatedly cautioned for dissent in the closing stages. We are led to believe they spent last week compiling a DVD of other teams' behaviour which suggested they, Chelsea, were more sinned against than sinning. They will not be updating it on this evidence.

Match summary
Mikel's artfully lofted ball to Salomon Kalou reminded us of the beautiful game Roman Abramovich would like Avram Grant to bring to Stamford Bridge. If only the Nigerian had the self-discipline to go with his talent.
Rating: 5/10

Man of the match
John Obi Mikel (Chelsea) 8
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Indy:

Chelsea 1 West Ham Utd 0: Net king Cole nails Hammers
Chelsea march on under cheerless Grant as Curbishley pays for tactics
By Nick Townsend at Stamford Bridge

Avram Grant, the antithesis of the flamboyant Jose Mourinho, could have been discussing the funeral requirements of the recently bereaved as he reflected on Chelsea's 70th home match without defeat, Joe Cole's winner against his former club, eight cautions in total and victory which thrusts the club back into title contention.

Asked if Chelsea could indeed be considered to be aspirants for the Premier League again, the Israeli remarked stonily: "I told you from the beginning that I prefer to make things work on the pitch – then to talk. You can work that out for yourselves."

Those of us so richly rewarded with pearls of frequently outrageous wisdom from the Portuguese, even after so mundane a confrontation as this, could only lament how things have changed since the Special One departed. Yet, the Blues fans will not object to that one iota as they witness their team continue their discreet progress up the League under Mourinho's successor.

On a day when Didier Drogba, a persistent menace to the Hammers throughout, complained to fourth official Steve Tanner about a "laser light" being shone in his eyes from the West Ham contingent, there was precious little to dazzle the crowd here. Even the West Ham manager, Alan Curbishley, while lamenting not getting a draw "that most people would have felt was a fair result" conceded that "we did not really fashion the chance that was going to hurt Cudicini". He asserted that West Ham had arrived "to match up, stop them dictating the game – and that's what we did. But perhaps I didn't have enough going the other way." He can say that again.

There was Nobby Solano nipping in and almost deceiving Chelsea's rearguard just after the half-hour with a clever lob which finished on the roof of the net with Carlo Cudicini back-tracking. Luis Boa Morte had a sniff, but John Terry was able to take the sting off the shot to aid his goalkeeper. In the second half, Scott Parker dispatched a curled effort at Cudicini. And, well, that was about it.

The Hammers will attribute their shortcomings, to an extent, to injuries, with Craig Bellamy and Lee Bowyer among their absentees, but their followers will have anticipated rather more than this against a team whose principal target this season is said to be Champions' League glory.

Even the controversies were argued half-heartedly. First Joe Cole's 76th-minute goal. A booming clearance from Cudicini, was nodded on by Drogba and Salomon Kalou's header allowed Cole, appearing possibly offside, to round Robert Green and dispatch the winner high into the net. "It [the offside call] was tight," said Curbishley. "I think he [Cole] was perhaps slightly off. But it was the linesman's decision and we have just got to get on with it."

Curbishley's counterpart became about as animated as he ever does, claiming that West Ham had played "an aggressive game" especially in the opening minutes. The managers had already engaged in some pre-match sparring following Curbishley's opinion that officials' decisions favoured the big teams.

That was the precursor to a first half spiced by some uncompromising challenges. Referee Howard Webb dealt benignly with them; perhaps too leniently in the case of Chelsea's John Obi Mikel, who was guilty of an ugly lunge on former Chelsea man Parker. Apparently overlooking that particular indiscretion, Grant insisted: "In the first half we had to be busy reacting to their aggressive game, but in the second half we played our game and went on to win." Curbishley retorted: "There were some tackles, some niggly ones in the first half especially, but we were probably on the end of the two worst ones."

Chelsea created some half-chances after the interval. Wayne Bridge's cross lined up an invitation for Steve Sidwell, but the midfielder saw his attempt deflected wide by Matthew Upson's challenge. Terry also went close before Cole struck his splendid winner. It was one shining beam of illumination on a grey day – other than that in Drogba's eyes.
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Cole fires up Chelsea's title ambitions

Paul Wilson at Stamford Bridge
Sunday December 2, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Inevitably this west-east London derby was a bad-tempered bearpit, and inevitably it was won for Chelsea by a goal from a former West Ham player.
Joe Cole's well-taken second-half strike stretched Chelsea's unbeaten run to 14 games and enabled Frank Lampard to give a clenched-fist salute to the noisy West Ham fans at the end. This was the first time Cole had scored against his former club and Lampard had endured the barracking of the travelling fans all afternoon, particularly when taking corners at the Shed end.

Didier Drogba also complained to the fourth official midway through the first half that a laser pointer was being shone in his eyes, something cameras picked up, and stewards were sent into the crowd to investigate.
The West Ham fans might not care for Chelsea, but Alan Curbishley and his team gave them a little too much respect. 'West Ham just came here to defend,' said Avram Grant, a little harshly, but not unfairly. The visitors created chances to win before Chelsea scored, but did not have the players on the pitch to accept them.

Curbishley sent Dean Ashton and Freddie Ljungberg on only during the last quarter of an hour, when West Ham had to chase the game, and while Carlton Cole won his share of flicks and aerial challenges in the middle of the pitch he never managed directly to threaten the Chelsea goal.

Grant has just said that Chelsea's priority this season will be the Champions League, and it looked for the first hour as if his players intended to take him at his word. A club with the resources at Chelsea's disposal should not be ruling out the league before Christmas in any case, particularly when the Champions League is about to go away for a couple of months, and Grant might simply be trying to take pressure off his players.

Chelsea are still in touch with the leaders and have already been to Anfield and Old Trafford. They visit Arsenal in a fortnight, then have all three of their main rivals for the title at home in the new year. Chelsea will need to up their game judging by this display, but make no mistake they still have a chance of the title. 'If we'd got out of here with a point I think most people would have thought it a fair result,' said Curbishley, rather confirming he had pinned his hopes on a draw. 'We won't be the only team this season coming here to play for a draw. Perhaps we didn't have enough in the final third, but it feels like we had a point taken away from us.'

Grant complained West Ham had been over-aggressive in the first half, though they were not the only ones. Referee Howard Webb's reputation for control began to suffer as soon as he let the Chelsea and England captain John Terry get away with administering his own justice when Luis Boa Morte legitimately challenged for a loose ball Carlo Cudicini had spilled.

John Obi Mikel was lucky to get away with just a booking for attacking Scott Parker's ankles, Salomon Kalou was cautioned for a foul on Boa Morte, and when Boa Morte was booked, for an innocuous challenge on Mikel, it was only after the Chelsea player had observed to the referee that his previous tackle merited a card.

There was precious little football to talk about before the interval, though the game opened out in the second half and became entertainingly end-to-end. It took a block from Matthew Upson to prevent a Steve Sidwell shot reaching its target, then after Joe Cole and Lampard had gone close, the former miscued in front of goal when Sidwell's cross arrived at an awkward height.

West Ham's best chance fell to Nolberto Solano, which is bad enough news, worse was the fact that it was a headed chance. Though neat and effective in other aspects of play the Peruvian doesn't do headers, and when Upson set him up by heading invitingly back across goal Solano wasted a good opportunity and a great position by failing to make contact.

Boa Morte saw a shot saved shortly afterwards, but West Ham had had their moment and it was time for Chelsea to have theirs. There was a suggestion of offside when Kalou nodded the ball forward for Joe Cole, though it needed a freeze-frame to confirm it so he probably deserves the benefit of the doubt. He was just about level with Danny Gabbidon when Kalou diverted Drogba's header into his path, and he didn't need asking twice to round Robert Green and hold off George McCartney's challenge to score.

Chelsea could have had more, one particularly inventive pass from Mikel deserved a better finish than the one Kalou was able to supply, though in a scrappy game of eight bookings one goal was always likely to be enough.

'It was a question of being patient and giving a bit more - we were tired [after the Champions League],' Drogba said. Of the laser incident, the striker commented: 'You see this green light, but this is a bit of fun I think. The rest of the West Ham fans were good, they supported their team and that is what you want to see, not this.'

It was put to Grant that winning while not playing particularly well was the mark of champions, but the Chelsea manager didn't seem to understand the question. 'We played well, we could have had more goals,' he said.

Jose Mourinho he ain't, although that is hardly an exclusive. He still has Mourinho's old team, though, and anyone unbeaten in 14 games, not to mention the past 70 league games at home, should be in with a shout at the end of the season.

Man of the match: John Obi Mikel
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Mail:

Chelsea midfielder Cole lifts dire derby with magic touch
Chelsea 1 West Ham 0

Avram Grant is the kind of football manager who wishes to remain anonymous. A large, doleful individual, he abhors controversy, recoils from limelight and deals in blandly inoffensive opinion.

In short, he is about as far removed from Jose Mourinho as it is possible for a man to be. And yet, the old chap has something going for him. Chelsea are unbeaten in their last 14 matches.

They are loitering with intent, close by the Premier League summit,and they are carrying the kind of confidence which was the hallmark of their game a couple of seasons ago.

True, they are distinctly unattractive, another feature of their football under Mourinho,and they tend to become involved in mediocre matches, of which this London derby was one. But, as the managers always tell us, this is 'a results business', and the songs of relief at Stamford Bridge announced that Grant is getting results.

In fairness, they scarcely deserved this latest victory. West Ham defended efficiently, organised effectively and worked hard enough to find tangible reward. The fact that they departed forlornly was due to the hair-line decision which decreed that Joe Cole was onside as he ran on to the chance created for him by Jon Obi Mikel and Didier Drogba in the 75th minute.

Cole held his balance, increased his pace and buried the canniest shot high into the West Ham net. And a side which had defended with such resolution for so long was forced to accept a harsh reality.

Drogba might argue that his own efforts had warranted reward, especially after claiming that a West Ham fan had been shining a laser beam in his eyes during the first half. If so, it was a troubling assault, but Drogba complains so loudly, so frequently, and of so much that sympathy is in short supply.

But then, any kind of sympathy was hard to come by yesterday, especially after so tedious a first half. And much of that could be blamed on the man in charge.

It is never easy to criticise a referee when he is surrounded by so many tireless and proficient cheats, but Howard Webb had a dreadful day. For the first 45 minutes, the match drifted towards a kind of petulant anarchy as he fumbled every important decision.

He should have booked John Terry early on, when the Chelsea captain over-reacted absurdly to Luis Boa Morte's legitimate challenge on Carlo Cudicini. Terry cuts a disturbing figure at the moment, a man seemingly in thrall to his own publicity. A stronger referee than Webb would surely have acted sooner.

He handed out great fistfuls of bookings, yet he managed to overlook a couple of wild lunges by Scott Parker, who lost his head dramatically at the close of the first half.

Most worryingly,in the 38th minute, he watched Mikel hurl a malevolent scything tackle at Parker's calves, and decided that a yellow card met the case. A straight red would have displeased the home fans,but it was the only appropriate decision, and Webb ducked it.

Five minutes later, Mikel had his jersey tugged by Boa Morte and waved an imaginary card,demanding a booking. Even by the subterranean standards of Premier League football, Mikel's behaviour was particularly shameful. But with referees like Webb around, he need fear no punishment.

The second half was a considerable improvement, as it had to be. Chelsea lifted the pace,West Ham responded in kind, and the worst of the first-half feuds flickered out.

Grant, in a moment of dazzling candour, conceded that: 'It wasn't a great game today', but he also insisted that Chelsea had enjoyed 70 or 80 per cent of possession.

For his part,Alan Curbishley quietly cursed the point which escaped and bit his lip when asked to comment on the tackles.We sensed that he might have had lots to say about Mikel's assault, but he simply observed that his team was on the receiving end of one or two poor tackles, but that he had no complaints.

The match represented the 70th consecutive home game in which Chelsea have avoided defeat. This is the kind of statistic which would have kept Mourinho chattering through the evening, citing the excellence of his preparation, the subtlety of his coaching and the indomitable spirit of his players.

Grant merely remarked that it was an interesting point, but that he did not concern himself with the past.

'Only the present and the future interest me,' he said.

Jose would have scorned his refusal to deliver a lecture on the subject. But Chelsea have a new man with new methods. The story may become fascinating before the season is through.
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