Drogba on target to lead fight for unity

14 April 2012
Chelsea 3 Blackburn 0

As well as the good work he now plans to do as an ambassador for the United Nations, Didier Drogba continues to lead the fight to restore unity to Stamford Bridge.

Success on the pitch is the only remedy for the problems that exist away from it at Chelsea and it is thanks to the brilliant Ivory Coast striker that they still remain close to enough to Manchester United to challenge for this season's title.

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Drogba scored his 15th goal of the Premiership campaign against an excellent Blackburn side to end what has been a difficult spell for Jose Mourinho's side, a spell that has seen them drop points and slide deeper into a crisis caused by the rift between the manager and Roman Abramovich.

Frank Lampard, who set up Drogba's goal, added the second after 67 minutes and Salomon Kalou completed the scoring in stoppage time.

It was Drogba who had the courage to speak publicly about the situation in Geneva last week. He said he feared it was the end of the Mourinho era, claimed the club was no longer a 'compact unit' and backed his manager in his call for new players — new players, it has to be said, who never arrived before January's transfer window closed last night.

The need for more aggression, as Drogba put it, has therefore had to come from those already there and the fashion in which he struck in the sixth minute of this thoroughly entertaining contest said those still standing could deliver on that particular front.

While it was a fine finish from a player who has been on fire all season, it was the sight of him muscling past Stephane Henchoz with a burst of acceleration that really caught the eye. So much spirit and determination. So much desire.

The sight of Ashley Cole disappearing down the tunnel on a stretcher is likely to test Chelsea's resolve more than ever now. Especially if Cole's injury is as serious as it looked last night. It was an incident that made you wince. One moment he was running freely down the left wing, the next his studs appeared to catch in the turf and he was writhing in agony, clutching his left knee.

Mourinho certainly looked concerned. He considers Cole the best left back in the world and he rose immediately to his feet to try to establish what the problem was.

Chelsea expected a difficult test and so it quickly proved, Blackburn starting far more impressively than their hosts. They attacked with real conviction, threatening first with a shot from Morten Gamst Pedersen and then a header from Ryan Nelsen.

But before Blackburn could turn that early pressure into an early goal, Drogba suddenly appeared on the shoulder of Stephane Henchoz in pursuit of a fine pass from Lam-pard and guided a left-foot shot beyond the grasp of Brad Friedel. It was Drogba's 23rd goal of the season and a super one at that. After such a promising start, Blackburn were now a goal down after less than six minutes and struggling to stop Chelsea adding a second.

Lampard presented Andriy Shevchenko with an opportunity to continue his rehabilitation in style, only for the Ukrainian to send his effort straight at Friedel.

Then Michael Ballack sent in a terrific cross that Shevchenko struck first time only for Friedel to produce a magnificent save. This remained an excellent Chelsea performance and vastly superior to their more recent displays in the Premiership — that defeat at Anfield, those disappointing draws at home to Reading and Fulham and away to Aston Villa — which had left them six points adrift of Manchester United.

Lampard was creating many chances for his colleagues. At one stage a perfectly weighted header sent Shevchenko clear but the £30million striker was let down by his first touch. In fairness to Shevchenko, Mourinho could not fault his troubled striker's industry. He was working tirelessly for the team, and always available.

Blackburn could offer little in response. Until, that is, Stephen Warnock made a darting run past Claude Makelele and Ashley Cole and forced Michael Essien to make a tackle that Rovers manager Mark Hughes certainly felt should have resulted in a penalty.

Graham Poll disagreed, instead favouring Essien, and Warnock's reaction suggested Essien had taken the ball a fraction of a second before his opponent's left foot. If he did, and television replays proved inconclusive, it was a marvellous challenge.

Essien was not quite so assured when he then failed to get enough power behind a back-header less than a minute later. Matt Derbyshire seized on the opportunity, knocked the ball past Petr Cech but then had to watch as Ricardo Carvalho made the vital clearance.

The two incidents remained enough to convince Blackburn they could still inflict some damage at Stamford Bridge. That said, it was Lampard who continued to dominate this match and Shevchenko who continued to threaten most. Another Lampard delivery ended with a header from Shevchenko that flew straight at Friedel.

Only because of Friedel did this game remain so close, the American producing another terrific save to stop a close-range header from Bal-lack. He excelled shortly afterwards when he again denied Shevchenko.

After the loss of Cole, Chelsea sealed victory in the 67th minute when a one-two with John Obi Mikel still left Lampard midfielder with plenty to do but a trademark 25-yard shot dipped wickedly into the net. Then, in stoppage time, Kalou collected a header from Bal-lack and added the third.

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