Chelsea 4-1 Spartak Moscow - Goal Videos & Report.

Chelsea took a while to really get going in this one tonight despite Alex fluffing the best chance of the game close to half time. When they did Spartak had no answer as our front three ripped them apart and sealed qualification into the round of 16.

Carlo surprised me to be honest, he brought in Kalou for the missing Malouda but also decided to rest JT so shifted Ivanovic next to Alex and brought Ferreria back in at right back. He also rested Essien and brought in Ramires who made his return to the side after being out for a few weeks with injury.

Chelsea made an ok start to the game and Anelka playing on the left for some reason looked busy and was our main threat early in the game. He was seeing plenty of the ball and had a chance he made for himself as he cut inside the defender and curled the ball wide of the far post.

Spartak looked much brighter than in Moscow and for large parts of the first half dominated possession of the ball which was disappointing. Maybe it was because of the likes of Zhirkov and Ramires not having played much together but we were sitting too deep and allowing Spartak the ball.

Spartak didn't really threaten Cech in goal much in the first half apart from a McGeady shot curled wide of his far post and a long range effort from their skipper Alex which was easily pushed wide low down to his right and away from goal by Cech.

Just before half time Alex had a golden opportunity to put Chelsea 1-0 up from a corner floated in from our right hand side by Zhirkov. Our corners had been awful before this one and it was about time we put a decent one in the box. Zhirkov delivered to the near post and Ivanovic flicked the ball on across the six yard box. Alex was alive to it but under pressure from the defender completely fluffed it as the ball bounced up waist height and the ball deflected off of him and over the bar from 6 yards.

So half time and the overriding feeling was that Chelsea need to play the ball quicker and the game overall at a much higher tempo.

No changes at half time and whatever Carlo said worked within five minutes. The evidence of the freedom the front three have to interchange positions and play to their abilities was demonstrated once more by Anelka, Drogba and Kalou.

A long ball played up to Drogba and he wins the flick on half way inside the Spartak half. This is one of the first headers Didier has won in the game. Drogba's flick finds Anelka and he takes a touch and comes across the pitch left to right with the ball and lays it off to Kalou 25 yards from goal wide right.

Kalou takes a touch and comes back inside, right to left as Anelka continues his run across the pitch and finds himself inside right level with the edge of the corner of Spartak's box. Kalou comes back across and brings two defenders with him, the centre half gets caught ball watching as Kalou plays a reverse pass back out to the right for Anelka completely unmarked and from a fairly tight angle as the keeper comes rushing out, Anelka first time, stabs the ball into the roof of the net. Great passing move from Chelsea and a class finish once more from Anelka. 1-0 Chelsea.

Straight away you feel that's it game over and why couldn't we play like that in the first half but you then have to remember that Spartak played well and their defensive shape made it difficult to break them down.

Chelsea began to look comfortable with their lead but again Spartak continued to try and play their football. On the hour it was definitely game over.

Didier Drogba out wide left in a tussle with the defender looked to have lost the ball as he tried to knock it round him. The defender got all tangled up with himself and allowed Drogba to challenge him and win the ball back under a final lunge from the defender. Drogba, strong in the tackle, withstood the defenders flailing effort and kept his feet. He took a touch inside the left corner of the box, dropped his shoulder and knocked the ball past the defender who was beaten all ends up and stuck out a leg in a half hearted effort to win the ball and took Didier out. Stone wall penalty.

Drogba stepped up and buried the ball into the bottom right hand corner to make it 2-0 Chelsea. Now you feel the game was won and with still half an hour to go you are looking for Carlo to make some changes and rest players.



Drogba wasn't finished just yet. Five minutes after our second goal came our third and this time from Branislav Ivanovic. Drogba out wide right curled a free kick into the box and found the unmarked Serbian who rose unchallenged for the ball and flicked his header into the corner of the net to make it 3-0 Chelsea.

Now it was time for Carlo to make changes. Off came Mikel and on came Josh McEachran and shortly after Drogba and Anelka made way for Sturridge and Kakuta. Kalou came over to the right hand side, Kakuta left and Sturridge down the middle.

Chelsea were well on top and Spartak looked disheartened but still tried to play football. It wasn't long until Chelsea could of had their fourth. Gael Kakuta across on the right hand side held the ball up by the corner flag and managed to create some space for a fantastic cross to the far post. Sturridge with glory in his eyes 4 yards out knew all he had to do was get his head to the ball to nod it into the net but somehow slipped as he was about to make contact with the ball and as he tried to put something on the ball managed to glance a header wide rather than head it into the net. Another sitter missed!.

Spartak made their own changes in the game and they got a lucky reward really as I bet your life Ivanovic will be happy this morning with his goals but will be disappointed in the way he lost the ball under pressure midway inside our half. Spartak broke and played the ball to the right hand side of our box. The forward slashed the ball across the box in what looked like a miss-hit shot and their midfield man ran onto the ball with Cech beaten and knocked the ball into the empty net. Suspicions of offside but their play deserved a goal I guess overall with the possession they had but it was tough on Cech. 3-1 Chelsea.



Chelsea weren't finished. Sturridge down the left hand side of their box dribbled free of the defender to the byline and pulled the ball back square for Ramires to side foot the ball into the bet from 12 yards and he shot straight at the defender. Should have done better, but that will come in time.

Chelsea finally made it 4-1 after a goalmouth scramble was half cleared and the ball rebounded off Zhirkov outside the box and came back to Ivanovic, who on the turn, swiveled with his back to goal and struck the ball on the turn into the far corner of the net with the keeper well beaten. 4-1 Chelsea.



Chelsea saw the game out and won their fourth successive game in the Champions League group. Thats' 12 points from 12 with Zilina next at the Bridge.

All this without Lampard, Terry, Essien and Malouda and Mikel, Drogba and Anelka playing just over an hour.

A slow start, but a great second half show as we qualify for the round of 16. One more win will see us win the group outright.

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Ferreira, Alex, Ivanovic, Cole; Ramires, Mikel (McEachran 68), Zhirkov; Kalou, Drogba (c) (Sturridge 75), Anelka (Kakuta 75).
Unused subs Turnbull, Terry, Bruma, van Aanholt.
Scorers Anelka 48, Drogba 61 pen, Ivanovic 65, 90+1.
Booked Mikel 37.

Spartak (4-2-3-1): Dykan; Ivanov, Pareja, Suchy, Makeev; Ibson, Sheshukov (Drincic 66); McGeady (Bazhenov 79), Alex (c) (Kozlov 68), D Kombarov; Welliton.
Unused subs: Belenov, Khodyrev, Sabitov, Ananidze.
Scorer Bazhenov 85.
Booked Kombarov 42, Ivanov 65.

Referee Cüneyt Çakır from Turkey.
Crowd 40,477.

Shots on Chelsea 9 Spartak 4
Corners Chelsea 8 Spartak 2
Fouls Chelsea 12 Spartak 16
Offsides Chelsea 2 Spartak 2

(Stats Source: Chelseafc.com)

KTBFFH