Chelsea take title race to the wire after seeing off Newcastle
TWELVE years after he was accused of handing Manchester United the Premier League title on a plate as he succumbed to Sir Alex Ferguson's mind games, Kevin Keegan yesterday ensured he would not be gift-wrapping a second championship for the Old Trafford club.
Newcastle's 2-0 defeat to Chelsea means the closest title race for more than a decade will go into the final weekend of the season, with second-half goals from Michael Ballack and Florent Malouda keeping the Blues' hopes of a Premier League and Champions League double alive.
To paraphrase a certain soundbite, Manchester United still have to go to Wigan and get something. No doubt Ferguson would have loved it if things had been sewn up at St James' instead.
For the opening 45 minutes, it looked as though that was going to happen, with Newcastle's powerful forward running causing Chelsea problems as the visitors' recent exertions finally appeared to take their toll.
Chelsea were as lethargic before the break as they have been all season, and things might have been very different had John Terry not cleared Michael Owen's 28th-minute side-foot off the line as Newcastle threatened to make their marginal superiority count.
The half-time interval brought an Avram Grant rocket - not something that is usually associated with the unexcitable Israeli - and the second 45 minutes confirmed why Chelsea are still in the hunt for the Premier League title, and why Newcastle, for all their recent improvement, remain a long way adrift of the established big four.
Running out of energy and ideas, the Magpies fell out of the game meekly after the break, with Ballack and Michael Essien wresting control of a midfield battle that had gone the home side's way before the interval.
Ballack's headed opener always looked like settling things - Malouda's 82nd-minute strike killed off any hopes of a Newcastle comeback completely - and the end of an eight-game unbeaten run is as good a time as any to take stock of the Magpies' season.
There has been considerable progress since Keegan replaced Sam Allardyce in January, but recent victories over Tottenham, Reading and Sunderland have glossed over some of the inadequacies that the Newcastle boss will have to address this summer.
The squad remains dangerously thin in a number of key areas, midfield creativity remains at a premium, and Newcastle's defence continues to concede goals that could easily be avoided. On a more positive note, though, they look more like a side capable of competing in the top half of the Premier League than a team destined for a second successive battle against the drop.
They certainly looked like European hopefuls in the first half of yesterday's game as they matched a Chelsea side that could be crowned kings of the continent before the end of the month.
Having identified Paolo Ferreira as the weak link in the Chelsea defence, Newcastle's tactic of choice before the break was to fire long balls behind the Portugal international for Obafemi Martins to chase.
The majority came to nothing but, every so often, the Magpies marksman found himself one-on-one with the full-back and profited as a result.
A 23rd-minute foray resulted in a cross that was only half-cleared by John Terry, enabling Habib Beye to fire in a first-time volley that scorched over the crossbar, and Martins was at the heart of things again as Newcastle came tantalisingly close to breaking the deadlock five minutes later.
The Nigerian shuffled Jose Enrique's cross on to Mark Viduka, the Australian's shot was saved by Petr Cech, and a goal seemed certain when Owen found himself in possession of the rebound close to the penalty spot. The England international went for precision over power with a side-footed shot, and paid the price as a back-pedalling John Terry cleared from the goalline. Titles tend to be won by the side with the best defence, and Terry's presence has been a key factor in Chelsea's successful pursuit of Manchester United in the second half of the season.
Owen had already hooked a sixth-minute volley over the crossbar by the time he was thwarted by Terry, and the sight of an agitated Grant urging his players forward on the half-hour mark confirmed Chelsea's mounting frustration.
It should have abated ten minutes before half-time, but after doing so much to drag the Blues back into both the title race and a Champions League final in recent weeks, Ballack's scoring touch finally deserted him.
Released into the vacant inside-left channel by a fine reverse pass from Essien, Ballack's failure to control the ball adequately forced him wide and led to a shot that was sliced wide of Steve Harper's right-hand upright.
It was a poor miss, but more worrying from a Chelsea perspective was that it was also the visitors' only opportunity of note before the break. Crucially, though, Ballack did not have to wait too long after the interval to atone for his error.
With 45 minutes to keep their title hopes alive, it was inevitable that Chelsea would pose considerably more of a threat after the break, and the opening 15 minutes of the second half were spent almost exclusively in Newcastle's final third.
Barely able to get out of their own penalty area, the Magpies almost fell behind in the 53rd minute as Terry met Malouda's corner and planted a thumping header against the crossbar. Seven minutes later, and from another set-piece, the deadlock was broken.
Abdoulaye Faye's trip on Malouda enabled Didier Drogba to float a chipped free-kick into the area, and Ballack stole ahead of substitute Alan Smith to glance a simple header beyond Harper.
Martins came closest to an equaliser with a 20-yard strike that deflected wide off Ricardo Carvalho, but Chelsea's nerves were settled when Malouda added a second with eight minutes left.
Frank Lampard's through ball sent the Frenchman galloping clear, and his astute first-time effort was too good for the onrushing Harper.
6:08pm Monday 5th May 2008
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