League Cup

{3rd Round} --- {4th Round}--- {5th Round} --- {Semi-Final}

League Cup Final
Chelsea 2 Middlesbrough 0
(after extra time)

Stephen's Television View.

Chelsea lined up with de Goey, Le Saux, Duberry, Leboeuf, Sinclair, Di Matteo, Wise, Newton, Petrescu, Hughes and Zola with Flo, Clarke, Hitchcock on the bench. So Vialli dropped himself to concentrate on ‘managing’ the team. Middlesbrough took the bold approach with three outfield players on the bench including their new signing, Paul Gasgoigne.

The fairly tale is continuing, another trophy for the club and one for the new manager after only a handful of games in charge. The team are still riding fairly high in the Premiership and still have the ECWC semi-final to look forward to.

Match Reports {Electronic Telegraph}{Mirror}{Soccernet} {Times}
Fans Reports Ed - Soloman

League Cup Semi-Final 2nd Leg
Chelsea 3 Arsenal 1

Chelsea win 4-3 on aggregate

From Singapore to Wembley.....(long)

After finding out that I would be in the UK long enough to attend the Arsenal game, I put out my plea for a ticket on the mailing list. Luckily enough I was offered tickets for different parts of the ground (thanks Ian W. & James G). I choose to sit in the Shed Upper Tier, the SW corner.

After my long 4 hour drive down the A1 with family, I finally managed to arrive at the White Horse at 6.40. It was really nice to meet up with some of the listers, Ian W. - James G. - Paul - Jax - Andy M. - Soloman - Sean and enjoy a couple of beers. The last time I saw some of these guys was at the Sporting Rat pre FA Cup Final party. How time flies.

As I approached the ground I saw the new Stamford Bridge. The actual size of the whole development was really impressive. After queuing all of 2 minutes I entered the ground. There was a real buzz inside the ground and after risking the consumption of a cfc chicken & mushroom pie I made my way to my seat. The ground was virtually full 10 minutes before kick off and songs were echoing all around the ground. Just before the teams came that old tune "I'm a believer" by the Monkees blared out from the tannoy. I was looking forward to a tight game with Chelsea winning 2-1 and then the lottery of penalties.

Both teams came onto the pitch to our new anthem "Blue Day". Chelsea lined up as 1-3-5-2, with what I believed to be our strongest eleven. Our new manager picked himself to partner Hughes upfront with Zola, DiMatteo and Wise rotating in the middle. LeSaux played as left wingback with a back three of Clarke, Leboeuf and Duberry. Ed de Goey was ever present in goal. Arsenal did have some players missing but still put out a strong line-up, although Stephen Hughes, the hero of the first leg, was starting from the bench.

Barely five minutes into the game and the first yellow card was handed out to Mark Hughes. True that the tackles were flying but normally a ref allows some time for all the players to settle down. I felt that with Hughes getting a card so early on he would have to ease up on his physical game, seeing that there was at least 85 minutes to go. Chelsea did seem very hungry, and were snapping at Arsenal's heels every time they had the ball. Unfortunately virtually every time a player went down the ref stopped play, and the game did not flow.

On ten minutes Chelsea were awarded another free kick, but this one in a more threatening position. Zola whipped the ball across and as Arsenal failed to clear it, Hughes was put through to score. 1-0 on the night and 2-2 on aggregate, this meant if Chelsea could hold until the end of extra time we would go through on away goals. The problem was that we scored too early, and we would have to keep the pressure up. We still looked very hungry and we were certainly going for another. Vialli was leading by example and even Wise was playing some of his best football.

When you watch a game live inside the stadium you get a much better idea of what is going on, you can see players making runs, etc. Chelsea's attitude was very positive and Arsenal were struggling to keep up, this game was a complete reserve of the first leg. Chelsea were creating the best of the chances, but were unable to add to the score line. A minute before half-time Arsenal made a substitution, Parlor was replaced by Stephen Hughes. This really puzzled me as Parlor did not seem to struggling and even if he was surely it would have been better to wait and see if he recovered during the interval. The tide had turned again to our favour with afc replacing/losing their 'key midfield' player. The only thing Arsenal were winning was the yellow card tally, cfc 2 - afc 3.

The second half started with the same 22 that finished the first half. Tackles were still flying around just as they had at the beginning of the contest. The main turning point occurred just four minutes into the second. Vierra was sent off for a second bookable offense, a late and clumsy tackle on LeSaux. Despite all the arguments he still had to go and indeed he slowly strolled off, taking at least 3 minutes from when he was given he marching orders. As the other Arsenal players were still complaining, objects were being thrown onto the pitch by the irate Arsenal fans placed in the open west stand. A couple of Arsenal players tried to pacify the fans and try get them to stop. The interesting thing was that there were no police at the front of the west stand, just stewards and security. The tide had fully turned in our favour and surely only goals would follow.

Within five minutes Chelsea doubled their lead. A great solo run and shot from 25 yards out by DiMatteo. It was a similar goal to the one that he scored in the FA Cup Final, this time finishing up in the right hand corner. 2-0 on the night and 3-2 (to us) on aggregate, Arsenal needed to score before full time to push the tie into extra time and, possibly, onto penalties. Not long after we, the crowd, calm down a bit Chelsea went 3-0 ahead. A great bit of skill with Petrescu dancing past a couple defenders inside the box scoring easily. Surely that was it 3-0 on the night and 4-2 on aggregate with Arsenal down to ten men. All the great songs were echoing around the bridge, such as 'Stand up, if your 3 nil up', 'One team in London', 'You're worst than Tottenham Hotspur', 'Can we play you every week', 'We're going to Wembley' and many more.

With 30 minutes to go Chelsea were looking good and surely not even them could blown this lead. It was noticable that Vialli had dropped deeper but, just like Hughes and Wise, was full of running and tackling. Both teams were still picking up yellow cards as the game had the hard edge of a cup semi-final and London derby. Chelsea were condensing the midfield and playing the offside game and using quick counter attacks. Another flash point in this game was a running contest between Adams and Vialli which ended with our player-manager falling to the floor holding his face. Adams incensed by this and pointed and shouted at him. The ref awarded the free kick to Arsenal, (having watched a video replay Adams clearly caught Vialli's throat with his fist. Thankfully our manager was not leading his team into feigning injuries. Vialli finally left the field being replaced by Newton. Chelsea were now shutting up shop with just over 10 minutes to go.

On the 82nd minute Arsenal won a penalty. Duberry unknowingly handled the ball inside the area whilst under pressure from Bergkamp. It was Bergkamp who scored from the spot handing Arsenal a small lifeline. The last 8 minutes plus the stoppage time seemed to take ages and although Arsenal did not really threaten it was still a time to trim down those fingernails, ala teeth style. Finally the ref blew for full time and the celebrations began. Chelsea had drawn level on the yellow card count now, 5 cards a side (including two for Vierra), fortunately none of our players will be suspended for the final.

Our new manager had played 1, won 1 and taken us to a cup final. The whole team played really well and those players who had been lacking form were suddenly back to their best. Petrescu, Zola, Wise, Hughes all looked really good and even our back three had a good game. The crowd went home happy, there wasn't any Gullit or Bates chants. The whole atmosphere was a positive one, who knows what it would have been if we had lost?

On leaving the ground I discovered that we would meet 'Boro in the final, to me this was a disappointment. I was willing to travel back to the UK for a cfc v lfc final, match ticket permitting, but not for 'boro. On the train back to my hotel, some guys were joking that maybe we should be moving to Wembley instead of Arsenal as we were there so often, how funny can you get. In fact the funniest moment of the whole match was some of the fans mimicked airplanes as Bergkamp came over to take a corner.  

Match Reports {Soccernet}
Fans Reports to follow.

League Cup Semi-Final 1st Leg
Arsenal 2 Chelsea 1 

Chelsea rolled the dice and changed their line up yet again. Zola and Flo started up front while Gullit replaced Leboeuf, who was on international duty. Lambourde was in the middle of midfield, standing in for Wise, along side Newton. Yet again Sinclair and Clark were our starting fullbacks, while our two quality fullbacks were playing as virtual wingers, LeSaux and Petrescu. Hughes and Vialli both started on the bench along with new boy Charvet. Arsenal were without Wright, Vierra and Seaman.

At the beginning the game really resembled a true London derby made even more important by the the fact that one of these sides would reach the League cup final. Arsenal found their rhythm first and began to dominate not only the possession but the game. The first quality chance fell Arsenal's way after 15 minutes. Bergkamp managed lose both Clark and Gullit only to see his header come thumping back of the crossbar, although de Goey seemed to have it covered.

Arsenal only had to wait another eight minutes before their next good effort on goal. A ball over the top found Gullit's backward header to the goalkeeper short and Overmars slipped in to tap the ball home before de Goey could reach the ball. At first it looked like a very poor header, even a school boy error or should I say a 'sinclairism', however the replay did show that their some hesitation by the keeper but I still feel the header was too weak.

Arsenal were now rampant and Chelsea were shit really. We lacked composure and, at times, could not string three passes. De Goey managed to pull off another couple of saves to see Chelsea finish the half only one goal down. LeSaux picked up our only yellow card of the first half after a personal battle with Grimandi.

Zola was mainly ineffective throughout the whole half, while Gullit looked a little of the pace. The distribution throughout the whole team was woeful but Sinclair and LeSaux were easily the worst.

Chelsea started the second by replacing Petrescu with Charvet, making his debut. Three minutes into the second half and Arsenal doubled their lead. Overmars had the better of Duberry at the byline and pulled the ball back for Stephen Hughes to score easily. Arsenal were oozing with confidence and adopted a shoot on sight policy. On the hour mark Chelsea made their second tactical change and introduced Mark Hughes, better late than never. Chelsea regained some of their composure and within nine minutes of being introduced Mark Hughes pulled a goal back.

Although de Goey pulled off several more fine saves the whole balance of the game had changed. Chelsea were playing real football now. This game was back to resembling a full blown cup tie. Arsenal still created some good chances but found de Goey in awesome form. Chelsea were having more of the possession but could manage half chances.

Vialli, our leading goal scorer with 14 goals, came on with 3 minutes to go. He replaced the injured Sinclair, who had twisted his ankle. It was more a straight replacement rather than a last throw of the dice to try and get a second goal to tie the game at 2-2.

The side that finished this game is the same eleven that should start the second in a fortnight. Perhaps the only unforced change should be Leboeuf replacing Gullit. However my man of the match, de Goey, will not be available due to international duty. This was probably his best performance of the season and goes some way to justifying the large fee that Gullit paid for him. In fact, should we get to final then the resulting monies should more than cover the transfer fee.

Chelsea, as well as Liverpool, will start the second tie with home advantage and that important away goal.

Semi-Final Draw

Arsenal - Chelsea;
Liverpool - Middlesbrough

First-leg ties to be played in week beginning January 26 1998
Second-leg ties to be played in week beginning February 16 1998

5th round League Cup
Ipswich 2 Chelsea 2
Chelsea win 4-1 on penalties (again)

Chelsea lose a two goal lead and manage to scrap through on penalties.

We now face Arsenal in the 2 leg semi-final.

Match Reports {Electronic Telegraph} {Soccernet} {Times}
Fans Reports Rick G

4th round League Cup
Chelsea 2  Southampton 1

Chelsea field an under-strength squad and still advance to the quarter finals where they will play Ipswich away in January.

Match Reports to follow  {Electronic Telegraph}

3rd round League Cup
Chelsea 1 Blackburn 1
Chelsea win 4-1 on penalties

Chelsea managed to go through after a 1-1 draw. Yet again they test their nerves and come through on penalties, 4-1. Gianluca Vialli received a red card for a late tackle in the first period of extra time, thankfully Blackburn were unable to take advantage of the extra man.Vialli was the fourth Chelsea player to br red carded and the only connection is that they all have shaven heads.
Chelsea have drawn Southampton in the next round. With the FA backing down on their threat of action against Premiership clubs fielding 'understrength' teams, the opportunity is there for 2 domestic cup runs.

Match Reports to follow  {Electronic Telegraph} {Times} {Soccernet} {Beeb}
Fans Reports {Soloman} {Nick.W}