Blackburn Rovers 1-1 Chelsea
Carlo Ancelotti's Chelsea could only draw 1-1 with Blackburn
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Sunday, 21, Mar 2010 05:47
By Darren Plant.
El-Hadji Diouf netted a second half equaliser to hand Blackburn a 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Ewood Park, as Carlo Ancelotti's team missed the chance to keep up the pressure on Premier League leaders Manchester United.
Didier Drogba had given Chelsea an early lead in a first half which they dominated, but they failed to take their chances and Diouf struck to see Blackburn improve their impressive home record this season.
The draw sees Chelsea end the weekend four points behind Manchester United with a game in hand, but they will be hoping to close that gap in midweek when they travel to Portsmouth.
Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce handed a Premier League debut to central defender Phil Jones, whilst Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti rang the changes after the midweek defeat to Inter Milan - bringing in Paolo Ferreira and Salomon Kalou for Yuri Zhirkov and Michael Ballack - who also didn't feature on the bench.
Chelsea began the match with the knowledge that Manchester United had beaten Liverpool - which left them five points off first place with two games in hand - and they began positively with Drogba curling a long range shot just wide, and just two minutes later he gave Chelsea the lead.
Nicolas Anelka got past a Blackburn player down the left, and he pulled the ball back to the penalty spot for Drogba to place his left foot shot low past the despairing hand of Jason Brown.
The visitors were well on top and after Alex had seen a header cleared off the line, Kalou rose to head Frank Lampard's corner just over at the near post.
As Chelsea threatened to extend their lead, Rovers responded well with Ross Turnbull keeping out a Morten Gamst Pedersen free-kick, and from the resulting corner, Keith Andrews headed over at the near post.
However, Chelsea regained the initiative and Anelka and Alex found themselves in good positions to get shots on target, but they failed to work goalkeeper Brown.
After a lull in the action, Florent Malouda let fly from 20 yards but his stinging effort was punched out by Brown, but Blackburn held out to only be the one goal behind at the break.
Unlike the first half, it was Blackburn who threatened early, and Zhirkov - who replaced the injured Branislav Ivanovic - was forced to head off the line from Christophe Samba after Turnbull had misjudged a long throw, but Lampard went straight up the other end to send a fizzing 30 yard shot just past the post.
After that scare, Chelsea began to push forward again, but they were struggling to test Brown between the Blackburn posts, with only a weak Anelka shot forcing the Welsh international to intervene.
However, against the run of play, Blackburn equalised. Michel Salgado sent in a cross to the back post and Diouf rose above Ferreira to send a header past Turnball at the near post.
The goal was a big blow to Chelsea and Ancelotti sent on Deco - who was returning after an injury lay-off - to try and redeem the situation.
But as the game approached the final moments, they were struggling to mount a sustained period of pressure, as the Blackburn defence - marshalled by Samba and the impressive Jones - held firm.
However, the pressure began to intensify, and Drogba was unlucky not to net his second when he connected with a volley at the near post, but his goal-bound shot was deflected wide.
And that was as good as it got for Chelsea with the point gained seeing them lose vital ground on Manchester United and Arsenal in the race for the Premier League title.