Drogba and Anelka on target in Chelsea win
Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba showed they could play together
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Saturday, 02, May 2009 06:13
Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka scored a goal each as Chelsea overcame a battling Fulham 3-1 at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea took the lead inside a minute as a cross from Florent Malouda was held up well by Drogba for Anelka who thumped the ball home.
The Fulham of old may have caved after going behind so early on against a side like Chelsea, but the Cottagers are a much stronger team under Roy Hodgson and were only behind for three minutes.
Danny Murphy found Erik Nevland wide on the right and the Norwegian striker unleashed a shot which in truth Petr Cech should have saved but could only get a hand on the ball before it found the back of the net.
The electrifying start at Stamford Bridge continued as the third goal of the game came less than 10 minutes later.
Fulham defender John Pantsil failed to clear a cross into the penalty area by Drogba and the ball found its way to Malouda on the back-post and the Frenchman fired the ball home.
Drogba was involved in all the good things Chelsea did and deservedly got his name on the scoresheet in the second-half. The Ivorian was played through by his strike-partner Anelka and Drogba took a touch to compose himself before slotting the ball past Mark Scharwzer.
Chelsea were happy to play at a slow pace for the rest of the game with one eye on the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona coming up in mid-week.
But they suffered a scare when Drogba was on the receiving end of a heavy challenge from Pantsil and hurt his ribs. The striker looked to be okay but was later replaced by youngster Franco di Santo.