Tag Archives: Chelsea

5th February 2018- Premier League, Watford 4 Chelsea 1

Javi Gracia’s first programme notes.

clips of Jon Marks BBC 3CR commentary Goals:1 2 3 4

Watford Observer

RELIVE – Watford vs Chelsea: Troy Deeney and Gerard Deulofeu on target as Hornets thrash Premier League champions

Remarkable finale sees Watford dismantle Premier League champions Chelsea

Watford boss Javi Gracia reflects on ‘unforgettable night’ after remarkable Chelsea victory

PICTURES: Images from Watford’s memorable win over Chelsea

Watford vs Chelsea player ratings: Gerard Deulofeu impresses on home debut as Hornets down Blues

Troy Deeney: Watford skipper’s Chelsea celebration a response to transfer speculation

Watford piled the pressure on Antonio Conte as a late flurry of goals secured a thumping 4-1 win over 10-man Chelsea on Monday Night Football.

The Blues played an hour with 10 men after Tiemoue Bakayoko’s red card capped a dreadful individual 30-minute performance – in which he gifted Watford four chances.

Thereafter, profligacy rather spared the visitors until Hazard, whipping in a glorious equaliser that dipped under Orestis Karnezis’s outstretched left hand, made it level. Briefly, tantalisingly, Chelsea dared to consider inducing another late Watford implosion but it would be the champions who unravelled. Janmaat, Deulofeu and the substitute Pereyra would each glide into space to drive home their advantage while the majority inside the arena pinched themselves in the giddiness of victory. “It’s difficult to explain how I feel at this moment,” said Gracia. “We needed the three points badly but for motivation and to believe in our possibilities, in our work, today was very important.”

The route home was slightly easier; Dad dropped me at St Albans, I made the train waiting at the platform, grabbed the only cab on the rank at Bedford, home at not-quite-silly’o’clock. And then lay in bed, staring upwards in the dark. For hours. Completely wired.

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21st October 2017- Premier League, Chelsea 4 Watford 2

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clips of Jon Marks BBC 3CR commentary Goals: 1 2

Watford Observer

Chelsea v Watford LIVE: Cesar Azpilicueta gives Chelsea late victory despite Watford-dominated second half

Watford left to rue misses as Premier League champions Chelsea come from behind to win

Marco Silva reflects on what could have been after Watford beaten at Chelsea

Watford v Chelsea: Antonio Conte says Hornets game “very tough”

GALLERY: A selection of images from Watford’s defeat at Chelsea

Chelsea v Watford ratings: Midfield on song despite collapse at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea v Watford analysis: Substitutions and missed chances show Marco Silva and Richarlison are only human

BBC Sport

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte said his side showed they have the “attitude to fight” as they scored two late goals to come from behind and claim a dramatic victory against Watford at Stamford Bridge.

sky

Michy Batshuayi’s double capped a resilient Chelsea display as they fought back from 2-1 down to beat Watford 4-2 at Stamford Bridge.

guardian

“That’s why we’re champions,” crowed the Matthew Harding Stand after César Azpilicueta had bundled Chelsea back from the precipice. Their meaning was clear enough: you do not win titles without the wherewithal to make light of a seemingly lost cause and the way that – invigorated by Antonio Conte’s substitutions – they punished Watford in the last 20 minutes brought to mind some of last season’s remorseless displays.

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If there’s a way in which the Chelsea matchday experience resembles the Watford matchday experience it’s in the Fulham Road beforehand, a seething artery that channels the masses towards the stadium transforming it into something quite unrecognisable to those who see it on a “normal” day, in much the way as Vicarage Road always feels odd if you chance down it during the week. Today the October spinning dial that promised sunshine and rain and wind and made preparation next to impossible settled on sunshine, fitting for a rare trip to the Bridge that didn’t come with the knowledge that we were likely to get stuffed.

Fran

Toddy’s funeral took place on Wednesday. It has to be said that his family and many friends gave him a magnificent send off and it was fitting that the wake was held in the Captain’s bar at Vicarage Road. The help given to Toddy’s family by his friends at the club, especially Dave Messenger, has been outstanding and a testament to what he meant to the people there.

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15th May 2017- Premier League, Chelsea 4 Watford 3

Goal 1 Goal 2 Goal 3

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http://watford.fcdb.info?id=5252

Watford Observer

RELIVE: Late Fabregas winner breaks Watford hearts in thriller

Fabregas strikes at the last to deny Hornets a point in thrilling clash

Mazzarri plays down significance of Deeney and Okaka dispute

Ake: Watford gave us a good game

Chelsea celebrated their Premier League title triumph with a hard-earned victory over Watford in an ill-tempered but thrilling encounter at Stamford Bridge.

John Terry scored on potentially his final start as Chelsea celebrated winning the Premier League title with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Watford on Monday amid a party atmosphere at Stamford Bridge.

The homecoming of champions can rarely have been this thrilling. An absurdly entertaining occasion littered with smartly taken goals, bouts of cringe-worthy defending, some late snarl that left Watford depleted and bickering among themselves and a mischievous Diego Costa leaving the bench to pilfer some citrus fruit ended with Antonio Conte wearing a plastic crown on the pitch. The Italian conducted a delighted audience as the fireworks boomed and the tickertape fluttered down all around. If only every night in this arena was this giddy.

If there was ever a sign that John Terry had given all he had to give at Chelsea, Monday night’s victory with Watford was just that, as he went from the familiar role of hero to the equally familiar role of villain and back again.

This kind of doesn’t need an intro does it? Whether you’ve been experiencing the last few months by attending games or watching on from greater distance you can’t have been looking forward to this. Chelsea’s title having been confirmed on Friday didn’t help matters at all… it removed the final straw to be clung to, the one where there might be a nagging nervousness in the home stands, something that still needed sorting if we could just hold out for 20 minutes or so.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2017-05-15

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/premier-league/15-may-2017/

20th August 2016- Premier League, Watford 1 Chelsea 2

clips of Jon Marks BBC 3CR commentary
Goal 1

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The post-game analysis took one of two themes. Either we were robbed or we gave Chelsea the victory. Some argued that Costa who, television pictures confirmed, was guilty of ‘simulation’ having already been booked should not have been on the pitch to score the winning goal. But it was mistakes by a tiring Watford team and the tendency to sit back and defend the lead that led to the goals. Also, given that the Chelsea substitutions changed the game, you have to wonder why we didn’t introduce some fresh legs to challenge them. But, taking a positive view, it says a lot for the progress of the team that we are bemoaning a narrow loss to Chelsea, having been the better side for the first 70 minutes. I was expecting nothing from this game so, having seen an entertaining match with no little quality from the Watford players, while I was disappointed I left the stadium with no complaints.

WATFORD 1-2 CHELSEA: With Mike away topping up his tan in Greece, Jon and Jason are joined by Jordi to react to the home loss against Chelsea. They talk about the rise of Etienne Capoue “Goal Scorer”, how the final 25 man squad is shaping up, and who might lose out after the signing of Roberto Pereyra and Younes Kabol.

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3rd February 2016- Premier League, Watford 0 Chelsea 0

Referee: Mike Dean
Attendance: 20,910

Heurelho Gomes’s superb one-handed save from Costa’s header denied Chelsea victory late on. The draw moves Chelsea up to 13th on 29 points, while Watford are four points and four places better off.

After the interval, Holebas hit the side-netting from the left angle after a fine one-two with Capoue, moments after Troy Deeney had driven the ball a couple of yards wide of Courtois’ post.

In previous failed campaigns, these games have been like cup ties in which we might pull off a giant-killing, something to take with us back downstairs. Here, the announcement of the Chelsea teamsheet – him, him, him, him, him, him, him, him, him, him and him, with the other ones on the bench – might’ve led you to expect similar, whatever the league table might say. But none of that: as the game settled down into a pattern, it was our pattern, our style, that increasingly held sway.

3rd January 2010- FA Cup Third Round, Chelsea 5 Watford 0

FA Cup holders Chelsea began the defence of their trophy in style as a vibrant display overwhelmed Watford.

The Blues led as early as the fifth minute, 20-year-old striker Daniel Sturridge staking his claim to fill the void left by African Cup of Nations absentee Didier Drogba by converting from six yards out after the visitors had failed to clear a Frank Lampard corner.

The second goal had a hint of farce but was just reward for Chelsea’s dominance. Joe Cole had volleyed Malouda’s cross into the Watford penalty area and triggered an extraordinary game of pinball. The ball cannoned between Adrian Mariappa, Frank Lampard and Scott Loach before finally bouncing off John Eustace for an own-goal. There was also a slice of luck about Chelsea’s third goal when Yuri Zhirkov’s shot deflected off Malouda and beyond Loach. But then Lampard scored a cracker from outside the penalty area and Sturridge calmly converted Ashley Cole’s cross for his second to seal an emphatic win.

The home side conjured 10 corners in the opening half-hour, and three goals within the first 22 minutes. Watford were spikier thereafter, but, by then, they could play with the freedom of a condemned side. Their defending hardly improved at any point.

Whilst it’s easy enough to be smart with the benefit of hindsight, it’s difficult to remember a Watford squad as ill-equipped to handle a match like this. That’s not a comment intended to downplay the very great achievements of the squad this season… but any recipe for a cup upset against any senior opposition (let alone the league leaders) really does demand a bit of physical presence and a bit of pace, and we have neither – quite apart from the superior quality, each Chelsea player was a good three inches and half a stone bigger than their opposite number. Our biggest asset (minus the sorely missed Helguson) is the movement and interplay of our midfield, but Chelsea are far more used to this sort of thing than our regular opponents and more adept at dealing with it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009%E2%80%9310_FA_Cup