The Blues Brief

Article by e-Chelsea Correspondent Robert Wake

e-Chelsea Weekly News Round Up

On The Pitch

05 April – Chelsea Youth 4-1 Bolton Wanderers Youth. The youth team ran out comfortable 4-1 victors over Bolton at Cobham on Saturday morning. Kasey Palmer, Charlie Colkett, Ike Ugbo and Mukhtar Ali were the scorers for The Blues.

05 April – Chelsea 3-0 Stoke City The Blues recorded a comfortable victory over a disappointing Stoke City side in a one-sided game at Stamford Bridge. Mohamed Salah opened the scoring for The Blues on 32 minutes, finishing clinically after good work from Nemanja Matic. Chelsea doubled their advantage on the hour. This time Salah was the architect, as he was felled by Andy Wilkinson in the box. Frank Lampard stepped up, and though his spot-kick was saved by Amir Begovic, Chelsea’s record goal-scorer followed up to record a landmark 250th goal in club football. Chelsea saved the best til last with the impressive Willian curling a delightful shot beyond Begovic from 20 yards.

07 April – Chelsea U21’s 0-1 Liverpool U21’s. The U21’s went down to a narrow defeat against their Liverpool counterparts at Aldershot on Monday night. Jack Dunn scored the winner for the visitors’ midway through the first-half of a keenly contested game.

08 April – Chelsea 2-0 Paris Saint-Germain. What a night of pure drama at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea progressed in dramatic style with a winning goal from Demba Ba three minutes from time. The game started slowly with the visitors from the French capital happy to sit back and keep Chelsea at arm’s length during the early exchanges. All that changed on 32 minutes. Branislav Ivanovic hurled a throw into the area, David Luiz stooped to flick it on, and Andre Schurrle, who had earlier replaced a limping Eden Hazard, finished expertly from 12 yards. Chelsea upped the tempo after the break, and replaced Frank Lampard with Demba Ba on 65 minutes. Chelsea hit the bar twice within a minute, firstly through Schurrle, and then from Oscar’s free-kick. Oscar was replaced 10 minutes from time by Fernando Torres as Chelsea went route one in search of the goal that would win the tie. It duly arrived on 87 minutes. Gary Cahill pumped a ball into the box, Torres challenged with Marquinhos, and the ball fell to Cesar Azpilicueta. The Spaniard’s shot deflected into the path of Ba who scooped the ball beyond Salvatore Sirigu to send Stamford Bridge into ecstasy and Chelsea into their seventh Champions League semi-final in the past 11 seasons.

10 April – Chelsea Youth 2-1 Arsenal Youth. Chelsea take a slender lead to The Emirates next week, after coming from behind to record a narrow victory in this FA Youth Cup semi-final first leg contest. Chuba Akpom put the young Gunners ahead early in the second-half. That goal was cancelled out by the impressive Charlie Colkett, before Alex Kiwomya scored the winner seven minutes later.

Off The Pitch

05 April - General admission prices for next season at Stamford Bridge are unchanged for the fourth consecutive season. The freeze applies to season tickets and individual match tickets in the non-hospitality sections of the stadium. Home domestic cup games remain at discounted rates for all ages regardless of the round of the competition. European group stage games will also remain discounted and tickets for European knockout games are also frozen.

07 April – The Supporters Satisfaction Survey has revealed that 72.9 % of non-hospitality supporters are satisfied with the matchday experience at Stamford Bridge. Safety at the stadium, the standard of stewarding and the matchday programme scored highly in the survey. Areas identified as ‘Priorities for improvement’ include the price of Premier League tickets, the atmosphere inside the stadium and the food and drink available.

10 April – Jose Mourinho has been fined £8,000 and warned as to his future conduct following an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing. The fine follows an FA charge relating to Mourinho’s conduct during the game at Aston Villa on 15 March 2014.

11 April – Chelsea has been drawn to face Atletico Madrid in the Semi-Finals of the UEFA Champions League. The first leg will be held at The Vicente Calderon stadium on Tuesday 22 April, with the second leg at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday 30 April 2014.

11 April – Chelsea’s home fixture with Sunderland originally scheduled for Sunday 20 April with a 14:05hrs kick-off has been re-scheduled for Saturday 19 April 2014, Kick-off 17:30hrs (BST). The game remains live on Sky Sports.

Looking Ahead

13 April – Swansea City v Chelsea. Premier League, Liberty Stadium, Kick-off 16:07hrs (BST). The game is being shown live on Sky Sports

19 April – Chelsea v Sunderland. Premier League, Stamford Bridge, Kick-off 17:30hrs (BST). The game is being shown live on Sky Sports

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