The Blues Brief

Article by Robert Wake

e-Chelsea Weekly News Round Up

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On The Pitch

11 May – Chelsea Ladies 3-5 Arsenal Ladies.
A thoroughly entertaining game saw Arsenal Ladies progress to the FA Women’s Cup final at the expense of Chelsea. South Korean Ji So-Yun gave Chelsea the lead, but Kelly Smith soon levelled for the visitors. Yuki Ogimi gave The Blues the lead again five minutes from time, but again Smith cancelled out the strike. In extra-time, goals from Danielle Carter, Shinobu Ohno and Casey Stoney took Arsenal to the final.

11 May – Cardiff City 1-2 Chelsea.
Chelsea’s final game of the season was ultimately a dead rubber for both sides, with Cardiff’s relegation having already been confirmed, and The Blues remote title aspirations finally ended by Manchester City’s midweek win over Aston Villa. The Bluebirds took a surprise lead after just 15 minutes when Craig Bellamy’s shot took a significant deflection off Cesar Azpilicueta to wrong-foot Mark Schwarzer in the Chelsea goal. Despite dominating possession, it took Chelsea until the 72nd minute to gain parity when Andre Schurrle reacted quickest to turn in a rebound after Azpilicueta’s header had come back off the crossbar following an initial save from David Marshall. Chelsea were ahead just 3 minutes later. Azpilicueta crossed from the right and although it was headed clear, Schurrle did well to help it back into the path of Torres, who made no mistake from close range.

14 May – Chelsea Ladies 4-0 Millwall Lionesses.
Chelsea Ladies maintained their perfect record in Group One of the FA WSL Continental Cup with a convincing win. Eniola Aluko (pictured) opened the scoring before Jodie Brett stretched the home team's lead just before the break. A second-half brace from substitute Rosella Ayane sealed a routine win and kept the Blues top of their group table.

14 May – Manchester United U21’s 1-2 Chelsea U21’s.
Another excellent performance from the youngsters at Old Trafford saw them deservedly crowned Under 21 Premier League Champions. Chelsea suffered an early setback when Tom Lawrence gave the home side the lead after 12 minutes. The young Blues responded well, and were rewarded when Charly Musonda ended a penetrating run by firing beyond Ben Amos. Lewis Baker had the chance to give Chelsea the lead midway through the second half, but fired wastefully over from Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s cut back. It was Baker however that made amends 10 minutes from time, capitalising on a defensive error to thump an unstoppable shot into the far corner of Amos’ net.

Off The Pitch

09 May – Chelsea’s Andre Schurrle has been named in Germany’s provisional 30-man squad for The World Cup.

12 May – Eden Hazard has been named as the Chelsea supporters Player of The Year. Cesar Azpilicueta was named as Players Player of The Year, while Lewis Baker picked up both the Young Player of The Year award and the Goal of The Season award. Paulo Ferreira collected a Special Recognition award.

12 May – Christian Atsu who has spent the season on loan to Vitesse Arnhem, has been named in Ghana’s 26-man World Cup squad. Frank Lampard and Gary Cahill have been named in England’s 23-man World Cup squad.

13 May – Fernando Torres and Cesar Azpilicueta have both been named in Spain’s provisional 30-man squad for The World Cup. Patrick Van Aanholt who has been on loan at Vitesse Arnhem has been named in Louis Van Gaal’s provisional 30-man World Cup squad for The Netherlands.

13 May – Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku and Thibaut Courtois have all been named in Belgium’s 23-man World Cup squad. Thorgan Hazard, who has spent the season on loan at Zulte Waregem was named as one of seven standby players.

13 May – Samuel Eto’o has been named in Cameroon’s 23-man squad for The World Cup.

13 May – Chelsea Captain John Terry has signed a one year contract with the Club, keeping him at Stamford Bridge until at least the summer of 2015.

14 May – Chelsea have announced two friendlies in July against Wycombe Wanderers and AFC Wimbledon. The Blues will travel to Adams Park on Wednesday 16 July with a 19:45hrs kick-off for Matt Bloomfield’s testimonial match. On Saturday 19 July, Chelsea will travel to the Cherry Red Records Stadium (formerly Kingsmeadow) to take on AFC Wimbledon. Due to World Cup commitments, both games will feature a mixture of first team and academy players.

Looking Ahead

Blues in Brazil. I will be providing regular updates on the large contingent of Chelsea players on duty for their respective countries during The World Cup.

The Blues Brief will continue through the close season on a periodic basis when there is news to report from the club.

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