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Chelsea FC : Pre-match briefing: Chelsea v Watford

/noticias.info/ Chelsea’s official historian Rick Glanvill wonders how this latest encounter will measure against an up-and-down past versus the Hornets. Statistics man Paul Dutton anticipates a 50-game milestone.

Rick Glanvill compares now and then.

We have heard a lot about goal difference recently. How Manchester United’s, at 21, is 10 better than ours. There are grave warnings that Chelsea had better start racking ’em up because Ferguson’s men are getting three, four or five goals in a game.



When anyone last looked, though, bonus points were not handed out for additional goals, like Sport For School vouchers at the tills. And in fact goal difference — a team’s goals for tally minus those against - has hardly ever affected where the League silverware resides.



The title winners usually — but not always — have the best goal difference. But only five times since the Football League began has that figure, or goal average (the number scored divided by the number conceded, which was the deciding factor until 1976), determined the outcome of a drawn title race.



Huddersfield edged Cardiff after they finished level in 1923/24, Portsmouth did the same to Wolves in 1949/50, Arsenal to Preston North End in 1952/53, and Manchester United to Leeds in 1964/65.



The only relatively recent season when goals altered the final analysis was the famous occasion when Mickey Thomas steered Arsenal to victory at Anfield back in 1989. George Graham’s side pipped Liverpool on goals for — the teams’ points and goal difference were identical.



If three points is always more important than three goals, it doesn’t prevent supporters feeling a morale boost from an emphatic winning margin.



When Chelsea beat Ken Furphy’s Watford 5-1 in the semi-final (pictured) of our 1970 FA Cup triumph, it inspired confidence going into the Wembley final after the terrible disappointment of the recent defeat by Spurs.



Five of the players in that 1967 loss starred in a drubbing of the lower league team, which started with a nerve-settling Dave Webb goal after three minutes and ended with a barrage. On a White Hart Lane pitch made stodgy by recent snow and rain, this was one of winger Peter Houseman’s finest hours.



Things were not so easy in the 1980s in whichever division we met. Watford were a definite bogey team, and one capable of finishing Division One runners-up in 1983 and reaching the FA Cup Final a year later.



Despite the cultured presence of midfielder John Barnes, Graham Taylor’s outfit were primary exponents of direct football, lumping it long to big strikers, of which Luther Blissett was easily the classiest and Ross Jenkins possibly the least.



After Chelsea managed the League ‘double’ over the Hornets in 1979-80, we often found their direct, athletic approach hard to deal with, losing four consecutive home games.



That sequence culminated in the humiliating 1-5 defeat at the Bridge at the end of the 1985-6 season under John Hollins. David Bardsley and Brian Talbot both managed a brace that day.



The following season Graham Taylor moved to Aston Villa and Dave Bassett, a similar route one enthusiast, couldn’t maintain the thrust. The Dixon-Durie axis earned a 3-0 win at Vicarage Road in September 1987, and Watford went down the following May.



The League hex returned in 1999 when some Gabriele Ambrosetti sloppiness on a hard September pitch led to tall Scots journeyman Allan Smart scoring the only goal of the game.



Three days after the great goalless draw with Milan, three before the defeat by Hertha in Berlin, Luca Vialli’s team never looked up for it — and those three points could have meant a fourth place finish above Liverpool. We won the home match.



Vialli briefly and unsuccessfully returned to Vicarage Road as Watford manager, an appointment that the passage of time renders less and less plausible.



More recently, in 2004 Chelsea could only draw in the FA Cup there. Former 1970s Chelsea boy Ray Lewington was in the dugout and on-loan Lenny Pidgeley picked the ball out of the net twice from Eidur Gudjohnsen and Frank Lampard’s penalty. The replay ended emphatically, 4-0.



Watford have started to earn points after a sticky start, and won their first Premiership match last weekend. They have a shrewd, conscientious young manager in Adrian Boothroyd, but the playing style has changed little since the Eighties.



Who their current Jenkins is, and who the Blissett and Barnes, is for others to say. What is clear is that the sudden loss of Marlon King for the rest of the season is a serious blow to their prospects.





CHELSEA V WATFORD — Paul Dutton is at home with the numbers



If Chelsea avoid defeat against Watford we will take our record unbeaten League sequence at Stamford Bridge to 50 games. We have won 40 and drawn 9 of the 49 games to date scoring 103 goals and conceding 21. There have been 32 clean sheets and we have only failed to score on 5 occasions.



José Mourinho has not lost a home league game for nearly five years. The last occasion was on the 23rd February 2002 when Porto lost 3-2 to Beira Mar. His unbeaten home run is up to 81 games (72 wins, 9 draws).



Arsenal were the last team to take all three points here when they won 2-1 on February 21st 2004. The Chelsea team managed by Claudio Ranieri that day was: (4-1-2-1-2) Sullivan; Melchiot, Gallas, Terry (c), Bridge; Makelele; Parker (Grønkjær 62), Gérémi (J Cole 72); Lampard; Gudjohnsen, Mutu (Hasselbaink 72). Eidur Gudjohnsen scored after 27 seconds and was sent off for two yellows (the first was for diving). Vieira (15) and Edu (21) replied for Arsenal.



Chelsea and Watford have only met once previously at Stamford Bridge in the Premiership. Chelsea won the game 2-1 in 1999-2000 (see details below).



Our first ever-competitive meeting was the FA Cup semi-final at White Hart Lane in 1970 when we won 5-1 on an incredibly thick, heavily sanded pitch with goals from David Webb, Peter Osgood, Peter Houseman (2) and Ian Hutchinson. Terry Garbett equalized for Watford.



Our first league encounter at Stamford Bridge was in the old Second Division in September 1979 in our seventh game of the season. Chelsea were 18th with five points. Watford were 13th with six. Chelsea won the game 2-0 with two from Gary Johnson in a team containing current Chelsea TV pundits Tommy Langley and Clive Walker, who provided a perfect centre on the run for Johnson’s second.



Watford won on their next four visits to the Bridge. 1-0 in 1980/81 (Malcolm Poskett), 3-1 in 1981/82 (Clive Walker for Chelsea and Nigel Callaghan, Wilf Rostron and Gerry Armstrong for Watford). Then in our first top flight meeting in October 1984, two goals from Kerry Dixon were not enough as Richard Jobson, Kenny Jackett and John Barnes won the game for Watford.



On the last day of the season in May 1986 Gordon Durie made his debut and a young Les Fridge played his only appearance in goal for the first team. Chelsea lost 5-1 in front of a meagre Stamford Bridge crowd of 12,017. Since that day we have remained undefeated in four league encounters.



Our last meeting at the Bridge was an FA Cup 3rd round replay in January 2004 when goals from Adrian Mutu with two, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen won the tie 4-0. On loan Lenny Pidgeley gave a respectable performance in goal for Watford in his first competitive game at Stamford Bridge.



Last weekend Watford won their first Premiership game of the season beating Middlesbrough 2-0. They currently stand 17th with nine points from eleven games. On their travels this term they have only scored two goals drawing two games (Wigan and Charlton) and losing three (Everton, Bolton and Arsenal).



Last season they finished third in the Coca-Cola Championship and won the play-off final at the Millennium Stadium beating Leeds 3-0. Marlon King was the division’s top scorer with 21 goals from 41 games.



The Hornets are looking to add to their three Premiership match unbeaten run since the defeat at the Emirates Stadium on the 14th October. They have avoided defeat in normal play in nine of the last ten in all competitions.



Watford have not lifted any major silverware but have won several lower division championships. Their best top-flight season was 1982/83 when they were runners-up to Champions Liverpool and ahead of third place Man Utd. That was Chelsea’s worst season when we escaped relegation by finishing 18th in the old Second Division.



Watford’s last six games read like this:

Oct 14 Arsenal (a) L 0-3

Oct 21 Charlton (a) D0-0

Oct 24 Hull City (League Cup h) W2-1

Oct 28 Tottenham (h) D0-0

Nov 4 Middlesbrough (h) W2-0

Nov 7 Newcastle (League Cup h) D2-2 (lost 5-4 on pens aet)



Their nine Premiership goals have come from: Young 3, Francis 2, King 2, Bouazza 1, own goal 1.



The Hornets’ team for their game against Middlesbrough at Vicarage Road last Saturday was: (4-4-2) Lee; Doyley, DeMerit, Shittu, Stewart; Smith, Francis, Mahon, Bouazza; Young, Henderson. No subs were used. Hameur Bouazza’s shot deflecting off Jonathan Woodgate’s leg for an own goal and Ashley Young were the scorers. [The four players highlighted have started every Premiership match this season.]



Watford made two changes on Tuesday against Newcastle in the Carling Cup bringing in Matthew Spring and Tamas Priskin for Smith and Mahon. The game ended in a 2-2 draw after extra time but the Magpies went through to the quarter-finals 5-4 on penalties. Francis and Shittu were their scorers. Old boy Scott Parker equalised for Newcastle in the 116th minute.



Man Utd’s win against Portsmouth has given them a three-point buffer from Chelsea and a far superior goal difference (+21 compared to +11). They have 28 points from eleven games followed by Chelsea with 25. Then come Bolton with 20, Portsmouth with 19 and Arsenal (with a game in hand) 18.



Michael Essien, Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard have featured in every Premiership match this season. Michael Essien has played every minute of all eighteen games in all competitions.



Match referee is Howard Webb, who officiated our 1-2 defeat at the Riverside back in August.



John Terry is available again following his one match suspension.



If selected, Shaun Wright-Phillips will play his 50th game for the club.



Chelsea have opened the scoring in all eleven Premiership games so far, the only club in the division to do so and also the only club to have scored in all eleven.



Chelsea’s overall record against Watford in all competitions is:

played 22, won 9, drawn 4, lost 9.



Head to head in the League at Stamford Bridge: played 9, won 2, drawn 3, lost 4.



Watford’s only other season in the Premiership, 1999-2000, started promisingly with wins at Anfield and at home to Chelsea but they dropped to the foot of the table shortly after Christmas and were relegated before the end of April.



OUR LAST PREMIERSHIP MEETING

Chelsea 2 Watford 1

Premiership, Saturday February 26th 2000 at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea (4-4-2) De Goey; Lambourde (Ferrer 57), Thome, Desailly (c), Harley; Petrescu, Morris, Deschamps, Poyet; Zola, Flo

Booked Morris

Scorers Desailly (2), Harley (65)

Watford (3-4-1-2) Chamberlain; Page (c), Palmer, Williams; Gibbs, Hyde, Bonnot (Miller 87), Kennedy; Wooter (Ngonge 80); Smart, Helguson.

Booked Helguson, Hyde

Scorer Smart (38)

Referee Steve Dunn.

Crowd 34,928.

Wise and Lebœuf were suspended. Watford were unlucky to come away with nothing as they were the better team for much of the game. Chelsea made it thirteen games unbeaten. notas_de_prensa_archivo