//------------------------------// // Great Expectations // Story: Over Land and Sea // by Wessexbrony //------------------------------// “The only place to be every other Saturday, is strolling down the Fulham Road…” - Blue Day, Suggs & Co, 1997 The morning sun shone over London, illuminating the apartment block which overlooked the River Thames. It was Saturday 19th August, and the first day of the Premier League season. The sound of my bedroom door being eased open alerted me to Dinky entering my room for a hug, which she'd made a regular feature of weekend mornings. Chelsea were at home for their first game, against London rivals West Ham, so there was no need to hurry (although on the other end of the scale, the travelling Bolton and Reading fans were probably already up and on their way, being away to Portsmouth and Wigan Athletic respectively). Eventually, I made my way to the kitchen and switched on the kettle, before turning the TV on to Sky Sports. “Good morning. The season starts today and the main question on everybody's lips has to be ‘Can anyone stop Chelsea?’ Well, Mourinho has set out his goals for the season, and...” Tim Lovejoy said, as he and Andy Gray sat at a desk. I began to microwave some pancakes as Dinky walked in, yawning loudly. Whilst we talked, and the kettle boiled, Richard Keys and Andy Gray talked about the match between Wigan and Reading, and which promoted side had the best chance of staying up. The two of us ate our breakfast as the program then showed brief snippets of interviews with the managers, including José Mourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson. Rainbow Dash leaped out of bed. Today was the day. Today, Chelsea began their defence of the league title that they'd won two seasons running and would, of course, retain, because they were awesome. For various ponies, the expectations were different. Diamond Tiara (Man Utd) and Silver Spoon (Arsenal) were hoping to see their sides win the league. Both of them felt sorry for Dinky, but you couldn't let such a situation influence the league season. Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie (Newcastle), Sweetie Belle (Everton) and Apple Bloom (Bolton) were hoping to see their sides finish in the European spots. Scootaloo and her parents (Man City) and her Aunt Holiday (Aston Villa) were hoping to see their sides blow more hot than cold, while Holiday's wife Lofty (Watford) knew that a long and difficult season awaited, with her side being among the favourites for relegation. Two o’clock arrived and the two of us, filly and human, left our flat and made our way down to the street. A large poster next to the railway line proclaimed “A NEW STATION AT IMPERIAL WHARF: CONSTRUCTION TO BEGIN 2007. A JOINT VENTURE BETWEEN NETWORK RAIL, SOUTHERN RAIL AND LOROL” “As if they’ll complete that on time,” I replied. “They were due to start construction this year, but the one up the line at Shepherd’s Bush is still being built.” A Silverlink Metro service rattled past, on its way towards Willesden Junction, as a voice behind us shouted “Hey, Dinks!” Dinky and I turned around to see the rainbow-maned cyan pegasus who had sat about 7 rows in front of me in prior seasons. She’d obviously emerged from the nearby portal, which had been located at Chelsea Harbour since the agreement between Equestria and the Football Association to establish portals for ponies to attend matches. Despite an official request from the Equestria Gooners, the portal for Arsenal hadn’t been moved when Arsenal had left Highbury at the end of the previous season. “Rainbow Dash! I forgot that you went to these matches!” Dinky replied, bounding over to the pegasus whose name I quickly registered. “How’s mommy?” she continued. “She’s doing...well enough, all things considered,” Rainbow Dash replied, before turning to me. “So, how do you think we’ll do against this lot?” she asked. “West Ham? Well, that fact that they got rid of Pardew after getting to the Cup Final last season speaks volumes. Wouldn’t surprise me if they go down this season.” I responded, "And let's not forget that we put four past them with ten men here last season." The three of us walked (or in Rainbow Dash’s case, flew) along Lots Road, turning left onto the King’s Road before reaching the Fulham Road. As we got closer to the ground, more and more supporters appeared, including several ponies who had obviously arrived earlier. The three of us each bought a copy of the cfcuk, the Chelsea fanzine (“Only a pound! Hurry up!”) and a match programme. When we got into the ground, a surprise awaited us. “Let's see. Row D, seats 107 and 108…” I muttered, checking our season tickets. “Wait. Did you say ‘Row D, Seats 107 and 108?” Rainbow Dash interjected. “My seat’s Row D, Seat 106! We’ll be together this season!” “Well...I suppose it wouldn’t hurt for Dinky to be close to someone from her home,” I responded. The three of us chatted as we read the programmes and fanzines while the players warmed up, although Dinky was taken aback by the fact that the fanzine wrote everything related to Tottenham as if it were a profanity and added a trademark symbol after the phrase “famous Anfield atmosphere”. The teams were then read out, with the announcer reading out the names of the home side much more enthusiastically than the visitors. Two new names were read out; veteran striker Armando Fontana, who had signed from Real Madrid for £16 million after the Spanish side had beaten Chelsea in the race to sign Milan's Andriy Shevchenko, and Robert Kovac, signed on a season-long loan from Juventus following the disgraced Italian club’s relegation as a stop-gap due to Carvalho’s long-term injury. John Terry and Frank Lampard’s names received the loudest cheers, although the latter received a large volume of boos from the visiting support. The match kicked off and Chelsea looked to assert themselves almost immediately, with Fontana having a couple of half-chances early on. West Ham were on the back foot, although Dean Ashton fired wide in the eighth minute. Chelsea then went on the attack, and in the thirteenth minute Drogba sent a volley wide from Arjen Robben’s cross. Drogba went close again in the 21st minute, hitting the side netting. The match went quiet for a bit afterwards, before Chelsea won a corner in the final ten minutes of the half. The captain, John Terry, went up for it and got up to head at goal, with his header going wide. It seemed as if a goal was inevitable, but not the way everyone was expecting. A rare West Ham attack saw a defensive mix-up in the Chelsea box, with Yossi Benayoun sending a low shot beyond the outstretched hand of Cudicini to give West Ham a shock lead three minutes from half time. Chelsea looked to hit back almost instantly, and in the last minute of the half, Drogba saw a shot tipped over the bar by Robert Green. This time, Chelsea looked to play the corner short, and Wright-Phillips found Kovac. Kovac passed the ball into the area for Drogba, who trapped the ball with his right foot before using his left to hit a powerful shot into the net which gave Green no chance. The second half started with Chelsea firmly in the ascendancy, and it came as no surprise when in the 51st minute, some good attacking play saw Drogba hit a low shot beyond Green into the bottom corner of the net, similar to the goal Benayoun had scored in the first half. West Ham looked to respond, and in the 55th minute Dean Ashton hit a shot at Cudicini. But then came the killer blow. A quick counter-attack by Chelsea four minutes later saw Frank Lampard beat two West Ham defenders before unleashing a blockbuster into the net from 20 yards out. After that, the fight practically went out of the visitors, and it took a late save from Green to prevent Salomon Kalou from increasing the score. As it was, the final whistle ensured that Chelsea started the season as expected. Chelsea 3-1 West Ham United (Drogba 45+2, 51, Lampard 59; Benayoun 42) The three of us made our way back to Chelsea harbour, whilst news from elsewhere filtered through. Reading had won 3-0 at Wigan Athletic, while Man Utd had thrown down the gauntlet, winning at Middlesbrough by the same scoreline. Elsewhere, Portsmouth had beaten Bolton 1-0.