//------------------------------// // Shifting Gears // Story: Over Land and Sea // by Wessexbrony //------------------------------// Tuesday 6th February “...Mourinho has said that he expects a tough test from Manchester City tonight,” Breaking News said on the radio. “Stuart Pearce, meanwhile, has said that City are fully confident of bursting the Chelsea bubble, citing their win at Stamford Bridge in December...” “That’s tough talk from someone whose side hasn’t picked up a win since December.” Autumn muttered to herself, as she switched the radio off and went home for the night. “United are going to drop points before the end of the season, but it isn’t going to be tonight,” I said, as the supporters’ charter train arrived at Manchester Piccadilly. “I can’t see Charlton getting anything at Old Trafford.” “...So we move onto the next fixture tonight, that is the one between Manchester City and Chelsea at the City of Manchester Stadium,” Big Match said, on Goalflash Tonight. “So, you two say?” “Chelsea to win,” Kick Off said, “They’ve travelled in good shape, good form, good spirits, I can’t see anything other than an away win.” “It might be tough,” Full Time added, “But City are on the fringes of the relegation battle, so I expect Chelsea to come away with the three points.” Of course, after the Arsenal game, Chelsea were in fine fettle, and five minutes in, a ball out of defence found Lampard, who passed to Gudjohnsen. Gudjohnsen played the ball to Drogba on the edge of the area, and Drogba let fly. His shot struck the post, and Isaksson was able to recover to tip the shot wide as he pounced on the rebound. From the resulting corner, he sent the ball wide. In the fourteenth minute, Lampard played the ball to Ashley Cole, who played a long ball to Gudjohnsen. Gudjohnsen played a one-two with Drogba, running into the area before sending a shot across Isaksson into the opposite corner of the net. “And it's one-nil to Chelsea,” Kick Off said, as he noticed the latest news come in, “And it’s Gudjohnsen again; it’s like he never left.” With Gudjohnsen evidently looking to make up for the time lost in those six months at Barcelona, he and Drogba were tormenting the Manchester City defence, and he nearly doubled his tally with 20 minutes gone, sending a shot wide after receiving the ball from Drogba. Another opportunity presented itself just after the half hour mark. Ballack and Lampard combined to play Gudjohnsen in, and the shot was deflected behind for a corner. Although the corner itself was cleared, Makelele intercepted the clearance and headed the ball to Ferreira, who passed to Essien. Essien took off down the right, getting level with the area, before sending a cross in. Gudjohnsen got to the ball before Micah Richards, sending a volley into the top corner with Isaksson stranded. Chelsea looked to control the game from there on out, but on the stroke of half time, a pass from Ferreira was intercepted by Darius Vassell. Vassell, however, sent a weak shot straight at Cech, who had no problem gathering it. Leading 2-0 at half time was certainly welcome. Less welcome, however, was the news that, across Manchester, United held a 3-0 lead against Charlton Athletic. Chelsea started the second half as they’d finished the first, but it was a massive goalkeeping howler that led to the next goal. Lampard’s corner seemed to be too close to Isaksson, but the Swede failed to communicate properly with Richard Dunne and Kovac stole in to volley the ball home for his first Chelsea goal. At this point, the game was as good as over as a contest, and seven minutes later, Gudjohnsen ran onto a pass from Ballack only to see his shot flash wide of the post. However, just after the hour mark, the mood took on a sour turn. Petr Cech took a goal kick, but went down clutching his thigh. “That’s not good,” I muttered, as the physio ran on. Although Cudicini was a perfectly capable goalkeeper, winning the treble would be a lot more difficult than it already was if Cech was injured for the remainder of the season. Indeed, the physio signalled to the bench, and Cudicini came onto the field as Cech limped off. If the injury had affected Chelsea, they didn’t show it. With just under twenty minutes to go, Gudjohnsen looked to turn provider and played in Drogba. Drogba let fly from long range, but Isaksson was able to tip the ball against the crossbar before it was hacked clear. A fourth goal seemed inevitable, and with just under fifteen minutes left, Mikel won the ball in midfield and passed to Drogba, who ran through the City half before passing to Gudjohnsen, who ran into the area before slotting the ball past Isaksson into the bottom corner to complete the rout and his hat-trick. The final whistle eventually sounded and Stuart Pearce shook hands with Mourinho before storming down the tunnel. I suspected that this time, nobody would want to be in the vicinity of “Psycho” screaming. Chelsea, meanwhile, were currently on their best run all season. Manchester City 0-4 Chelsea (Gudjohnsen 14, 33, 77, Kovac 50) “United?” Dinky asked. “Oh, they won.” I replied. “Obviously,” she said, “But how much?” “You don’t want to know.” “That bad?” “Six-nil.” Premier League Table 1 Man Utd 63pts 2 Arsenal 54pts 3 Chelsea 52pts 4 Liverpool 50pts 5 Bolton 45pts 6 Portsmouth 42pts … 16 Sheffield Utd 27pts 17 Wigan 25pts 18 West Ham 20pts 19 Charlton 20pts 20 Watford 16pts Wednesday 7th February There was something about Belladonna's smirk that morning that Autumn didn't like. Well, more so than usual; she didn't like Belladonna's smirk anyway. “Well, you saw the news last night, didn't you?” Lyra said, when Autumn told her. “I saw that United won 6-0,” Autumn replied. “Cech got injured in the second half and had to come off,” Lyra explained, “They don't know how long he'll be out for, but he'll miss the Champions League game against Galatasaray.” Thursday 8th February “... and in football,” the BBC radio announcer said, as Dinky returned to her room, drying herself off from her morning shower, “Mourinho has said that Petr Cech's injury is not as bad as first feared, and is merely a pulled hamstring. The goalkeeper, however, will miss the first leg of the Champions League tie against Galatasaray. On a related note, the Galatasaray captain has said that they have scores to settle with Mourinho over his comments…” “Like you can talk, mate.” came my voice from the kitchen. Dinky, remembering the brutal foul on Carvalho back in August which had put him out for the first half of the season, couldn't help but agree.