[NoSkillz]

Sat. March 9, 2024

Barclays Premier League
Chelsea (18-6-5, 60 points, 2nd) vs. Dover (22-5-1, 71 points, 1st)
Zola Stadium, London, UK

Betting Odds: Chelsea: 6-4 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Dover: 13-8
Past Meetings: 3W 3D 7L

This is an incredibly pivotal match for us - we have a commanding 11 point lead right now (and a game in hand) on Chelsea who are in second place. A win will see us move 14 points clear of them and they’ll only have 8 more matches and 24 total points available, putting us in a great spot. However, a loss will see our margin trimmed to 8 points - still a good lead but it will definitely be a race to the finish from there, especially in light of our tough March schedule. Chelsea were world-beaters in December and January and made up tons of ground in the Premier League but they are on a poor run of form lately, having won only three of their last seven matches (3-2-2 in that stretch). This is a dangerous team with plenty of firepower - striker Romelu Lukaku leads the team with 19 goals but wide midfielder Miguel Sousa has 13 and AMC Luis Carballo has 12. Substitute extraordinaire Nassim Ben Khalifa has 11 off the bench, having only started six of his 36 appearances. Former Dover fullback Kostas Zagos has struggled with his new team and only has 15 appearances thus far.

Neil Cairney continues to serve his suspension and will miss today’s game plus our next game as well. Andrea Rocca will start in his place. Otherwise, it’s our main starters going again today. Rafinha will be on the bench today as he returns from injury. We have some tired players coming back from international duty but they should be ready to go. Control mentality despite being slight underdogs on the road.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, Jose, A. Rocca, G. Bolis
S - P. Moses, Chiquinho
Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, E. Harvey, G. Fanfoni, G. Allan, A. Broomes, S. Andrea

Chelsea play a 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) with Lukaku alone up front. Sousa and Carballo will be key players in the midfield and Rafael Romo, always on his game against us, is in goal. Kostas Zagos isn’t even on the bench. Wow - they spent £21 million to take him from us and he can’t even crack their bench? Lets do it for the travelling supporters today!

12’ - Off a Chelsea corner, Lukaku gets the ball and feeds an oncoming Miguel Sousa but his shot is weak and right at Wilke.

17’ - We have some great passing going on in midfield and it’s Jose eventually working the ball up to Paul Moses. He turns on the jets and shoots and there is Romo out to challenge and he makes the stop.

40’ - Rocca with a corner and his cross is to the near post and Chiquinho, who heads it toward goal but Romo makes the save just before it crosses the goal line! Close!

42’ - Aziz El Arabi, a Chelsea midfielder, with a curling shot from distance and Wilke dives full out to fist it away!

45’ - There is a scramble in our area and Chelsea nail a shot off the crossbar.

HALFTIME - Both teams had five corners but nothing really came of any of them. Chelsea held 53% of possession but we outshoot them 12-10 (2-2 on target) in a game with few great chances. Chelsea looked a bit sharper than us but it’s just a good defensive battle right now. I tell the players I’m pleased with their efforts so far but hopefully we can get a few more shots on goal in the second half.

53’ - Chelsea commit a couple of fouls that don’t get called and midfielder Tony Nijhuis gets the ball. Rayane Hamon comes up to challenge him around the midfield stripe but Nijhuis steams past him and has a full breakaway. He gets in on goal and shoots past Wilke and it’s IN. Fantastic effort from Nijhuis but I’m PISSED that a foul wasn’t called on a blatant push that saw Chiquinho knocked down. CHELSEA GOAL 0-1

56’ - We’re coming completely undone after the goal and Chelsea are just taking it to us. It’s Nijhuis again getting past Salim Loucif and he’s in all alone and Wilke makes a tremendous stop to keep us in the game!

64’ - Chiquinho gets a minor chance off a Bolis pass but his shot is weak and right at Romo. Where in the hell is Moses today?

76’ - Nothing happening. I take out Chiquinho and Gianluca Bolis and bring in Shanon Andrea and Graham Allan.

82’ - We take out Andrea Rocca and bring in Gian Marco Fanfoni. We switch to an overload mentality. We need a goal!

90’+2 - We have three minutes of extra time and with the clock winding down, Carballo fouls Allan and gets a yellow. We have a free kick from distance and Jose lays the ball off to his left to young Gian Marco Fanfoni. He lets a shot go from 30 yards and the piledriver sails past an outstretched Romo and into the far corner of the goal! Holy CRAP! What a strike from Fanfoni and we pull level with almost no time left!! DOVER GOAL 1-1

We immediately move back to a control mentality.

The ref blows the whistle right off the ensuing kick off! Whew!

Chelsea 1 - 1 Dover
Goals - Gian Marco Fanfoni (7.4)
Assists - Jose (7.5)
Man of the Match - Tony Nijhuis (Chelsea AML - 8.3)
Other Dover Notables -
Attendance - 53,979

Chelsea deserved that win but young Fanfoni has had a flair for the dramatic in the two years he’s been here on loan and he comes through again to give us a much needed point! Chelsea held 55% of possession and outshot us 20-18 (5-5 on target). Lots of dud performances today: Rayane Hamon (6.3), Arsene Bamba (6.2) and Chiquinho (6.1) all disappointed.

-- New Man City manager Jose Mourinho was in attendance at our game and evidently is interested in Chiquinho. Stay away!

-- On Saturday, we see Arsenal draw against Middlesbrough, Aston Villa shock Liverpool 3-1 and Manchester United ease past Norwich 4-0. On Sunday, Mourinho’s debut as Man City manager goes well in a 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday. And on Monday night, Spurs beat Huddersfield 1-0 to move past Chelsea into second place.


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 30 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Dover - 72 points (after 29 games)
2. Tottenham - 62 points
3. Chelsea - 61 points
4. Manchester United - 60 points (after 29 games)
----------------------------------------------------
5. Manchester City - 57 points
6. Liverpool - 55 points (after 29 games)
7. Arsenal - 51 points
----------------------------------------------------
8. Middlesbrough - 49 points
9. Reading - 48 points
10. Aston Villa - 46 points
11. Sunderland - 42 points
12. Everton - 35 points
13. Newcastle - 33 points (after 29 games)
14. Huddersfield - 28 points
15. Sheffield Wednesday - 27 points
16. Wolves - 26 points
17. Birmingham - 20 points
----------------------------------------------------
18. Fulham - 19 points
19. Norwich - 18 points
20. Blackpool - 16 points



Champions League Update

-- Barcelona beat Arsenal 2-1 and win 4-2 on aggregate to move on. Palermo upset OM 2-1 in France but lose 3-2 on aggregate.



Next Up

-- We attempt to avenge our only league loss of the year, as we host Liverpool at Crabble Athletic Ground.