SHEVCHENKO BACK ON TRACK AS CHELSEA TRIUMPH
Andriy Shevchenko ended his goal-drought as Chelsea went back to the top of the Premiership with a 2-1 win over Portsmouth at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. The 30-million-pounds, pre-season signing from AC Milan had not scored since grabbing the opener in his side's 2-1 defeat at Middlesbrough on August 23.
SHEVA SILENCES HIS CRITICS
He was hailed as the final piece in the Chelsea jigsaw, the assassin who would fire the world's richest club to total dominance of European football after his record breaking summer transfer.Yet the fearsome legend that is Andriy Shevchenko had yet to show up in the blue of the Premiership champions, with the previously maligned Didier Drogba comfortably stealing his thunder with his flying start to the season. Shevchenko was presented with the sort of chance he rarely misses and even though his shot flicked off Sol Campbell en-route to the back of the net, his first Stamford Bridge goal was there to be celebrated with a familiar one armed salute. The roar that greeted the goal was complimented by elaborate celebrations around a striker who has been waiting to explode into life and the folly of referee Clattenburg booking him for being over excited was pathetic.
NAUGHTY JOSE: Mourinho's enthusiasm to get himself into the game went a little too far as he failed to allow the ball to go out of play on the hour mark and kept it in play with a deft pass to one of his players. Referee Clattenburg saw the funny side as he restarted the game with a drop ball, with the ashen face Mourinho offering a polite hand of friendship as he accepted the error of his ways.
SHEVCHENKO VERDICT: The guy is a class act and if he can get the sort of service he thrives upon, he can set the Premiership alight. The trouble may be that Chelsea don't play to his strengths and may not deliver the through balls he craves. Still with a goal under his belt, he should kick on from here.