Monday 31st March

Premier League: Chelsea 1 - 0 Middlesbrough

152 Comments

Match reports

Daily Telegraph, John Ley: "If Chelsea win the Premier League title they should dismantle the goal at the Shed End of Stamford Bridge and resurrect it in their club museum, alongside Jose Mourinho's raincoat and Peter Osgood's shirt, as a standing memorial to the day it earned them three of their most valuable points."

The Times: "With a five-point lead and only six matches left, the title is United’s to lose, with Chelsea showing little sign of prising the trophy from their grasp. Avram Grant’s team will have to raise their game to previously unattained levels if they are to be

Wednesday 26th March

Grant him his due, but...

153 Comments

The earth did not move on Sunday, but Avram Grant slept a little easier that night. The sight of the man who’s patented the hangdog expression donning a faint but clear smile at the post-match circuit must be a welcome relief to everyone at Stamford Bridge. From a close shave with self-combustion to self-satisfaction in ninety minutes, Grant could be forgiven for thinking every monkey has scampered off his hunched back. Since his banishment to the doghouse, Easter Sunday was the day he possibly began to feel that a dead chicken may yet still get the chance to eat some sweet corn. Sure, he must have resurrected something in the minds of not a few doubting Thomases with that defeat of Arsenal.

Monday 24th March

Premier League: Chelsea 2 - 1 Arsenal

134 Comments

Match reports

Daily Telegraph, Henry Winter: "Of the many surprises this eventful season, the sight of Avram Grant outwitting Arsene Wenger ranks right up there. Short of Ashley Cole becoming a referee or Didier Drogba surviving a game without medical attention, the season may not produce any greater shocks than Grant getting his substitutions as right as in the 72nd minute here."

The Times, Martin Samuel: "Roman Abramovich may wish to reconsider his quest for the beautiful game after this. In the first half, Chelsea played the fast, one-touch passing football that is closest to their benefactor’s heart, an

Thursday 20th March

Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur 4 - 4 Chelsea

230 Comments

Match reports

The Times: "How Chelsea must hate Tottenham Hotspur. Beaten by them in the Carling Cup final at Wembley last month, it was the North London side who again thwarted their ambitions, this time in the Barclays Premier League and in an astonishing eight-goal extravaganza at White Hart Lane last night."

The Guardian, Kevin McCarra: "Chelsea are now five points adrift of the leaders Manchester United and were nearly beaten in stoppage time by a Dimitar Berbatov attempt that was saved. That harm is great enough considering the strong position held after two goals from the superb Joe Cole and the credentials of the

Sunday 16th March

Premier League: Sunderland 0 - 1 Chelsea

269 Comments

Match reports

The Observer, Paul Wilson: "This was not the most impressive display from Chelsea - it was a hard-fought win on a bitterly cold afternoon in the north east - but you cannot play Derby every week and you get the same number of points for a single-goal victory as you do for a six-goal rout."

Sunday Telegraph, Martin Hardy: "Unbeaten in 12 - in the league at least - belief grows within Grant and his players that the timing of their run for the line could not be better."

Thursday 13th March

Premier League: Chelsea 6 - 1 Derby County

265 Comments

Match reports

The Guardian, Dominic Fifield: "Chelsea found respite in a rout last night. The traumas endured in their FA Cup humiliation at Barnsley were exorcised in part against a hapless Derby County, with Frank Lampard, so conspicuous by his absence at Oakwell, gorging himself on four goals. The irony was that, unlike in South Yorkshire, Chelsea would still have won without him."

Daily Telegraph, John Ley: "Frank Lampard ensured normal service was resumed at Stamford Bridge last night, when Chelsea forgot their FA Cup pain to lead the Rams to their latest slaughter. Lampard's four goals took Chelsea to within five points of P

Sunday 9th March

FA Cup: Barnsley 1 - 0 Chelsea

373 Comments

Match reports

The Observer, Spencer Vignes: "And they say that lightning never strikes twice. Having disposed of Liverpool in the previous round, Barnsley only went and did it again by knocking Chelsea out of the FA Cup on a memorable night in South Yorkshire. Dickie Bird, Darren Gough, Arthur Scargill, Michael Parkinson. Your boys dished out one hell of a beating."

Sunday Times, Andrew Longmore: "So this hazy, crazy, Cup year careers on. As if the exit of Manchester United was not enough of an upset, albeit to a Premier League side, Chelsea were humbled by Barnsley on a Yorkshire night made for the underdogs. So no member of the Big Four reaches the last four of the

Thursday 6th March

Champions League: Chelsea 3 - 0 Olympiakos (agg 3 - 0)

174 Comments

Match reports

The Guardian, Stuart James: "It is now 60 matches unbeaten in all competitions for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, a record that the Greek champions were never in danger of troubling on an evening when the chasm between the two sides was so great it felt like a trick of the mind that this was a Champions League knock-out tie. Olympiakos were hopelessly out of their depth at this level as Michael Ballack, Frank Lampard and Salomon Kalou exposed their frailties."

Daily Telegraph, Henry Winter: "Chelsea meted out the same treatment to Olympiakos that the Greeks inflict on their dinner plates. Olympiakos' defence, as brittle as ancien

Sunday 2nd March

Premier League: West Ham United 0 - 4 Chelsea

184 Comments

Match reports

Sunday Times: "Three goals up within 22 minutes, reduced to 10 men after 34, Chelsea rose from the ashes of their Carling Cup final defeat to crush a disorganised West Ham."

The Observer, Duncan Castles: "Grant's first Premier League victory since January keeps his team nominally in contention for the title and may go some way to easing the concerns of Roman Abramovich as the owner spent the weekend in Russia on electoral duties. Whether it will reassure the Israeli's players of his abilities as a top-tier manager, however, is a moot point."