Guess what!! Chelsea Lost…(1-0)

In a premiership weekend which everybody thought will be dominated by the tussle to get out of relegation Fulham just did the unthinkable against there London neighbours and fierce rivals Chelsea on 19th March 2006. They best Chelsea 1-0, which had just everything in it, a fierce tussle, a red card and of course a goal from the feet of Louis boa Morte. If he were a Indian by now he would have been seen as God. I am sure all the cottagers would now making him feel the same. He deserves more.

The game was full of action. Crunching tackles, flowing attacking football, goal line clearances, a disallowed goal from Drogba and to top it all a last minute sending off of William Gallas of Chelsea.

The first 30 minutes saw Fulham just dominate with Chelsea showing no chance of even getting close to goal. Joe Cole and Shaun Wright Phillips were just having a bad day and Crespo was just meandering around as if on holiday up front. These 30 minutes of nonsense from Chelsea just cost them the match.

Then arrives the most crucial moment of the match (apart from the goal of course). Drogba scores and starts celebrating. The Fulham players surround the referee claiming handball. The ref says he has no clue and asks for the linesman’s opinion. He says its hand ball and the goal is disallowed. There was no way on earth that the linesman or the ref could have seen that. But guess what, replays showed that they were spot on. Wonder what would have happened if they got it wrong. Jose Mourinho would be fuming. So for a change Jose accepted that his players played badly and lost. That’s better Jose, accept when you lose, rather than cry, cry and more crying.

Before the game there were lots of speculations in the papers claiming that Jose would be leaving Chelsea at the end of the season for Inter Milan. These were crushed aside by Jose before the game. Wonder if he is telling the truth?

This loss to Chelsea now gives Manchester United a chance to close the gap to 9 points at the top. I don’t think its going to make a difference to who is going to win the Premier League this season. But it certainly gives hope to the trailing pack that this Chelsea team can be beaten.

The big question still remains – Will Jose go? How many will remain from this Chelsea team – Crespo already says he wants to go back to AC Milan. Ballack - is he coming?

Time will tell if this Chelsea team can repeat the kind of dominance shown by Liverpool and Manchester United in the 80’s and 90’s.

For now its Chelsea ruling the EPL...Not Champions League of course.