The Champions League final proved little distraction for Chelsea as
they condemned Blackburn to a 2-1 defeat in their last Premier League
game.
The west Londoners flew out of the blocks at Stamford
Bridge, creating numerous openings in the first 25 minutes. However the
deputising Jake Kean made an impressive start in the Rovers’ goal and
was at hand to keep the scores level.
A goal looked inevitable
though, and did eventually come through John Terry after half an hour,
while a second from Meireles following after a matter of minutes.
It was completely one-way traffic from there on in, with the hosts wasting several chances to add a third before the break.
The
hosts started strongly in the second half too, nearly adding a third
early on. However it was the visiting side that scored the next goal,
Scott Dann heading into the back of the net.
Despite the setback, the home side managed to see out the win with ease.
Di
Matteo made a number of changes for their final Premier League game of
the season, with the Champions League final against Bayern Munich no
doubt in mind.
With just a couple of minutes on the clock the
hosts nearly found a breakthrough, however Florent Malouda’s cross was
scrambled away by Kean.
The exciting start continued as Blackburn
then had a good chance, Jason Lowe’s strike from outside the box taking a
wicked deflection off Raul Meireles which forced Ross Turnbull to
athletically tip it over.
Di Matteo’s men hit back with two more
decent attacks within the opening quarter-of-an-hour. Daniel Sturridge
won a corner off Marcus Olsson, from which Romelu Lukaku got himself
into a good position but headed wide.
Moments after, the Belgian
forward then had another chance following a neat through-ball from
Ramires, however Kean rushed out and timed his dive at the striker’s
feet perfectly.
Chelsea missed a couple more opportunities in
front of goal before eventually finding the breakthrough on the
half-hour when John Terry met Lukaku’s cross from the right-flank with a
powerful header, which Kean could do nothing to stop.
The flood
gates then looked as if they might open, as the Blues wasted no time in
doubling their lead. The Blackburn defence allowed Michael Essien too
much space on the edge of their box, before the Ghanaian managed to
shift the ball on to Meireles who found the back of the net with a low
strike.
The already relegated side certainly seemed lacking in
motivation, however the same cannot be said for the Blues as the
onslaught on the visitors’ goal continued.
Two minutes into the
second period and Blackburn were under pressure once more. Firstly,
Sturridge skilfully cut inside onto his right-foot and narrowly smashed
an effort over the bar. Then, Lukaku advanced on the right-flank before
beating his man, only to drag a poor effort wide.
Didier Drogba came on in place of the lively Lukaku, both receiving standing ovations from the Blues’ fans at Stamford Bridge.
The
game had quietened down after that, but out of nowhere Dann rose above
Blues’ goalscorer Terry to head home from a corner himself, making it
2-1.
Rovers started to look as if they could get something out of
the game, Junior Hoilett beating a number of Chelsea shirts before
firing over, then Drogba embarked on a powerful run, only to be denied a
shot on goal by a last-ditch tackle by Dann.
The final 10 minutes
saw the hosts have a few more half-chances, the likes of Fernando
Torres and Sturridge attempted to penetrate the Blackburn area with no
luck.
Then, in the final stages, both sides had chances to grab a
late goal, however Turnbull threw himself at Olsson’s cross to deny
Rovers and Terry failed to get a proper connection on Drogba’s delivery.
