A blog of two halves

Egged on at Chelsea

Reporters were served egg sandwiches at half-time as Chelsea hosted Wolves...

14 March 2019
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Eden Hazard of Chelsea. PICTURE: GETTY IMAGES

Reporters were served egg sandwiches at half-time as Chelsea hosted Wolves… but I couldn't have told you what happened in the 45 minutes before that.

We were hypnotised by metronomic Sarriball – relentless, repetitive side-to-side passing as halfhearted forward forays were rebuffed.

I vaguely recall that the Wolves fans sang a lot, probably to stay awake. Home fans just stared, in a collective trance.

Someone was booked. There may have been a corner, but the open page in my notebook remained blank. I do know I enjoyed my sandwich.

The Blues travel to Everton this weekend, having missed the chance to capitalise on results and stake a claim to a top-four place. Goodison Park has mixed memories.

With matches running out, and Euro 2020 qualifiers disrupting the domestic league, Chelsea have to do better against teams who park the bus.

Morrie Sarri belatedly switched formation and substituted Jorginho in the Wolves game, after the visitors shocked everyone with a breakaway second-half goal.

A moment of genius from Eden Hazard in stoppage time salvaged a point for Chelsea, but the mood at the final whistle last weekend was complicated.

Wolves were pleased, but not ecstatic, having seen two points surrendered. Chelsea were relieved, but not delighted, having sat through more patient build-up than anyone really had patience for.

Oh, and it was an exceptionally windy afternoon. But that could have been the egg sandwiches.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

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Tim Harrison

Tim is our Chelsea FC blogger.

He also writes our Shepherds Bush Cricket Club match reports during the football close season.

Tim has been writing Chelsea match reports since the late 1980s for newspapers and, more recently, websites.

When he first reported on the Blues, the press box was a metal cage suspended over the lip of the old west stand - and you reached it via a precarious walkway over the heads of the fans.

But he has been a Chelsea fan since his father took an excited seven-year-old to watch Chelsea v Manchester United in the mid 1960s... and covered his ears every time the chanting got too ripe.

In July 2005 he wrote The Rough Guide to Chelsea, published by Penguin, which sold 15,000 copies.

His favourite player of all time is Charlie Cooke, the mazy winger who lit up Chelsea's left wing in the 60s and 70s.

When he isn't watching the Blues, Tim acts, paints, writes and researches local history.

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