A blog of two halves

Water under the Bridge

A cruncher looms this weekend as Chelsea return to the Etihad, scene of February’s squirmingly humiliating 6-0 debacle.

19 November 2019
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Mason Mount scores for England against Kosovo on 17 November. PICTURE: GETTY IMAGES

A cruncher looms this weekend as Chelsea return to the Etihad, scene of February's squirmingly humiliating 6-0 debacle.

Much water has flowed under the Stamford Bridge since then, with the pain of City's crushing win all-but expunged. Saturday evening will, however, bring the memories back.

It was the game which clinched Morrie Sarri's fate as Chelsea manager, although he puffed on to the end of the season to win the Europa League and fix a face-saving exit to Juve.

Frank Lampard approaches the match with a spring in his step, and with midfielder Mason Mount and striker Tammy Abraham both on goal-scoring form for England in recent days.

With Callum Hudson-Odoi starting for the Three Lions, and Fikayo Tomori playing a part in Kosovo, Chelsea's stamp on the national side is stronger – something that England stalwart Lampard is particularly chuffed about.

It's also been a good post-international spell for Chelsea Women, who defeated Man Utd last weekend in front of 4,790 at Kingsmeadow – a record crowd for a regular women's league game which was not being played at a men's stadium.

Defender Millie Bright admits she dreams of playing in huge stadiums after being on the bench for England's Wembley match against Germany, attended by 77,768.

"I'd love to play at Stamford Bridge week in, week out," she said. "It's something all clubs should try to do; play at big stadiums and increase the audience. For me to say that I wouldn't want to play at Stamford Bridge every week would be a lie."

In Millie's view, the litmus test for gauging the popularity of women's football isn't just numbers, but is also to do with crowd composition. She has been most impressed by the proportion of boys among Kingsmeadow spectators – a sign of men taking the women's game more seriously.

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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