Chelsea put one hand firmly on the EPL trophy after emerging victorious with a late goal in the West London Derby.
The West London Derby between Chelsea and Queen's Park Rangers is often an antagonistic affair and one that rarely cares about form or table standing, and that certainly proved true today. Despite some brilliant gameplanning to keep Chelsea at bay for most of the match, QPR's defense finally cracked late and gave Chelsea a 1-0 win that nearly locks up the Premier League title race.
The first match was a painfully dull affair, with Chelsea struggling to break down their host's determined defense and QPR happy to sit back and wait for chances to hit on the counter. In fact, that run to the match allowed QPR to take twice as many shots as Chelsea in the first half, thanks in large part to the venerable Didier Drogba being kept very well in check by QPR defender Steven Caulker.
The match was predictably contentious, with both sides giving up some rash fouls, and several Chelsea players appearing frustrated at the amount of contact allowed by referee Andre Marriner. Cesc Fabregas in particular got battered in the first half, which only worsened the struggles he was having operating further up the pitch than has been normal for him.
The match stayed dully even in the second half as well, with Chelsea continuing to be unable to offer an effective way to penetrate QPR's back line. They did have a spell of improved play after Oscar was subbed on for a woefully ineffective Ramires, but that only lasted about five or six minutes until the Hoops sorted out their marking adjustments to account for another playmaker on the pitch.
While the match was largely boring, if anything that speaks well for QPR's efforts on the day. Even with two strikers out for Chelsea, few thought they'd have much trouble pulling a normally quite poor defense apart. Instead we saw a focused and effective effort from QPR to keep Chelsea at bay, and while it may not have been terribly pleasant to watch, that doesn't change that QPR were quite good to accomplish what they did.
In fact, their accomplishments for most of the match allowed manager Chris Ramsey to feel good enough about his side to make a couple of attacking substitutions late in the match, something he hasn't gotten to do a lot of since taking over for Harry Redknapp. Nicko Krancjar and Junior Hoilett both came on to try and give QPR's attack a boost in the last ten minutes of the match, but Chelsea's defense aren't too shabby themselves, and an opening goal proved difficult to come by.
While QPR wound up dominating the attacking stats in terms of both number and quality of chances, it was Chelsea who broke the deadlock thanks to a rare mistake by the home side. A poor punt from Rob Green went straight in to Chelsea possession in a dangerous area, and after a desperate scramble it was the masked man, Cesc Fabregas, who found himself with the ball and just enough space to fire home with moments left to play.
The win gives Chelsea a seven-point lead on second-place Arsenal with a game in hand, a lead that might just be unimpeachable with so little time left in the EPL season. QPR are running out of time to claw their way up the table as well, still two points adrift of safety behind Hull City despite the Tigers' long winless run. If they can't find points soon, this season will quickly become a lost cause for West London's other EPL team.
Queens Park Rangers : Rob Green; Mauricio Isla, Nedum Onuoha, Steven Caulker, Clint Hill; Joey Barton, Sandro (Niko Krancjar 81'), Karl Henry; Shaun Wright-Phillips, Charlie Austin, Bobby Zamora (Junior Hoilett 83')
Goals: none
Chelsea : Thibaut Courtouis; Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, John Terry, Cesar Azpilicueta; Nemanja Matic, Ramires (Oscar 58'); Willian (Juan Cuadrado 80'), Cesc Fabregas (Kurt Zouma 90'+1), Eden Hazard; Didier Drogba
Goal: Fabregas 88'
Source SBNation.com - All Posts http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2015/4/12/8392767/chelsea-qpr-2015-final-score-results
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