VENUE #40 CHELSEA Stamford Bridge

BARCLAYS  PREMIER

Chelsea... 2

Hull City... 0

Sunday 18th August 2013

@ Stamford Bridge Stadium

        South West London

     What a start to the new season!   Doing the reverse to the last one I'm starting with the Premiership and ending with the Conference and what a match to start off with, visiting Stamford Bridge on a Sunday afternoon to watch the Sky sports televised game between Chelsea and Hull City.  My Daughter Samantha is accompanying me as she is a bit of a Chelsea fan and I asked if she would like to come with me as her birthday present.

   

Daughter Samantha proudly showing off the colours

The media are in their element here as for not only is it the first match of a new season but Jose Mourinho is back to take charge of Chelsea after an absence of six years.  The majority of Chelsea fans are loving it also for they weren't happy to see him go in 2007 for they consider him the best ever Chelsea manager, "The special one", and since his return was announced have been looking forward to this moment when he is once more back at the helm.

     

     Chelsea have been busy in the transfer market during closed season and brought in Andre Schurrle from Bayer Leverkusen for just over £19 million.  They also bought Marko Van Ginkel  from Vitesse Arnhem paying a little over £8 million for the Dutch central midfield player.  Michael Essien returns for a second spell at Stamford Bridge for an undisclosed fee and goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer comes from just down the road Fulham on a freebe.  Romelu Lakaku returns after his loan spell at West Bromwich Albion last season and all five of them start on the subs bench for today's match.

     Hull City have been a little more cautious with their spending bringing in George Boyd, Maynor Figueroa and Steve Harper the Newcastle goalkeeper on a free transfer and spending £1.8 million for Allan McGregor from Besiktas.  Yannick Sagbo joined the Tigers for an undisclosed fee and so did Tom Huddleston and Jake Livermore but the ex-Tottenham duo can only make the subs bench for the start of today's game.

Players take to the field

     Chelsea got off to a great start as expected and were almost gifted the lead when Hull keeper Allan McGregor made a terrible start to his debut appearance by colliding with Fernando Torres and the referee Jonathan Moss  pointed to the penalty spot.  Up stepped Frank Lampard to take it but the Chelsea number eight's chance of scoring the first goal of the 2013/14 campaign was thwarted by the Hull City keeper as he redeemed himself for his early error.

     Chelsea did take the lead after twelve minutes though as Kevin De Bruyne slid a ball through the Hull defence to Oscar who poked the ball past McGregor for the opener.

     Lampard atoned himself for the spot kick miss in the 25th minute when he blazed a twenty yard free kick into the roof of the net to double the Chelsea lead.

     The Blues looked as though they were going to record another cricket score as they had chance after chance but McGregor stood strong and kept them out with some fine saves from Lampard again and Ivanovic.

     Chelsea took their foot off the gas in the second half looking content with what they had, chances were few and far between with Hull who looked dead and buried in the first half looking the most likely to score but score they didn't as the match ended 2-0 to Chelsea and a winning start for the re appointed manager.

   

West stand and the adjoining Shed End

 When I was plotting my rout to Stamford Bridge I found that repairs to the line on the tube between West Brompton and Fulham Broadway meant that we had to elite at West Brompton and walk through the cemetery.  I was expecting some graffiti on the cemetery wall  like there was at Springfield Park, Wigan some 30 odd years ago when visiting supporters were asked to collect their coffins on the way in.

     Very nice, big ground as expected, 41,837 all seated Stadium.  Modifications made in the 1990's filled in the corners so the ground is now totally enclosed.  The two stands that run along the touch line are the West and East stands and both are three tiered with the West being the newer of the two and so, of course, we were watching the game from the East stand in the upper tier with the Gods. The seats were OK not a lot of leg room but still quite comfortable.

     The stands behind the goals are the Matthew Harding stand and the Shed End.  The East stand end of the Shed's lower tier is reserved for away supporters.

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