Chelsea champions
A first half penalty from Player of the Year Eden Hazard handed Chelsea the points they needed to become champions of English football again. photo by AFP
What you need to know:
Soccer. With the Premiership title in the bag, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho now averages a staggering feat of a trophy every 34 matches
London.
In the end it worked out as most of those at Stamford Bridge had hoped and Roman Abramovich was waving and grinning from the posh seats. Chelsea won, thanks to a goal by the star of the season and clinched the title, their first in five years.
Eden Hazard scored the goal, nodding in the rebound after missing his first penalty in the Barclays Premier League just before half-time. Cue champagne corks and celebrations down the King’s Road.
They defended the lead, produced another clean sheet and the best team in the land are the champions. Bring on the streamers and the Queen song. Hazard was an appropriate match-winner on such a day, and yet his goal came with accusations that he dived for the penalty and there were more uneasy moments when the party seemed capable of falling flat and Jose Mourinho’s touchline activities provided a strange sideshow.
Mourinho sulked moodily, clearly dissatisfied with the level of support of the home crowd for his team as they went in pursuit of the win they needed.
He seemed to court the Palace supporters as they sang in one corner of the Shed End, ignored his own fans when they later sang his name and reacted angrily when they sang Frank Lampard’s name, in the closing stages.
