Cisse Double Crushes Chelsea as Toon Maintain Euro Dream
Chelsea 0-2 Newcastle United
Papiss Demba Cisse scored one of the goals of the season as his double helped Newcastle United keep the pressure on Tottenham Hotspur in the race for the fourth Champions League spot with a commanding victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Cisse battered in The Toon's first after 19 minutes, before a dipping second confirmed the points in added on time in the second half.
Chelsea looked tired throughout, with an FA Cup and Champions League final on the horizon, and captain John Terry came closest to scoring for them as Davide Santon cleared his header.
Roberto Di Matteo left out Didier Drogba, Juan Mata and Frank Lampard from the start ahead of the FA Cup final against Liverpool on Saturday, in a pivotal game in their quest to qualify for the Champions League, against a Newcastle side who were also in the hunt for a fop four spot having won six of their last seven games.
Despite cruising to victory over Queens Park Rangers on Sunday, The Blues began the game looking like their recent exploits in the Cup and in Europe were catching up with them, as The Toon enjoyed several decent moments in the final third in the opening minutes.
The physicality of the Senegalese strike pair Demba Ba and Cisse were causing a depleted Chelsea back four numerous problems in the opening quarter, and after Ba could only hook over the bar, Cisse should his countryman the way, smashing past Petr Cech after Santon's pass.
Florent Malouda should perhaps have levelled with a header from Fernando Torres' cross, and the visitors themselves should have added to the scoring as Ba was twice denied, first by Cech, and then by the crossbar, following Hatem Ben Arfa's corner.
The hosts' pedestrian midfield was added to by the introduction of Mata at half time, with Drogba coming on the hour mark as Chelsea stalled in their attempts to find an equaliser.
A lengthy injury stoppage following Chieck Tiote's clash with Jon Obi Mikel, which saw the Ivorian stretchered from the field after a nine-minute delay, disrupted the flow of the game, and after the resumption Ben Arfa shot widely over the bar.
Terry saw his goal bound effort cleared off the line by Santon, an effort which was the closest the home side came in the closing stages, and despite defending for most of the second period, the away side produced a sucker punch in stoppage time as Cisse's dipping volley caught out Cech.
Cisse's double was enough to see Newcastle through on a night where Chelsea's Champions League hopes may now rest with their fortunes in the final against Bayern Munich, while Alan Pardew's side continue to keep the pressure on Spurs.
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