But despite the win – and Roman Abramovich’s best
efforts – Guus Hiddink’s first gander at his new Chelsea charges
left him stony faced throughout. If the experienced Dutch coach
didn’t realise before, he must now know today won't be the only
time he steps into a Hornets’ nest in his quest to deliver
silverware to Stamford Bridge this season.
Hiddink was far from amused as he watched the Blues
struggle to breakdown the Championship outfit at a gloomy Vicarage
Road - and this despite sitting next to an unusually cheery Chelsea
owner.
Supremo Abramovich has missed more Chelsea games this
season than he has since taking charge at Stamford Bridge but on
this occasion he was whooping like a cheerleader every time Chelsea
got into the opposing half.
Already missing the centre-half pairing of captain John
Terry through suspension and Ricardo Carvalho, the home team could
even have put the Blues out of this one.
Grzegorz Rasiak gave Alex a mauling at times and Jobi
McAnuff was more than a handful down the flank. Hiddink clearly has
his work cut out but at least it looks like Didier Drogba is back
in the mood to impress.
The Ivory Coast international put himself about better
than at any stage under Phil Scolari and even gave a glimmer of
hope that his partnership with Nicolas Anelka may one day
blossom.
The big centre forward was in the thick off it, being
slotted in by Frank Lampard in the first half and lashing a smart
volley that brought a flying save from Scott Loach.
The closest Chelsea came to scoring in the first-half
was on 34 minutes. Anelka’s pace and strength allowed him to muscle
on to a Drogba flick but the right-footed finish hit the base of
the post.
Polish centre-forward Rasiak served warning of the home
side’s intent when his header was palmed away by Cech from close
range at the end of the half. Drogba forced a save three minutes
into the second-half, with Loach getting down quickly to his left
to keep out the snap shot.
Lampard fired a trademark 25-yard drive past the near
post and the increasingly confident Michael Mancienne cut in from
the left to fire a left foot curler high and handsome.
Chelsea were really turning the screw and on the hour
midfielder Michael Ballack provided a miss to rival John Terry’s
howler against Hull the previous Saturday. Drogba’s turn and left
foot shot was blocked but found the German less than five yards
out. Ballack stuck out a right leg but amazingly diverted the ball
over the bar and towards Row Z.
A crazy scramble three minute later was eventually
hacked clear before Salomon Kalou picked up the loose ball and fed
a jinxing Anelka who pulled his drive wide.
Priskin - looking suspiciously offside - then shocked
the visitors by breaking from the halfway line to loft the ball
over the onrushing Cech. But the lead lasted barely five minutes.
Chelsea replaced Jon-Obi Mikel with Stoch and it turned the game on
its head immediately.
Anelka scored two goals in three minutes, the first an
overhead kick from two yards when he twisted his body to connect
with a Ballack flick from a Lampard corner. The second was directly
provided by Stoch, who threaded the ball through for the Frenchman
to outpace the defence and slide a strike past Loach.
McAnuff could have forced a replay but his stoppage
time strike from ten yards out was smothered before the ball was
quickly returned to the other end and Anelka found space in the box
to turn in his hat-trick goal.
Buoyed by the fightback Lampard insisted Chelsea could
still challenge for major honours. He said: "Winning the Premier
League is achievable. We just have to keep going. "We are not too
many games away from Wembley now and we have a massive Champions
League game coming up so we have a good chance of winning things on
every front.”
It was tough on Watford but made sure that - after four
draws earlier in the day - Chelsea were the first side definitely
through to the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Watford: Loach, Hoyte, Mariappa,
DeMerit, Doyley, Smith, Jenkins, Lee Williamson (Cowie 67),
McAnuff, Rasiak (Priskin 66), Hoskins (O’Toole 76). Subs
Not Used: Lee, Sadler, Harley, Parkes.
Booked: O’Toole.
Chelsea: Cech, Mancienne, Alex,
Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, Lampard, Ballack (Belletti 83), Mikel (Stoch
73), Kalou, Anelka, Drogba. Subs Not Used:
Hilario, Di Santo, Quaresma, Ferreira, Deco.
Booked: Ashley Cole.
Att: 16,851
Ref: Mike Dean (Wirral).
<!-- Article End -->
