English FA Premiership/ Chelsea 2 Charlton 1: For the proles of the Premiership there will never be a better time to catch the leading teams on the hop than when their players are recovering from an international week and about to embark on a new quest in the Champions League.
Chelsea did not share the angst of Liverpool and Arsenal on Saturday but an obvious desire to save themselves for tomorrow's encounter with Werder Bremen allowed Charlton to harbour thoughts of repeating January's draw at Stamford Bridge far longer than appeared likely at half-time.
While Chelsea will not easily pass up the chance of a Premiership hat-trick this season the immediate priority is to achieve a solid start in their latest attempt to become champions of Europe.
Charlton, without an away win in the league since last October, were considered worthy of half a performance, during which time Chelsea created enough chances to have put the contest way beyond the reach of Iain Dowie's side. But a number of scoring opportunities were wasted and by the time Scott Carson saved Frank Lampard's penalty six minutes from the end Chelsea were in urgent need of a third goal to stop Charlton's spirited revival getting out of hand.
On a balmy September afternoon the temptation to doze off got to players and spectators alike. With Bremen in mind, Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko strolled through the game, each doing enough but neither prepared to go into overdrive. Didier Drogba, much better now he has cut out the theatricals, scored instinctively in the sixth minute when the ball came back to him after Ballack's diving header had been blocked by Bryan Hughes but then missed a couple of easier chances.
Lampard often looked his old self as he pushed forward to support the front men, and the penalty was as much a save as a miss. The ball should have been placed wider of Carson but the goalkeeper still had to guess right to get there.
With Charlton's defence opening like automatic doors whenever Chelsea advanced, the match was becoming a procession. After half-time, however, the pace of Dennis Rommedahl, who had replaced the injured Andy Reid on the half-hour, became more of an influence, a threat compounded by Jose Mourinho's decision to introduce Ashley Cole for the last 28 minutes.
Wayne Bridge had done little wrong. Cole on the other hand looked in need of match practice, his recent inactivity at Arsenal obvious for all to see. True enough, Rommedahl raced past him rather too easily and it is hard to believe that Bridge will not start tomorrow's Champions League game.
Charlton drew level nine minutes into the second half when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink sidestepped a lunge from Ricardo Carvalho and skilfully made space for himself before beating Petr Cech with a low shot inside the left-hand post. Stamford Bridge applauded its former striker like he was still one of their own.
Nine minutes later, with one of the centre-backs, Souleymane Diawara, off the field, Radostin Kishishev failed to get off the ground to challenge Carvalho for Lampard's corner and the Portuguese restored Chelsea's lead with a firm header.
Diawara gave way to Marcus Bent, an extra striker, who had a second equaliser disallowed for handball.
- Guardian Service
