Tuesday 27 March
England 1:1 Italy
With no Chelsea players in the England team we were watching this one for Davide Zappacosta. England were given a much tougher test than against the Netherlands but it was a bit of a dull affair. Jamie Vardy opened the scoring with a cracking finish but a last gasp penalty warded by a VAR who couldn’t see that the player was already going down when contact was made.
Marcos Alonso made his Spain bow with in an eye catching 6-1 win over Argentina. Willy Caballero won his second cap with his side winning 0-1.
Michy Batshuayi scored and Eden Hazard played as Belgium beat Saudi Arabia.
Wednesday 28 March
Chelsea 3:1 Montpellier (5-1 on aggregate)
The women didn’t have all their own way but they showed defensive solidity to go with some clinical finishing to clinch our first Champions League semi-final.
Fran Kirby settled the nerves with an early strike and Ramona Bachman added a second before Kirby scored her second from a penalty. It was an entertaining, open game that really showcased all the strengths this squad have developed.
Thursday 29 March
The club published their ender pay gap figures. As with all football clubs the wages of the men’s squad dwarf all others. If you take them out of the figures though we pay men and women the same and all of them at least the London living wage.
Friday 30 March
Ray Wilkins has had a heart attack and a fall. He has been placed in an induced coma and his family are saying it looks bleak. Everyone has come out to offer their concern as the club and the game of football all pause and send Ray their best wishes.
Ray is only 61 and is so well known we don’t have to tell anyone that he was our youngest ever captain back in the 1970s. We wish him well.
Saturday 31 March
Derby County U23 0:3 Chelsea U23
Things are looking up for the stiffs after a sticky start to the season we have now won three out of four away from home and moved up to a more comfortable fifth in the table.
A hat-trick from Daishawn Redan and an hour on the pitch for Ross Barclay made it a positive afternoon all round, possibly helped by the match being played at St George’s Park, which is home from home for all our English boys at various age group levels.
Sunday 1 April
Chelsea 1:3 Tottenham Hotspur
It certainly felt like a joke. Spurs haven’t beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge since Margaret Thatcher was prime minister and they barely deserved to win this one. Alvaro Morata had given us the lead our play deserved but right on the break they equalised when a shared ball forward looped into the net.
The two they scored in the second-half were well worked but we shouldn’t have surrendered like that. We should have shown more spark but with Spurs Vertonghen nearly ending Hazard’s career and walking away without sanction it was just not going to be our day.
Arsenal 1:1 Chelsea
A frustrating day on the pitch was helped by the news that Reading beat Manchester City leaving us three points clear of City’s second, they have a game in hand. Fran Kirby scored our goal after a sloppy bit of play by Arsenal’s ’keeper.
