Eden
Hazard and Fernando Torres inspired Chelsea to a
routine victory over Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge
wear cheap
soccer cleats. The attacking duo shone again and combined
twice for first half strikes that saw off the Magpies and made it three top
flight wins out of three for Roberto Di Matteo's side. The Belgium international opened the
scoring from the penalty spot in the 22nd minute before brilliantly laying on
the second goal for Fernando Torres in first-half stoppage time wear cheap
nike soccer cleats. Chelsea were without injured skipper
John Terry and left vice-captain Frank Lampard on the bench, but still had
enough quality and experience to dominate against a good Magpies side. The
victory saw the Blues maintain their perfect start to the new season and return
to the top of the fledgling league table. The opening 15 minutes were
uneventful, with John Obi Mikel firing high and wide and Hazard shooting
straight at Newcastle
goalkeeper Tim Krul wear cheap adidas soccer cleats. But the
home side created the first real chance three minutes later. Torres controlled
a cross-field pass from Raul Meireles before rolling a ball just inside the box
to Ryan Bertrand, whose effort was not strong enough to test Krul. The European
champions were ahead soon after, though, when Vurnon Anita wear adidas predator lz - making his first
Premier League start for Newcastle
- brought down Torres just inside the area. With regular penalty-taker Lampard
on the bench, Hazard - who earned spot-kicks for his side in each of their
first two games this season - stepped up and directed a low penalty past Krul. Branislav
Ivanovic nearly doubled Chelsea's lead just after the half-hour mark when he
out-jumped Davide Santon wear nike mercurial vapor 8 to meet Ashley
Cole's deep cross but his header was too close to Krul, who managed to keep the
Serbia captain's effort out. Hazard could have grabbed his second of the game
five minutes later but he blazed over from the edge of the area as the hosts
started to dominate possession. Torres was then showed a yellow card by referee
Phil Dowd for diving after knocking the ball around Fabricio Coloccini wear nike mercurial vapor 9 with the whole
of the Chelsea bench up in arms as it appeared the Newcastle captain caught
Torres with his trailing leg. The visitors went close to equalising a minute
before half-time when full-back Danny Simpson challenged David Luiz wear adidas f50 adizero trx as he tried to
carry the ball out of the box. The loose ball broke for Papiss Cisse, but his
snap-shot - although hit with venom - was straight at Petr Cech, who held the
ball well. There was still time before the interval for Chelsea to double their
lead as the impressive Hazard back-heeled the ball perfectly into the path of
Torres wear nike mercurial vapor superfly iii,
who finished coolly into the top corner. Newcastle
came out in the second half looking for an early goal to get themselves back
into the game. First Hatem Ben Arfa wriggled free before shooting wide before
Jonas Gutierrez followed suit moments later. Demba Ba wear nike tiempo legend iv elite then
forced Cech into a smart save with his legs after breaking free inside the
Chelsea penalty area. With the visitors starting to get a foothold in the game,
Roberto Di Matteo introduced Ramires off the bench in place of Juan Mata to add
more guile to the Chelsea
midfield. But it was Newcastle
substitute Ryan Taylor who almost orchestrated the third goal of the game. His
deep free-kick was met by the head of Cisse wear nike ctr360 maestri ii elite but the Senegal
striker could not keep his effort down and it comfortably cleared Cech's
crossbar. With Newcastle pushing forward Chelsea were able to launch several
counter-attacks and Bertrand almost scored a third with 10 minutes to go but
his drilled effort was deflected past Krul's far post for a corner. Magpies
boss Alan Pardew wear adidas adipure 11pro introduced
Sylvain Marveaux for the final 15 minutes and his injection of pace added to Newcastle's potency in
attack. His 84th-minute cross found its way to Ba who, after mis-kicking his
first effort, forced a low save out of Cech from eight yards. With 90 minutes
on the clock Luiz required treatment following a clash of heads with Ba as the
two contested another Marveaux cross wear nike total 90 laser iv. Despite
requiring a bandage after suffering a nasty cut, the Brazilian defender was
untroubled for the five minutes of additional time as Chelsea saw out the remainder of the game
without incident.
Rangers have only managed to take a point from their
visit to Berwick Rangers as their Third Division tie ended in a 1-1 draw. Andy
Little wear cheap soccer
cleats netted his seventh
goal of the season for the Glasgow giants, before Fraser McLaren levelled for
the home side, who could have snatched victory at the end. It was not quite up
there with Berwick's famous Scottish Cup win over Rangers in 1967 but they
would have been the happier of the two sides with the outcome. Anestis Argyriou
wear cheap adidas soccer cleats made his Rangers debut from the start after signing a two-year deal
yesterday. Fellow new recruit Sebastien Faure - who joined the Ibrox side last
week - was named on the bench. Skipper Carlos Bocanegra also started despite
being an injury doubt before the game, while Ross Perry made his first
appearance of the season after recovering from a calf strain. Like rivals
Celtic, Rangers had expressed a desire to play in England in the past. But the clash
at Shielfield wear cheap nike soccer cleats, two miles south of the border, was a long way from the promised land
of the Barclays Premier League. Rangers started well and were threatening early
on when a Barrie McKay cross found Lewis MacLeod and he fired wide. Lee Currie
then picked up the first booking after just four minutes for a crunching
challenge on Ian Black wear adidas f50 adizero trx. Berwick refused to be overawed by their visitors and Dean Hoskins
tested Neil Alexander at his near post with a cross come shot. Neil Janczyk
then had a go with an effort from distance that deflected past several bodies
in the box before being smothered by the goalkeeper. The home side continued to
push forward in search of the opener and Darren Lavery wear adidas adipure 11pro dragged his shot wide when he should at least have tested Alexander. Berwick
goalkeeper Youssef Bejaoui did not have a save to make for most of the first
half but was left picking the ball out of the net in injury time. A Black
free-kick found Lee McCulloch wear adidas predator lz at the back post and he nodded into the path of Little to rifle home
from six yards. Berwick tried to hit back immediately after the restart and
Phil Addison saw his shot fizz across goal and wide, before Alexander was
called into action to gather from Currie wear nike mercurial vapor 8. They were back on level terms after 63 minutes when substitute McLaren
sent a powerful angled drive past the grasp of Alexander and into the bottom
corner just four minutes after coming off the bench. At the other end,
Francisco Sandaza wear nike mercurial vapor superfly iii point blank shot was blocked by Bejaoui, before he was withdrawn along
with McKay to make way for Kevin Kyle and Robbie Crawford. Berwick looked like
they were going for the win and Marc Lancaster wear nike mercurial vapor 9 was not too
far away with a ferocious shot that whistled just over. Alexander then produced
a superb save to tip over from McLaren with a couple of minutes to go. Chris
Townsley wear nike total 90 laser iv nodded home from the resulting corner but the referee had already blown
for a foul. Rangers: Alexander, Perry, Emilson Cribari, Bocanegra, Argyriou,
Little, McCulloch, Macleod (Naismith 77), Black, McKay (Crawford 64), Sandaza
(Kyle 64). Subs Not Used: Gallacher wear nike tiempo legend iv elite, Faur. Berwick: Bejaoui, Droudge, Townsley, Brydon, Hoskins, Notman,
Janczyk (McLaren 58), Currie, McDonald, Lavery (Gielty 58), Addison.
Subs Not Used: McCaldon, Lancaster wear nike ctr360 maestri ii elite, Ferguson.