Chelsea drops valuable points at Blackburn

After Manchester United and Arsenal had already claimed three points for the weekend all the pressure fell on Chelsea who had to travel to Ewood Park and face scrappy Blackburn.  All looked to be well after Didier Drogba opened the scoring in only the 6th minute of play, but the good times would not be longlasting.  Blackburn were agressive all afternoon as they never missed a chance for a hard tackle or good fight.  Each tackle was cheered gleefully by the Blackburn fans.

Chelsea were hanging by a thread and it seemed everyone could feel the impending disaster coming for Chelsea.  In the 70th minute it finally struck as El-Hadji Diouf evened the game as he rose high and headed home a wonderful cross from Michel Salgado.   It was up to Chelsea to respond and they set about trying to find the winner.

Malouda rifled one over the top followed by an Alex freekick that was off target.  Chelsea kept pushing and as time wound down Blackburn seemed content to protect the hard earned point throwing players behind the ball.  Despite all the pressure it was not to be Chelsea's day as the game ended in a 1-1 draw. 

The tie caps a poor week for Chelsea who were eliminated from Champions League play midweek and then drop points in the title chase on the weekend.  The result leaves Chelsea 4 points behind leaders Manchester United and 2 points behind Arsenal.  Chelsea does have a game in hand, but even winning that would not allow them to catch United.