When we won promotion in May, this was one of the games that stood out as a match worth looking forward to.
Derby County 0-2 Chelsea
Kalou (17), Wright-Phillips (73)
This is the sort of opposition that every team wants to test themselves against and aside from a period of utter domination by the visitors in the first half, the Rams can look back on this match and argue that on another day, perhaps we might have given high-flying Chelsea a real scare.
As is the way with Billy Davies, there were changes in the side although bearing in mind that our last match saw us lose 5-0 perhaps that was no bad thing as David Jones reappeared from the wilderness in place of the injured and out of form Stephen Pearson. Jay McEveley and Claude Davis also returned to provide a boost to a defence short of confidence.
Chelsea were without Didier Drogba, Ricardo Calvalho, Joe Cole and Petr Cech but could still put out a side featuring England favourite Frank Lampard, John Terry and Andriy Shevchenko with which to threaten the very fragile looking Rams.
The opening half went pretty much as you'd expect it; Chelsea controlled the ball in all areas whilst the Rams did their best to close the ball down and try and catch the visitors on the break. In fact Chelsea's domination of possession was so much you'd have thought it was a training match but as I was inclined to tell the annoyingly critical young lady sat behind me; what did we expect? The Rams were hardly going to go all out and leave the sort of gaps that West Ham so easily exploited two weeks ago.
The plan was clearly to try and contain Chelsea as much as possible and then perhaps try and nick something late on; yes its negative, yes it isn't pleasant to watch but then again; was the West Ham game pleasant to watch? Liverpool? Arsenal?
Anyway, that was the pattern until Chelsea scored on 17 minutes with a fine goal that most teams would have struggled to prevent; Mikel, Lampard and Sidwell combined brilliantly to carve open the Rams backline and slide Kalou in on goal and the Chelsea frontman made no mistake with a clinical finish to put the visitors ahead.
Chelsea one up; back to the status quo, the Rams chasing around, Chelsea keeping the ball and only occasionally looking like they intended to score more goals; one such opening saw Wright-Phillips test Bywater with a long range drive by the Rams goalkeeper made a good save.
The Rams offered little as an attacking force with Barnes looking disinterested at times and Miller having a hard time against Terry and Ben-Haim but in the middle of the park both Leacock and Jones were impressing with their ability to keep the ball and find a teammate under pressure. Jones especially had a fine game and perhaps may finally have done enough to earn a regular starting berth; put it this way, if he gets dropped next week against Sunderland, questions need to be asked of the manager.
Half-Time: Rams 0-1 Chelsea
The second half saw the Rams step it up a gear and actually have a go at their much-touted opponents; Barnes woke up in order to burst forward on a strong run that eventually saw Fagan flash a shot wide and on 51 minutes the former Hull man forced Cudicini into a good save after Jones had slid the winger in behind the Chelsea defence.
In between Bywater did well to push Lampard's free kick around the post but for a short spell it was the Rams on the front foot and they should have been level just past the hour but were denied in controversial circumstances; Leacock strode forward unchallenged and sent Miller clear to lob the ball over Cudicini and into the net only for the linesman to rule the effort out for offside; the replays clear show Miller to be at least a yard on side and when your down at the bottom and facing one of the favourites for the title you really don't need that sort of idiotic officiating bringing you down.
Typically Chelsea scored their second minutes later and there is an argument that Shevchenko went through the back of Barnes in order to win the ball back but as play continued Lampard eventually struck the post with his effort but the ball fell perfectly to Wright-Phillips to slot home to doom the Rams to another defeat.
So defeat and no goals yet again but at last some fight and some positives to take into the crunch match against Sunderland next weekend; hopefully the likes of Jones and Feilhaber, players with actual ability on the ball will be given a chance see off a Sunderland side looking short on confidence following yesterdays drubbing at Everton.
Full-Time: Rams 0-2 Chelsea
Daniel's MOM: David Jones.
Rams: Bywater 7; Moore 7; Davis 7; Griffin 6; McEveley 7; Leacock 7; Fagan 6 (Earnshaw 5); Oakley 6 (Feilhaber 6); Barnes 6 (Howard 5); Jones 7; Miller 6.
Chelsea: Cudicini; A Cole ; Terry; Ben-Haim; Belletti; Mikel; Sidwell (Essien); Lampard (Pizarro); Wright-Phillips; Shevchenko; Kalou.
Referee: A Marriner.
Attendance: 32,789.
Next up: Sunderland (away).
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