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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Hull City v Chelsea: Premier League – live! | Hull City v Chelsea: Premier League – live! |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 4.23pm GMT16:23 | |
| 21 min: Time and time again, Hull are being exposed on their flanks: their three-man defence is too narrow, their wing-backs completely out of position. Felipe Luis is the latest to break into the space, delivering a telling cross, but Costa’s header is harmless. | |
| 4.22pm GMT16:22 | |
| 19 min: Rather than their normal 4-2-3-1, Chelsea appear to be playing 4-3-3: Matic, Ramires and Fabregas behind Hazard, Costa and Willian. They are winning the battle in the middle of the pitch, so hats off to Mourinho. | |
| Meanwhile, Everton have taken a 1-0 lead at QPR. Seamus Coleman with the goal. Follow today’s live scores here. | |
| 4.19pm GMT16:19 | |
| 15 min: Despite being 2-0 down, Hull do look a threat going forward, but they look desperately exposed at the back. Costa is a willing runner, and has lots of space to break into. He’s having a right old tussle with Dawson too, and goes down in a heap clutching his chest. Is he hurt? Of course not. Fires a few customary expletives at Hull’s defender and on we go. | |
| 4.17pm GMT16:17 | |
| 13 min: Cahill is booked for bringing down N’Doye on the edge of the area. The Senegalese is a real physical menace isn’t he? N’Doye picks himself up, dusts himself down, and curls the resulting free-kick over the wall towards, the near-post corner… saved again by Courtois, tipping it round the post! The striker has another effort on goal from the corner, but it’s easily gathered again by the keeper. | |
| 4.14pm GMT16:14 | |
| Hull push forward with the ball, but Meyler loses it carelessly to Hazard. Hull’s wing-backs are caught far too high up the pitch, and Fabregas is able to turn and ping a lovely ball into the vacant wide area for Costa to chase. He wins the foot race against Dawson, dribbling into the area from the left. There is little support, so he stands the defender up, a bends a brilliant finish inside the post. Mourinho barely flinches on the bench. | |
| 4.11pm GMT16:11 | |
| GOAL! Hull City 0-2 Chelsea (Costa 9) | |
| There goes our ‘narrative’ then… | |
| Updated at 4.25pm GMT | |
| 4.10pm GMT16:10 | |
| 8 min: Hull are starting to get their collective feet on the ball here. Chelsea are defending very deep, they’re obviously scared of the pace of Hernandez and N’Doye, especially having already been caught out in behind. | |
| 4.08pm GMT16:08 | |
| 5 min: It’s all going off here! What a save from Courtois! Hernandez latches onto a clever flick on from N’Doye and the Uruguayan is clean through. He takes a touch, gets his head up, steadies himself and shoots straight at Chelsea’s goalkeeper, who darted off his line to close the angle. The ball rebounds safely away, Chelsea so easily undone! | |
| 4.06pm GMT16:06 | |
| Costa comes deep to collect the ball off Matic, and lays a lovely ball off to Hazard. Hazard bursts into the pocket of space created by Costa’s movement, and unleashes a fierce left-foot shot into the far post from 20 yards! What a strike! What a start! | |
| 4.03pm GMT16:03 | |
| GOAL! Hull City 0-1 Chelsea (Hazard 2) | |
| Things that don’t last long on a football pitch: parity at the KC, and Gerrard. Zingggg! | |
| Updated at 4.23pm GMT | |
| 4.00pm GMT16:00 | |
| Peeeep! And we’re off. | |
| 3.59pm GMT15:59 | |
| Is Thierry Henry a good pundit? I’m not sure. Nice garms though. | |
| 3.57pm GMT15:57 | |
| The teams are out. Send your predictions, thoughts, and pictures of your roast dinner to michael.butler@theguardian.com. Or you can tweet me at @michaelbutler18. | |
| 3.52pm GMT15:52 | |
| It looks as though Mourinho has opted for Ramires on the right of that attacking midfield trio, normally where Willian, Cuadrado or Oscar might play. Willian plays in the middle of that trio today, with Hazard on the left. Hull’s main attacking threat is their width, with their wing backs Elmohamady and Robertson constantly looking to get forward. Ramires could well be an astute selection to nullify that threat. | |
| 3.48pm GMT15:48 | 3.48pm GMT15:48 |
| Hull manager Steve Bruce has been talking to the cameras. | Hull manager Steve Bruce has been talking to the cameras. |
| We’re up against one of the best teams in Europe with arguably the best manager. When you put those two things today, it can be pretty formidable. | We’re up against one of the best teams in Europe with arguably the best manager. When you put those two things today, it can be pretty formidable. |
| Hernandez has shown in glimpses what he can do. It’s taken him a bit of a while to get used to the Premier League, whereas N’Doye has hit the ground running. | Hernandez has shown in glimpses what he can do. It’s taken him a bit of a while to get used to the Premier League, whereas N’Doye has hit the ground running. |
| 3.34pm GMT15:34 | 3.34pm GMT15:34 |
| Mikel John Obi aside, Chelsea’s squad arrive in Hull with a clean bill of health. Hull meanwhile, have a few important absences: Tom Huddlestone is suspended, Nikica Jelavic has just undergone knee surgery, Mo Diame and James Chester are still recovering from their injuries, and Robbie Brady is only fit enough for the bench. | Mikel John Obi aside, Chelsea’s squad arrive in Hull with a clean bill of health. Hull meanwhile, have a few important absences: Tom Huddlestone is suspended, Nikica Jelavic has just undergone knee surgery, Mo Diame and James Chester are still recovering from their injuries, and Robbie Brady is only fit enough for the bench. |
| Hull play six of the top seven teams in their last nine games. The sooner they get those players back, the better. Results went for them yesterday, with all the teams below them losing (apart from QPR, who play Everton today), but they remain just three points above the relegation zone. Bum, squeaky, etc. | Hull play six of the top seven teams in their last nine games. The sooner they get those players back, the better. Results went for them yesterday, with all the teams below them losing (apart from QPR, who play Everton today), but they remain just three points above the relegation zone. Bum, squeaky, etc. |
| Updated at 3.44pm GMT | Updated at 3.44pm GMT |
| 3.26pm GMT15:26 | 3.26pm GMT15:26 |
| JOSÉ MOURINHO IS TAKING ONE GAME AT A TIME AND NOT EVEN THINKING ABOUT THE TITLE although he has revealed he celebrated each of the 21 trophies he has won as a manager by removing his watch and keeping it as a memento. | JOSÉ MOURINHO IS TAKING ONE GAME AT A TIME AND NOT EVEN THINKING ABOUT THE TITLE although he has revealed he celebrated each of the 21 trophies he has won as a manager by removing his watch and keeping it as a memento. |
| I take my watch from my wrist and I don’t wear it again. A big collection? I have a big collection. I keep it. They’re in a safe box. Like people keep medals or shirts, I keep my watches. Another thing is if I don’t win, the watch becomes a normal watch, so I wear, I don’t wear, I wear, I don’t wear. But when I finish a season with a trophy, that season is represented with a watch. I have 21. | I take my watch from my wrist and I don’t wear it again. A big collection? I have a big collection. I keep it. They’re in a safe box. Like people keep medals or shirts, I keep my watches. Another thing is if I don’t win, the watch becomes a normal watch, so I wear, I don’t wear, I wear, I don’t wear. But when I finish a season with a trophy, that season is represented with a watch. I have 21. |
| Read more watch-related quotes. | Read more watch-related quotes. |
| Updated at 3.27pm GMT | Updated at 3.27pm GMT |
| 3.12pm GMT15:12 | 3.12pm GMT15:12 |
| Today’s teams. | Today’s teams. |
| Hull (3-5-2): McGregor, Dawson, Bruce, McShane, Elmohamady, Livermore, Meyler, Ramirez, Robertson, N’Doye, Hernandez. Subs: Rosenior, Davies, Brady, Sagbo, Harper, Aluko, Quinn. | Hull (3-5-2): McGregor, Dawson, Bruce, McShane, Elmohamady, Livermore, Meyler, Ramirez, Robertson, N’Doye, Hernandez. Subs: Rosenior, Davies, Brady, Sagbo, Harper, Aluko, Quinn. |
| Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Courtois, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Luis, Fabregas, Matic, Willian, Ramires, Hazard, Costa. Subs: Cech, Zouma, Oscar, Remy, Cuadrado, Azpilicueta, Loftus-Cheek. | Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Courtois, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Luis, Fabregas, Matic, Willian, Ramires, Hazard, Costa. Subs: Cech, Zouma, Oscar, Remy, Cuadrado, Azpilicueta, Loftus-Cheek. |
| Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland) | Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland) |
| Updated at 3.13pm GMT | Updated at 3.13pm GMT |
| 3.01pm GMT15:01 | 3.01pm GMT15:01 |
| Preamble | Preamble |
| The last time Hull City beat Chelsea was October 1988 with most of today’s players just a sparkle in their respective fathers’ eyes. Hull ran out comfortable 3-0 winners at the now-defunct Boothferry Park in the now-defunct Division Two in front of a crowd just short if 7,000, a Keith Edwards brace and a strike from Michael Smith helping the Yorkshire club to a deserved win. | The last time Hull City beat Chelsea was October 1988 with most of today’s players just a sparkle in their respective fathers’ eyes. Hull ran out comfortable 3-0 winners at the now-defunct Boothferry Park in the now-defunct Division Two in front of a crowd just short if 7,000, a Keith Edwards brace and a strike from Michael Smith helping the Yorkshire club to a deserved win. |
| The result wasn’t representative for how the 1988/89 season panned out. Chelsea would finish the season as champions with 99 points – a full 17 points ahead of the second-placed team, Manchester City, whilst Hull finished in 21st, just avoiding relegation. Sound familiar reader? | The result wasn’t representative for how the 1988/89 season panned out. Chelsea would finish the season as champions with 99 points – a full 17 points ahead of the second-placed team, Manchester City, whilst Hull finished in 21st, just avoiding relegation. Sound familiar reader? |
| Football fans, pundits and even journalists can get a bit carried away with one performance, or one result. Manchester United are now really good, Liverpool are rubbish, and that Steven Gerrard guy is a dirty little so-and-so isn’t he? Rarely are things so simple, but geezers (and geezettes) need excitement and narrative to make life a bit more interesting between now and the end of May. | Football fans, pundits and even journalists can get a bit carried away with one performance, or one result. Manchester United are now really good, Liverpool are rubbish, and that Steven Gerrard guy is a dirty little so-and-so isn’t he? Rarely are things so simple, but geezers (and geezettes) need excitement and narrative to make life a bit more interesting between now and the end of May. |
| If Chelsea fail to win today, some people will suggest Manchester City and perhaps Arsenal are still in with a sniff of the title. So expect a 3-0 home win for Hull today, reactive hyperbole tomorrow, Hull to avoid relegation by the skin of their teeth and Chelsea to ignore it all and romp to the title by 17 points. | If Chelsea fail to win today, some people will suggest Manchester City and perhaps Arsenal are still in with a sniff of the title. So expect a 3-0 home win for Hull today, reactive hyperbole tomorrow, Hull to avoid relegation by the skin of their teeth and Chelsea to ignore it all and romp to the title by 17 points. |
| Kick off: 4pm GMT | Kick off: 4pm GMT |
| Updated at 3.15pm GMT | Updated at 3.15pm GMT |