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Chelsea show form at the right time

15/02/16

Defoe the key to Sunderland beating Manchester United

Reigning Premier League champions Chelsea’s struggles this season have been well-documented, but this time they produced a dominant performance to defeat struggling Newcastle 5-1 at Stamford Bridge.

 

Pedro scored a brace, with Diego Costa, Willian and youngster Bertrand Traore also getting on the scoresheet. The win showed that the Blues are still capable of producing big performances and play attractive football.

Blues boss Guus Hiddink could have been excused for fielding a weakened team with a crucial Champions League clash to come next week against PSG. Instead the Dutch boss named a strong team and it may just give the Blues some momentum going into the last 16 tie against the big spending French side.

It may just be a good time to face Laurent Blanc’s, as PSG’s 16 matching win run in Ligue One came to an end on Saturday with a goalless draw at the Parc De Princes against Lille.

Winning the Champions League will be Chelsea’s only realistic way of making Europe’s elite competition this season. The Blues are highly unlikely to finish in the top four of the Premier League this season, so entrance next season will depend on Hiddink’s team winning the competition.

Chelsea suffered a last 16 exit at the hands of Blanc’s team last season and will be looking for revenge for that exit. The Blues will certainly now head into the clash in better spirits after that drubbing of Newcastle.

Chelsea will now be full of confidence and fancy their chances of making the last eight of Europe’s elite competition.

Major League Soccer Eastern Conference
OVERALL TABLE PTS GP W D L +/-
1
Inter Miami CF 24 12 7 3 2 14
2
FC Cincinnati 21 11 6 3 2 4
3
Toronto FC 19 11 6 1 4 0
4
New York Red Bulls 17 11 4 5 2 0
5
Columbus Crew 15 10 3 6 1 3
6
Philadelphia Union 14 10 3 5 2 3
7
DC United 14 11 3 5 3 -1
8
Charlotte FC 14 11 4 2 5 -1
9
New York City FC 14 11 4 2 5 -1
10
Atlanta United 12 10 3 3 4 3
11
Montreal Impact 12 10 3 3 4 -7
12
Nashville SC 11 10 2 5 3 -4
13
Chicago Fire 10 11 2 4 5 -8
14
Orlando City SC 9 10 2 3 5 -7
15
New England Revolution 7 10 2 1 7 -11
Major League Soccer Western Conference
OVERALL TABLE PTS GP W D L +/-
1
Real Salt Lake 21 11 6 3 2 9
2
Minnesota United 20 10 6 2 2 6
3
Los Angeles Galaxy 19 11 5 4 2 4
4
Vancouver Whitecaps 18 10 5 3 2 8
5
Colorado Rapids 18 11 5 3 3 3
6
Austin FC 16 11 4 4 3 1
7
Los Angeles FC 15 11 4 3 4 0
8
Houston Dynamo 14 10 4 2 4 -1
9
Saint Louis City 13 10 2 7 1 1
10
Sporting Kansas City 11 11 2 5 4 -1
11
Seattle Sounders 10 11 2 4 5 0
12
Portland Timbers 10 11 2 4 5 -3
13
FC Dallas 8 10 2 2 6 -5
14
San Jose Earthquakes 7 11 2 1 8 -9

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