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POST-SEASON BRIEFING: 2008/09 SUMMARY
This was a season that started off plain sailing then listed badly midway before righting itself during the final few months.
The rally in all competitions brought silverware for the first time since the 2007 FA Cup. Although the win at Wembley does not bring as much booty to the Bridge as we may have hoped for in the early days under Luíz Felipe Scolari, it is a return to winning ways. In comparison it is three years and counting since Liverpool won anything, and four in the case of Arsenal.
Chelsea's primary target of the Barclays Premier League was never fully in our grasp. However, we led the table from the off and for much of the period up to Christmas, despite damaging home draws to Tottenham and Newcastle, and defeats by visiting Liverpool and Arsenal. In November after Sunderland away, for example, we had regained top slot only on goal difference, with 23 compared to the Scousers' eight.
It was the poor run of two wins in nine league games, starting and finishing with home draws against West Ham and Hull City respectively, that ended Chelsea's title bid, as well as Scolari's tenure. Manchester United, meanwhile, whose Uefa and Fifa commitments meant they had league games in hand, embarked on a long run of perfect results, and eventually our goal difference advantage was eroded by Liverpool to fortify their second place.
By the time Guus Hiddink took over his deflated team were placed fourth, ten points behind United, and two behind Aston Villa in third. Beating Villa more comprehensively than the 1-0 scoreline suggested (below) laid down a marker for the new regime, and they never looked back. Despite the Dutchman's excellent stewardship, ably assisted by Ray Wilkins, the damage had been done to any championship aspirations.
The cups have provided some succour, although being turfed out of the Carling Cup by then-Championship opposition Burnley was an unpleasant echo of Barnsley the previous season. In the Champions League, remarkably, we reached our fifth semi-final in six seasons, and the referee-led injustice of losing out to Barcelona will take a long time to subside. Most poignantly Chelsea entered the top ten list of FA Cup winners with victory over Everton. Chelsea and Manchester Utd, who have played more games than any other team at the new Wembley, will meet there again on 9 August.
Statistics comparing this season to last, when we finished second, are interesting. The long-standing unbeaten record went in a double-whammy - losing to title rivals Liverpool. Along with Arsenal's win at the Bridge, however fortuitous, that means this season, when the six draws are added in, only 58 per cent of home games have ended in wins. Last season the figure was 61 per cent.
The improvement in our already excellent away form - including several new records - provided compensation. Last season we had a 68 per cent win rate away from the Fulham Road; this campaign it has been surpassed with an extraordinary 74 per cent. Once again that is by some distance the best travelling performance in any of Europe's elite leagues: Barcelona managed 68 per cent, Marseille 63, Inter 58, and Germany's best, Bayern, 47.
Year on year the only big movement has been in goals scored, especially on our travels. Most of the credit for that must got to Golden Boot-winner Nicolas Anelka, 11 of whose 19 league goals came on opposition turf; Florent Malouda scored four. Fifteen different Chelsea players scored an opening goal for the Blues in all competitions (plus one own goal by Arsenal's Djourou), with Anelka making the breakthrough the most often - eight times - followed by Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou (whose impact on games is easily underestimated) with five first strikes.
There were not many encounters decided by a single goal, but where there were, the match winners were more often Drogba again (four), and Frank Lampard (three, including the cup final).
As the season-on-season comparison also shows, our ability to defend the goal has remained remarkably solid home and away, and marginally improved on 2007/8. (Twenty-two of the 38 league games, 29 in all competitions, were clean sheets.) Generally, the overall away trend was positive, while the home form leaves plenty of room for improvement.
Statistics bear out the remarkable turnaround in team performances we witnessed under Guus Hiddink from February, validating the board's decision to part with Luiz Felipe Scolari's services. The Brazilian's record of league points earned from the total available is the least impressive of our most recent coaches. The points-won percentages of Mourinho or Grant over the course of the season would have been enough to secure second place.
P Pts won
G Hiddink 13 87.17%
J Mourinho 120 77.77%
A Grant 32 77.08%
LF Scolari 25 65.33%
Season summary (all competitions)
Played 59, won 37, drawn 16, lost 6, goals 110, goals against 44, clean sheets 29, failed to score 10. (one drawn game lost on penalties)
Campaign achievements
Barclays Premier League - third (fifth occasion in our history)
Champions League - semi-finalist (fifth time in six seasons)
FA Cup - winners (fifth instance)
League Cup - fourth round
Milestones of Season 2008/9
• Premier League Golden Boot winner - Nicolas Anelka with 19 goals
• John Terry became our all-time top scoring defender by scoring his 35th goal against Wigan in March 2009
• Guus Hiddink won his first five games in charge, a club record, exceeding José Mourinho's four
• Ashley Cole won his fifth FA Cup winners medal (three Arsenal, two Chelsea), the most in the modern era
• Remarkably Didier Drogba has scored in each of our last five domestic cup finals
• Chelsea's 1,000th goal in the Premier League was scored by Alex against Sunderland on 1 November 2008
• Frank Lampard netted 20 goals for the fourth season running
• Frank has scored 100 Chelsea goals in the last five seasons; he is our sixth all-time scorer and highest-scoring midfielder
• The Blues' 7,000th goal in all competitions was scored by Nicolas Anelka against West Ham on 14 December 2008
• Our record unbeaten home league run, stretching back to the days of Claudio Ranieri, finally ended with defeat against Liverpool on 26 October 2008 after 86 matches
• At the same time defeat ended our record-beating unbeaten home run in all competitions, which now stands at 74 games
• Chelsea set a new club best for unbeaten away league games of 20, surpassing the 19 set between October 2004 and November 2005
• The team set record club and top flight successive away league wins - 11 (with only one Robinho goal conceded), beating the nine set in 2004/05 and Tottenham's top flight record of 10 in 1960
• A new record consecutive away league clean sheets was set: 7, beating 5 in 1999/00 and 2004/05
• We went the longest time without conceding a penalty - 61 games, beating 51 games set between January 1996 and February 1997
• Chelsea inflicted Liverpool's worst ever home defeat in a European knockout match with the 3-1 on 8 April 2009
• The 4-1 win on 10 May 2009 equalled our best away league performance at Arsenal, matching 1959/60 and 1960/61
• 100 Chelsea clean sheets: Petr Cech
• 400 Chelsea appearances: Frank Lampard, John Terry
• 200 Chelsea appearances: Didier Drogba, Petr Cech
• 100 Chelsea appearances: Michael Ballack, Ashley Cole, John Mikel Obi
Awards 2008/9
• Player of the Year: Frank Lampard
• Players' Player of the Year: Ashley Cole
• Young Player of the Year: Michael Mancienne
• Special Commitment Award: John Terry
• Goal of the Season: Michael Essien against Barcelona
2008/09 Premier League best
Most away wins: 14
Best away record: 44 points from 19 games
Fewest goals conceded: 24 (equal with Manchester Utd)
Chelsea's only win against any of our closest rivals came at the Emirates - the only one under Guus Hiddink. This represents our worst performance against these sides in the Roman Abramovich era.
'Big Four' Premier League table
P W D L FA Pts
Liverpool
6 4 2 0 14 7 14
Arsenal
6 2 3 1 10 11 9
Man Utd
6 1 2 3 7 9 5
Chelsea
6 1 1 4 6 10 4
All three wins against our neighbours came under Guus Hiddink, who also masterminded an FA Cup semi-final win over Arsenal.
Premier London League
P W D L F A Pts
Tottenham 8 3 4 1 10 7 13
Chelsea 8 3 3 2 13 9 12
Arsenal 8 2 4 2 9 10 10
Fulham 8 2 3 3 8 11 9
West Ham 8 2 2 4 6 9 8
Chelsea have slipped from last year's top slot in Uefa's rankings.
Uefa Team Rankings 2009
1 FC Barcelona 121.853
2 Chelsea 118.899
Liverpool 118.899
4 Manchester Utd 111.899
5 AC Milan 110.581
6 Arsenal 106.899
7 Sevilla 100.853
8 Bayern Munich 98.339
9 Werder Bremen 91.339
10 Lyon 91.033
11 Internazionale 87.581
12 Villarreal 80.853
13 Real Madrid 78.853
14 AS Roma 78.581
15 PSV 75.825
16 Shakhtar Donetsk74.370
17 CSKA Moscow 71.525
18 Zenit StPetburg 68.525
19 Porto 68.292
Sporting Lisbon 68.292
All-Time Premier League top ten
Seasons Points
1 Manchester Utd 17 1409
2 Arsenal 17 1236
3 Chelsea 17 1181
4 Liverpool 17 1161
5 Aston Villa 17 939
6 Newcastle Utd 16 906
7 Tottenham 17 885
8 Everton 17 863
9 Blackburn Rovers 15 846
10West Ham Utd 14 696
(Last season, where applicable, in brackets.)
Appearances this season 59 (62)
Lampard 56+1, Cech 54, Terry 51, A Cole 48+1, Bosingwa 48, Mikel 47+2, Anelka 46+8, Malouda 39+8, Alex 39+2, Ballack 37+9, Kalou 30+13, Drogba 29+13, Deco 22+8, Ivanovic 20+6, J Cole 20, Essien 17+2, Carvalho 16+2, Belletti 9+25, Bridge 8+4, Cudicini 4, Ferreira 3+9, Mancienne 3+3, Quaresma 1+4, Mineiro 1+1, Hilário 1, Di Santo 0+16, Stoch 0+5, Sinclair 0+4, Wright-Phillips 0+1
Goals 110 (106)
Anelka 25, Lampard 20 (3 pens), Drogba 14, Kalou 10, Malouda 9, Alex 4, Ballack 4, Belletti 3, J Cole 3, Deco 3, Essien 3, Terry 3, Bosingwa 2, Ivanovich 2, Carvalho 1, A Cole 1, own goals 3 (Wheater, Middlesbrough a, Djourou, Arsenal h, Touré, Arsenal a)
Minutes on pitch 5,625 (6,002)
Lampard 5,274, Cech 5,123, Terry 4,749, A Cole 4,527, Anelka 4,366, Bosingwa 4,337, Mikel 4,313, Alex 3,719, Ballack 3,576, Malouda 3,435, Drogba 2,984, Kalou 2,664, Ivanovic 2,080, Deco 2,017, Carvalho 1,464, Essien 1,447, J Cole 1,424, Belletti 1,398, Bridge 833, Ferreira 410, Cudicini 408, Di Santo 307, Mancienne 292, Quaresma 192, Mineiro 143, Hilário 94, Stoch 64, Sinclair 49, Wright-Phillips 15
Players substituted 147 (169)
J Cole 19, Kalou 18, Malouda 16, Anelka 15, Drogba 13, Ballack 11, Bosingwa 10, Mikel 10, Deco 8, Essien 7, Belletti 4, Lampard 4, Alex 3, Carvalho 2, A Cole 2, Mancienne 2, Bridge 1, Quaresma 1, Terry 1
Unused substitutes 266
Hilário 39, Ivanovic 26, Mancienne 25, Ferreira 21, Cudicini 19, Di Santo 19, Belletti 16, Stoch 16, Kalou 14, Alex 11, Bridge 11, Sinclair 8, Mineiro 7, Mikel 6, Carvalho 5, Deco 5, Quaresma 4, Malouda 3, Woods 2, Anelka 1, Ballack 1, A Cole 1, Drogba 1, Kakuta 1, Mellis 1, Sawyer 1, Taylor 1, Terry 1
League appearances 38 (38)
Lampard 37, Cech 35, Terry 35, Bosingwa 34, Anelka 33+4, A Cole 33+1, Mikel 33+1, Malouda 24+7, Ballack 22+7, Alex 22+2, Kalou 17+10, Deco 17+7, Drogba 15+9, J Cole 14, Ivanovic 11+5, Carvalho 11+1, Essien 10+1, Belletti 5+15, Bridge 3+3, Mancienne 2+2, Cudicini 2, Ferreira 1+6, Quaresma 1+3, Hilário 1, Di Santo 0+8, Stoch 0+4, Sinclair 0+2, Mineiro 0+1, Wright-Phillips 0+1
League goals 68 (65)
Anelka 19, Lampard 12 (2 pens), Kalou 6, Malouda 6, Drogba 5, Belletti 3, Deco 3, Alex 2, Bosingwa 2, J Cole 2, Ballack 1, Carvalho 1, A Cole 1, Essien 1, Terry 1, own goals 3 (Wheater, Middlesbrough a, Djourou, Arsenal h, Touré, Arsenal a)
European appearances 12 (13)
Cech 12, Lampard 11, Terry 11, Bosingwa 10, Ballack 9+1, Malouda 9+1, Alex 9, Mikel 9, Anelka 8+4, A Cole 8, Drogba 7+3, Kalou 6+2, Essien 5, J Cole 4, Deco 4, Ivanovic 4, Bridge 3+1, Carvalho 3+1, Belletti 0+8, Di Santo 0+3, Ferreira 0+2, Mancienne 0+1
European goals 20 (20)
Drogba 5, Lampard 3, Anelka 2, Essien 2, Ivanovic 2, Terry 2, Alex 1, J Cole 1, Kalou 1, Malouda 1
FA Cup appearances 7 (4)
A Cole 7, Lampard 7, Alex 6, Cech 6, Ballack 5+1, Drogba 5+1, Kalou 5+1, Anelka 5, Mikel 5, Bosingwa 4, Malouda 4, Terry 4, Ivanovic 3+1, Belletti 2+2, Essien 2+1, Carvalho 2, J Cole 2, Cudicini 1, Ferreira 1, Mancienne 1, Di Santo 0+3, Deco 0+1, Quaresma 0+1, Sinclair 0+1, Stoch 0+1
FA Cup goals 17 (6)
Anelka 4, Ballack 3, Drogba 3, Lampard 3, Kalou 2, Alex 1, Malouda 1
Carling Cup appearances 2 (6)
Alex 2, Belletti 2, Bridge 2, Drogba 2, Ivanovic 2, Kalou 2, Malouda 2, Ferreira 1+1, Lampard 1+1, Ballack 1, Cech 1, Cudicini 1, Deco 1, Mineiro 1, Terry 1, Di Santo 0+2, Mikel 0+1, Sinclair 0+1.
Carling Cup goals 5 (14)
Lampard 2 (1 pen), Drogba 1, Kalou 1, Malouda 1
Hat-tricks 2 (2)
Anelka 2
Penalties won 3 (8)
Handball 2, Ballack 1.
Penalties scored 3 (8)
Lampard 3
Penalties missed 0 (0)
Penalties conceded 3 (4)
Belletti 1, Ivanovic 1, Kalou 1.
Penalty concessions 2 (4)
Cech 2
Penalties saved 1 (0)
Cech 1
Clean sheets 29 (32)
Cech 26, Cudicini 2, Hilário 1
Woodwork 27 (28)
Anelka 7, Lampard 5, Malouda 4, Belletti 2, A Cole 2, Alex 1, Carvalho 1, Deco 1, Drogba 1, Essien 1, Ivanovich 1, opponent 1.
Opponents' strikes on woodwork 7 (18)
CFR Cluj (a) 1, Liverpool (h) 1, Hull (a) 1, Southend (h) 1, Liverpool (a) 1, Hull (h) 1, Aston Villa (a) 1.
Own goals 3 (5)
Djourou, (Arsenal h) 1, Touré (Arsenal a) 1, Wheater (Middlesbrough a) 1.
Chelsea own goals 1 (0)
Bosingwa (Liverpool h) 1
Opponents sent off 3 (4)
Abidal (Barcelona h), Caldwell (Burnley h), Chiellini (Juventus a).
Sent off 5 (8)
Lampard 2 (1 overturned on appeal), Terry 2 (1 overturned on appeal), Deco 1.
Abused 102 (121)
Incidents suffered leading to an opponent being booked or sent off
General 25, Malouda 13, Ballack 9, Drogba 8, Mikel 7, Anelka 6, Bosingwa 6, Lampard 5, Belletti 4, A Cole 3, Kalou 3, Carvalho 2, J Cole 2, Deco 2, Essien 2, Terry 2, Alex 1, Di Santo 1, Mineiro 1. Most in one game: Man Utd (h) 7. Fewest: Tottenham (h), Man City (a), Bordeaux (CL h), Hull (a), WBA (a), Arsenal (h), Everton (a), WBA (h), Southend (FAC a), Portsmouth (PL a), Newcastle (a), Bolton (h) 0.
Booked 87 (95)
Ballack 11, Mikel 10, Terry 10, A Cole 9, Bosingwa 6, Drogba 5, Alex 4, Deco 4, Ivanovich 4, Lampard 4, Malouda 4, Belletti 3, Carvalho 3, J Cole 3, Anelka 2, Cech 1, Essien 1, Ferreira 1, Kalou 1, Mancienne 1.
Most in one game: Bordeaux (a) (incl 2 yellows=1 red Lampard), Man Utd (a) 5. Fewest: Portsmouth (h & PL a), Aston Villa (h), Middlesbrough (a & h), Sunderland (h), Newcastle (h), Stoke (h), Ipswich (FAC h), Coventry (FAC a), Man City (h), Bolton (h), Everton (h), West Ham (a), Fulham (h), Arsenal (a) 0.
Domestic bookings 61
Mikel 9, Ballack 8, Terry 7, Bosingwa 6, A Cole 6, Lampard 4, Deco 3, Drogba 3, Ivanovich 3, Malouda 3, Belletti 2, Carvalho 2, J Cole 2, Alex 1, Ferreira 1, Mancienne 1
European bookings 26
Alex 3, Ballack 3, A Cole 3, Terry 3, Anelka 2, Drogba 2, Belletti 1, Carvalho 1, Cech 1, J Cole 1, Deco 1, Essien 1, Ivanovic 1, Kalou 1, Malouda 1, Mikel 1
European sent off 2
Deco 1, Lampard 1
Suspended 19 (22)
Terry 5 (WBA h, Fulham a, Southend h, Watford a, Liverpool CL h), Drogba 4 (Bordeaux h, Newcastle h, Arsenal h, Bolton a), Stoch 3 (Bolton h, Arsenal FAC, Everton h), A Cole 2 (Aston Villa a, Barcelona a), Ballack 1 (Southend h), Bosingwa 1 (Wigan h), Deco 1 (Bordeaux a), Lampard 1 (CFR Cluj h), Mikel 1 (Ipswich h)
Games missed due to injury and illness 230 (226)
J Cole 39, Essien 39, Carvalho 34, Deco 21, Ferreira 19, Ballack 11, Drogba 10, Di Santo 9, Belletti 8, Bosingwa 6, A Cole 6, Malouda 5, Alex 4, Bridge 4, Cech 4, Cudicini 3, Mikel 3, Anelka 2, Terry 2, Kalou 1
Games missed due to internationals 1 (27)
Kalou 1
Games missed for personal reasons 1 (6)
Malouda 1
Games missed due to out-of-season signing 5 (4)
Mineiro 5
Penalty shoot-out goals 4 (5)
Ferreira 1, Kalou 1, Lampard 1, Malouda 1
Penalty shoot-out misses 2 (5)
Bridge 1, Mikel 1
Penalty shoot-out saves 0 (1)
Penalty shoot-out concessions 5 (9)
Cudicini 5
Golden Boot 216 (206)
Goals scored in first, reserve and youth team competitive games and prestigious reserve friendlies.
Anelka 25, Lampard 20, Borini 17, Drogba 14, Nouble 14, Kalou 10, Malouda 9, Sala 8, Mellis 7, Mitrovic 5, Stoch 5, own goals 5, Alex 4, Ballack 4, Belletti 4, Di Santo 4, Essien 4, McEachran 4, Sinclair 4, C Clifford 3, J Cole 3, Deco 3, Lalkovic 3, Tabor 3, Terry 3, Ahamed 2, Bosingwa 2, Ince 2, Ivanovic 2, Kakuta 2, Phillip 2, Philliskirk 2, Quaresma 2, Tejera 2, van Aanholt 2, Woods 2, Carvalho 1, A Cole 1, Deen-Conteh 1, F Ferreira 1, Gordon 1, Mineiro 1, Nielsen 1, Saville 1, Sawyer 1
Total appearances including subs
Lampard 426, Terry 405, J Cole 243, Cech 220, Drogba 216, Carvalho 181, Essien 162, Ferreira 152, Kalou 149, A Cole 130, Mikel 130, Ballack 122, Malouda 85, Alex 80, Anelka 78, Shevchenko 76, Belletti 72, Bosingwa 48, Pizarro 32, Deco 30, Ivanovic 26, Hilário 25, Di Santo 16, Sinclair 14, Mancienne 6, Quaresma 5, Sahar 5, Stoch 5, Mineiro 2, Woods 2, Hutchinson 1, Smith 1
Chelsea career appearances
Lampard 404+22, Terry 386+19, Cech 220, Carvalho 174+7, Drogba 171+45, J Cole 167+76, Essien 147+15, A Cole 125+5, Ferreira 123+29, Ballack 104+18, Mikel 99+31, Kalou 88+61, Alex 71+9, Malouda 68+17, Anelka 60+18, Shevchenko 53+23, Bosingwa 48, Belletti 41+31, Hilário 23+2, Deco 22+8, Ivanovic 20+6, Pizarro 10+22, Sinclair 6+8, Mancienne 3+3, Quaresma 1+4, Mineiro 1+1, Di Santo 0+16, Sahar 0+5, Stoch 0+5, Woods 0+2, Hutchinson 0+1, Smith 0+1
Chelsea career goals
Lampard 130 (23 pens), Drogba 94, J Cole 37, Terry 35, Kalou 30, Anelka 27, Shevchenko 22 (1 pen), Ballack 21 (3 pens), Essien 17, Malouda 13, Carvalho 10, Alex 7, Belletti 5, Deco 3, Bosingwa 2, A Cole 2, Ivanovic 2, Mikel 2, Pizarro 2, Ferreira 1, Sinclair 1
Current clean sheets
Cech 116, Hilário 10+2
Current matches as captain
Terry 281, Lampard 45, Ballack 5, A Cole 1
Most goals in a season
121 1964/65
117 1960/61, 2006/07
110 2008/09
109 1988/89
108 1997/98, 2004/05
This was a season that started off plain sailing then listed badly midway before righting itself during the final few months.
The rally in all competitions brought silverware for the first time since the 2007 FA Cup. Although the win at Wembley does not bring as much booty to the Bridge as we may have hoped for in the early days under Luíz Felipe Scolari, it is a return to winning ways. In comparison it is three years and counting since Liverpool won anything, and four in the case of Arsenal.
Chelsea's primary target of the Barclays Premier League was never fully in our grasp. However, we led the table from the off and for much of the period up to Christmas, despite damaging home draws to Tottenham and Newcastle, and defeats by visiting Liverpool and Arsenal. In November after Sunderland away, for example, we had regained top slot only on goal difference, with 23 compared to the Scousers' eight.
It was the poor run of two wins in nine league games, starting and finishing with home draws against West Ham and Hull City respectively, that ended Chelsea's title bid, as well as Scolari's tenure. Manchester United, meanwhile, whose Uefa and Fifa commitments meant they had league games in hand, embarked on a long run of perfect results, and eventually our goal difference advantage was eroded by Liverpool to fortify their second place.
By the time Guus Hiddink took over his deflated team were placed fourth, ten points behind United, and two behind Aston Villa in third. Beating Villa more comprehensively than the 1-0 scoreline suggested (below) laid down a marker for the new regime, and they never looked back. Despite the Dutchman's excellent stewardship, ably assisted by Ray Wilkins, the damage had been done to any championship aspirations.
The cups have provided some succour, although being turfed out of the Carling Cup by then-Championship opposition Burnley was an unpleasant echo of Barnsley the previous season. In the Champions League, remarkably, we reached our fifth semi-final in six seasons, and the referee-led injustice of losing out to Barcelona will take a long time to subside. Most poignantly Chelsea entered the top ten list of FA Cup winners with victory over Everton. Chelsea and Manchester Utd, who have played more games than any other team at the new Wembley, will meet there again on 9 August.
Statistics comparing this season to last, when we finished second, are interesting. The long-standing unbeaten record went in a double-whammy - losing to title rivals Liverpool. Along with Arsenal's win at the Bridge, however fortuitous, that means this season, when the six draws are added in, only 58 per cent of home games have ended in wins. Last season the figure was 61 per cent.
The improvement in our already excellent away form - including several new records - provided compensation. Last season we had a 68 per cent win rate away from the Fulham Road; this campaign it has been surpassed with an extraordinary 74 per cent. Once again that is by some distance the best travelling performance in any of Europe's elite leagues: Barcelona managed 68 per cent, Marseille 63, Inter 58, and Germany's best, Bayern, 47.
Year on year the only big movement has been in goals scored, especially on our travels. Most of the credit for that must got to Golden Boot-winner Nicolas Anelka, 11 of whose 19 league goals came on opposition turf; Florent Malouda scored four. Fifteen different Chelsea players scored an opening goal for the Blues in all competitions (plus one own goal by Arsenal's Djourou), with Anelka making the breakthrough the most often - eight times - followed by Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou (whose impact on games is easily underestimated) with five first strikes.
There were not many encounters decided by a single goal, but where there were, the match winners were more often Drogba again (four), and Frank Lampard (three, including the cup final).
As the season-on-season comparison also shows, our ability to defend the goal has remained remarkably solid home and away, and marginally improved on 2007/8. (Twenty-two of the 38 league games, 29 in all competitions, were clean sheets.) Generally, the overall away trend was positive, while the home form leaves plenty of room for improvement.
Statistics bear out the remarkable turnaround in team performances we witnessed under Guus Hiddink from February, validating the board's decision to part with Luiz Felipe Scolari's services. The Brazilian's record of league points earned from the total available is the least impressive of our most recent coaches. The points-won percentages of Mourinho or Grant over the course of the season would have been enough to secure second place.
P Pts won
G Hiddink 13 87.17%
J Mourinho 120 77.77%
A Grant 32 77.08%
LF Scolari 25 65.33%
Season summary (all competitions)
Played 59, won 37, drawn 16, lost 6, goals 110, goals against 44, clean sheets 29, failed to score 10. (one drawn game lost on penalties)
Campaign achievements
Barclays Premier League - third (fifth occasion in our history)
Champions League - semi-finalist (fifth time in six seasons)
FA Cup - winners (fifth instance)
League Cup - fourth round
Milestones of Season 2008/9
• Premier League Golden Boot winner - Nicolas Anelka with 19 goals
• John Terry became our all-time top scoring defender by scoring his 35th goal against Wigan in March 2009
• Guus Hiddink won his first five games in charge, a club record, exceeding José Mourinho's four
• Ashley Cole won his fifth FA Cup winners medal (three Arsenal, two Chelsea), the most in the modern era
• Remarkably Didier Drogba has scored in each of our last five domestic cup finals
• Chelsea's 1,000th goal in the Premier League was scored by Alex against Sunderland on 1 November 2008
• Frank Lampard netted 20 goals for the fourth season running
• Frank has scored 100 Chelsea goals in the last five seasons; he is our sixth all-time scorer and highest-scoring midfielder
• The Blues' 7,000th goal in all competitions was scored by Nicolas Anelka against West Ham on 14 December 2008
• Our record unbeaten home league run, stretching back to the days of Claudio Ranieri, finally ended with defeat against Liverpool on 26 October 2008 after 86 matches
• At the same time defeat ended our record-beating unbeaten home run in all competitions, which now stands at 74 games
• Chelsea set a new club best for unbeaten away league games of 20, surpassing the 19 set between October 2004 and November 2005
• The team set record club and top flight successive away league wins - 11 (with only one Robinho goal conceded), beating the nine set in 2004/05 and Tottenham's top flight record of 10 in 1960
• A new record consecutive away league clean sheets was set: 7, beating 5 in 1999/00 and 2004/05
• We went the longest time without conceding a penalty - 61 games, beating 51 games set between January 1996 and February 1997
• Chelsea inflicted Liverpool's worst ever home defeat in a European knockout match with the 3-1 on 8 April 2009
• The 4-1 win on 10 May 2009 equalled our best away league performance at Arsenal, matching 1959/60 and 1960/61
• 100 Chelsea clean sheets: Petr Cech
• 400 Chelsea appearances: Frank Lampard, John Terry
• 200 Chelsea appearances: Didier Drogba, Petr Cech
• 100 Chelsea appearances: Michael Ballack, Ashley Cole, John Mikel Obi
Awards 2008/9
• Player of the Year: Frank Lampard
• Players' Player of the Year: Ashley Cole
• Young Player of the Year: Michael Mancienne
• Special Commitment Award: John Terry
• Goal of the Season: Michael Essien against Barcelona
2008/09 Premier League best
Most away wins: 14
Best away record: 44 points from 19 games
Fewest goals conceded: 24 (equal with Manchester Utd)
Chelsea's only win against any of our closest rivals came at the Emirates - the only one under Guus Hiddink. This represents our worst performance against these sides in the Roman Abramovich era.
'Big Four' Premier League table
P W D L FA Pts
Liverpool
6 4 2 0 14 7 14
Arsenal
6 2 3 1 10 11 9
Man Utd
6 1 2 3 7 9 5
Chelsea
6 1 1 4 6 10 4
All three wins against our neighbours came under Guus Hiddink, who also masterminded an FA Cup semi-final win over Arsenal.
Premier London League
P W D L F A Pts
Tottenham 8 3 4 1 10 7 13
Chelsea 8 3 3 2 13 9 12
Arsenal 8 2 4 2 9 10 10
Fulham 8 2 3 3 8 11 9
West Ham 8 2 2 4 6 9 8
Chelsea have slipped from last year's top slot in Uefa's rankings.
Uefa Team Rankings 2009
1 FC Barcelona 121.853
2 Chelsea 118.899
Liverpool 118.899
4 Manchester Utd 111.899
5 AC Milan 110.581
6 Arsenal 106.899
7 Sevilla 100.853
8 Bayern Munich 98.339
9 Werder Bremen 91.339
10 Lyon 91.033
11 Internazionale 87.581
12 Villarreal 80.853
13 Real Madrid 78.853
14 AS Roma 78.581
15 PSV 75.825
16 Shakhtar Donetsk74.370
17 CSKA Moscow 71.525
18 Zenit StPetburg 68.525
19 Porto 68.292
Sporting Lisbon 68.292
All-Time Premier League top ten
Seasons Points
1 Manchester Utd 17 1409
2 Arsenal 17 1236
3 Chelsea 17 1181
4 Liverpool 17 1161
5 Aston Villa 17 939
6 Newcastle Utd 16 906
7 Tottenham 17 885
8 Everton 17 863
9 Blackburn Rovers 15 846
10West Ham Utd 14 696
(Last season, where applicable, in brackets.)
Appearances this season 59 (62)
Lampard 56+1, Cech 54, Terry 51, A Cole 48+1, Bosingwa 48, Mikel 47+2, Anelka 46+8, Malouda 39+8, Alex 39+2, Ballack 37+9, Kalou 30+13, Drogba 29+13, Deco 22+8, Ivanovic 20+6, J Cole 20, Essien 17+2, Carvalho 16+2, Belletti 9+25, Bridge 8+4, Cudicini 4, Ferreira 3+9, Mancienne 3+3, Quaresma 1+4, Mineiro 1+1, Hilário 1, Di Santo 0+16, Stoch 0+5, Sinclair 0+4, Wright-Phillips 0+1
Goals 110 (106)
Anelka 25, Lampard 20 (3 pens), Drogba 14, Kalou 10, Malouda 9, Alex 4, Ballack 4, Belletti 3, J Cole 3, Deco 3, Essien 3, Terry 3, Bosingwa 2, Ivanovich 2, Carvalho 1, A Cole 1, own goals 3 (Wheater, Middlesbrough a, Djourou, Arsenal h, Touré, Arsenal a)
Minutes on pitch 5,625 (6,002)
Lampard 5,274, Cech 5,123, Terry 4,749, A Cole 4,527, Anelka 4,366, Bosingwa 4,337, Mikel 4,313, Alex 3,719, Ballack 3,576, Malouda 3,435, Drogba 2,984, Kalou 2,664, Ivanovic 2,080, Deco 2,017, Carvalho 1,464, Essien 1,447, J Cole 1,424, Belletti 1,398, Bridge 833, Ferreira 410, Cudicini 408, Di Santo 307, Mancienne 292, Quaresma 192, Mineiro 143, Hilário 94, Stoch 64, Sinclair 49, Wright-Phillips 15
Players substituted 147 (169)
J Cole 19, Kalou 18, Malouda 16, Anelka 15, Drogba 13, Ballack 11, Bosingwa 10, Mikel 10, Deco 8, Essien 7, Belletti 4, Lampard 4, Alex 3, Carvalho 2, A Cole 2, Mancienne 2, Bridge 1, Quaresma 1, Terry 1
Unused substitutes 266
Hilário 39, Ivanovic 26, Mancienne 25, Ferreira 21, Cudicini 19, Di Santo 19, Belletti 16, Stoch 16, Kalou 14, Alex 11, Bridge 11, Sinclair 8, Mineiro 7, Mikel 6, Carvalho 5, Deco 5, Quaresma 4, Malouda 3, Woods 2, Anelka 1, Ballack 1, A Cole 1, Drogba 1, Kakuta 1, Mellis 1, Sawyer 1, Taylor 1, Terry 1
League appearances 38 (38)
Lampard 37, Cech 35, Terry 35, Bosingwa 34, Anelka 33+4, A Cole 33+1, Mikel 33+1, Malouda 24+7, Ballack 22+7, Alex 22+2, Kalou 17+10, Deco 17+7, Drogba 15+9, J Cole 14, Ivanovic 11+5, Carvalho 11+1, Essien 10+1, Belletti 5+15, Bridge 3+3, Mancienne 2+2, Cudicini 2, Ferreira 1+6, Quaresma 1+3, Hilário 1, Di Santo 0+8, Stoch 0+4, Sinclair 0+2, Mineiro 0+1, Wright-Phillips 0+1
League goals 68 (65)
Anelka 19, Lampard 12 (2 pens), Kalou 6, Malouda 6, Drogba 5, Belletti 3, Deco 3, Alex 2, Bosingwa 2, J Cole 2, Ballack 1, Carvalho 1, A Cole 1, Essien 1, Terry 1, own goals 3 (Wheater, Middlesbrough a, Djourou, Arsenal h, Touré, Arsenal a)
European appearances 12 (13)
Cech 12, Lampard 11, Terry 11, Bosingwa 10, Ballack 9+1, Malouda 9+1, Alex 9, Mikel 9, Anelka 8+4, A Cole 8, Drogba 7+3, Kalou 6+2, Essien 5, J Cole 4, Deco 4, Ivanovic 4, Bridge 3+1, Carvalho 3+1, Belletti 0+8, Di Santo 0+3, Ferreira 0+2, Mancienne 0+1
European goals 20 (20)
Drogba 5, Lampard 3, Anelka 2, Essien 2, Ivanovic 2, Terry 2, Alex 1, J Cole 1, Kalou 1, Malouda 1
FA Cup appearances 7 (4)
A Cole 7, Lampard 7, Alex 6, Cech 6, Ballack 5+1, Drogba 5+1, Kalou 5+1, Anelka 5, Mikel 5, Bosingwa 4, Malouda 4, Terry 4, Ivanovic 3+1, Belletti 2+2, Essien 2+1, Carvalho 2, J Cole 2, Cudicini 1, Ferreira 1, Mancienne 1, Di Santo 0+3, Deco 0+1, Quaresma 0+1, Sinclair 0+1, Stoch 0+1
FA Cup goals 17 (6)
Anelka 4, Ballack 3, Drogba 3, Lampard 3, Kalou 2, Alex 1, Malouda 1
Carling Cup appearances 2 (6)
Alex 2, Belletti 2, Bridge 2, Drogba 2, Ivanovic 2, Kalou 2, Malouda 2, Ferreira 1+1, Lampard 1+1, Ballack 1, Cech 1, Cudicini 1, Deco 1, Mineiro 1, Terry 1, Di Santo 0+2, Mikel 0+1, Sinclair 0+1.
Carling Cup goals 5 (14)
Lampard 2 (1 pen), Drogba 1, Kalou 1, Malouda 1
Hat-tricks 2 (2)
Anelka 2
Penalties won 3 (8)
Handball 2, Ballack 1.
Penalties scored 3 (8)
Lampard 3
Penalties missed 0 (0)
Penalties conceded 3 (4)
Belletti 1, Ivanovic 1, Kalou 1.
Penalty concessions 2 (4)
Cech 2
Penalties saved 1 (0)
Cech 1
Clean sheets 29 (32)
Cech 26, Cudicini 2, Hilário 1
Woodwork 27 (28)
Anelka 7, Lampard 5, Malouda 4, Belletti 2, A Cole 2, Alex 1, Carvalho 1, Deco 1, Drogba 1, Essien 1, Ivanovich 1, opponent 1.
Opponents' strikes on woodwork 7 (18)
CFR Cluj (a) 1, Liverpool (h) 1, Hull (a) 1, Southend (h) 1, Liverpool (a) 1, Hull (h) 1, Aston Villa (a) 1.
Own goals 3 (5)
Djourou, (Arsenal h) 1, Touré (Arsenal a) 1, Wheater (Middlesbrough a) 1.
Chelsea own goals 1 (0)
Bosingwa (Liverpool h) 1
Opponents sent off 3 (4)
Abidal (Barcelona h), Caldwell (Burnley h), Chiellini (Juventus a).
Sent off 5 (8)
Lampard 2 (1 overturned on appeal), Terry 2 (1 overturned on appeal), Deco 1.
Abused 102 (121)
Incidents suffered leading to an opponent being booked or sent off
General 25, Malouda 13, Ballack 9, Drogba 8, Mikel 7, Anelka 6, Bosingwa 6, Lampard 5, Belletti 4, A Cole 3, Kalou 3, Carvalho 2, J Cole 2, Deco 2, Essien 2, Terry 2, Alex 1, Di Santo 1, Mineiro 1. Most in one game: Man Utd (h) 7. Fewest: Tottenham (h), Man City (a), Bordeaux (CL h), Hull (a), WBA (a), Arsenal (h), Everton (a), WBA (h), Southend (FAC a), Portsmouth (PL a), Newcastle (a), Bolton (h) 0.
Booked 87 (95)
Ballack 11, Mikel 10, Terry 10, A Cole 9, Bosingwa 6, Drogba 5, Alex 4, Deco 4, Ivanovich 4, Lampard 4, Malouda 4, Belletti 3, Carvalho 3, J Cole 3, Anelka 2, Cech 1, Essien 1, Ferreira 1, Kalou 1, Mancienne 1.
Most in one game: Bordeaux (a) (incl 2 yellows=1 red Lampard), Man Utd (a) 5. Fewest: Portsmouth (h & PL a), Aston Villa (h), Middlesbrough (a & h), Sunderland (h), Newcastle (h), Stoke (h), Ipswich (FAC h), Coventry (FAC a), Man City (h), Bolton (h), Everton (h), West Ham (a), Fulham (h), Arsenal (a) 0.
Domestic bookings 61
Mikel 9, Ballack 8, Terry 7, Bosingwa 6, A Cole 6, Lampard 4, Deco 3, Drogba 3, Ivanovich 3, Malouda 3, Belletti 2, Carvalho 2, J Cole 2, Alex 1, Ferreira 1, Mancienne 1
European bookings 26
Alex 3, Ballack 3, A Cole 3, Terry 3, Anelka 2, Drogba 2, Belletti 1, Carvalho 1, Cech 1, J Cole 1, Deco 1, Essien 1, Ivanovic 1, Kalou 1, Malouda 1, Mikel 1
European sent off 2
Deco 1, Lampard 1
Suspended 19 (22)
Terry 5 (WBA h, Fulham a, Southend h, Watford a, Liverpool CL h), Drogba 4 (Bordeaux h, Newcastle h, Arsenal h, Bolton a), Stoch 3 (Bolton h, Arsenal FAC, Everton h), A Cole 2 (Aston Villa a, Barcelona a), Ballack 1 (Southend h), Bosingwa 1 (Wigan h), Deco 1 (Bordeaux a), Lampard 1 (CFR Cluj h), Mikel 1 (Ipswich h)
Games missed due to injury and illness 230 (226)
J Cole 39, Essien 39, Carvalho 34, Deco 21, Ferreira 19, Ballack 11, Drogba 10, Di Santo 9, Belletti 8, Bosingwa 6, A Cole 6, Malouda 5, Alex 4, Bridge 4, Cech 4, Cudicini 3, Mikel 3, Anelka 2, Terry 2, Kalou 1
Games missed due to internationals 1 (27)
Kalou 1
Games missed for personal reasons 1 (6)
Malouda 1
Games missed due to out-of-season signing 5 (4)
Mineiro 5
Penalty shoot-out goals 4 (5)
Ferreira 1, Kalou 1, Lampard 1, Malouda 1
Penalty shoot-out misses 2 (5)
Bridge 1, Mikel 1
Penalty shoot-out saves 0 (1)
Penalty shoot-out concessions 5 (9)
Cudicini 5
Golden Boot 216 (206)
Goals scored in first, reserve and youth team competitive games and prestigious reserve friendlies.
Anelka 25, Lampard 20, Borini 17, Drogba 14, Nouble 14, Kalou 10, Malouda 9, Sala 8, Mellis 7, Mitrovic 5, Stoch 5, own goals 5, Alex 4, Ballack 4, Belletti 4, Di Santo 4, Essien 4, McEachran 4, Sinclair 4, C Clifford 3, J Cole 3, Deco 3, Lalkovic 3, Tabor 3, Terry 3, Ahamed 2, Bosingwa 2, Ince 2, Ivanovic 2, Kakuta 2, Phillip 2, Philliskirk 2, Quaresma 2, Tejera 2, van Aanholt 2, Woods 2, Carvalho 1, A Cole 1, Deen-Conteh 1, F Ferreira 1, Gordon 1, Mineiro 1, Nielsen 1, Saville 1, Sawyer 1
Total appearances including subs
Lampard 426, Terry 405, J Cole 243, Cech 220, Drogba 216, Carvalho 181, Essien 162, Ferreira 152, Kalou 149, A Cole 130, Mikel 130, Ballack 122, Malouda 85, Alex 80, Anelka 78, Shevchenko 76, Belletti 72, Bosingwa 48, Pizarro 32, Deco 30, Ivanovic 26, Hilário 25, Di Santo 16, Sinclair 14, Mancienne 6, Quaresma 5, Sahar 5, Stoch 5, Mineiro 2, Woods 2, Hutchinson 1, Smith 1
Chelsea career appearances
Lampard 404+22, Terry 386+19, Cech 220, Carvalho 174+7, Drogba 171+45, J Cole 167+76, Essien 147+15, A Cole 125+5, Ferreira 123+29, Ballack 104+18, Mikel 99+31, Kalou 88+61, Alex 71+9, Malouda 68+17, Anelka 60+18, Shevchenko 53+23, Bosingwa 48, Belletti 41+31, Hilário 23+2, Deco 22+8, Ivanovic 20+6, Pizarro 10+22, Sinclair 6+8, Mancienne 3+3, Quaresma 1+4, Mineiro 1+1, Di Santo 0+16, Sahar 0+5, Stoch 0+5, Woods 0+2, Hutchinson 0+1, Smith 0+1
Chelsea career goals
Lampard 130 (23 pens), Drogba 94, J Cole 37, Terry 35, Kalou 30, Anelka 27, Shevchenko 22 (1 pen), Ballack 21 (3 pens), Essien 17, Malouda 13, Carvalho 10, Alex 7, Belletti 5, Deco 3, Bosingwa 2, A Cole 2, Ivanovic 2, Mikel 2, Pizarro 2, Ferreira 1, Sinclair 1
Current clean sheets
Cech 116, Hilário 10+2
Current matches as captain
Terry 281, Lampard 45, Ballack 5, A Cole 1
Most goals in a season
121 1964/65
117 1960/61, 2006/07
110 2008/09
109 1988/89
108 1997/98, 2004/05
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