08/05/2017 Match of the Day

Tottenham are trying to keep the title race interesting but it must

feel like they're winning game is a standstill at times. Dele Alli! What

a goal. The gap has closed to four points. Can anybody stop Antonio

Conte's Chelsea? He gets the shot away now...

Chelsea, be concerned, because Tottenham are coming. It is in! They

will be cheered just as loudly as Tottenham. Brilliant! Absolutely

brilliant! Three crucial points. They say, Spurs, over to you now.

What a fantastic goal! Not just a win, a statement of intent from

Chelsea. It is in, Dele Alli has turned it in. Is that the moment

that Spurs' challenge dies? After the battles of recent

weeks, Chelsea were two wins away from sealing

the Premier League title. Defeat for Middlesbrough tonight

would consign them to relegation. Jermaine Jenas and Mark Schwarzer

are here to reflect Your commentator at Stamford

Bridge was Steve Bower. Chelsea have been in pole position

in the race since early November, that chequered flag is now firmly

inside as they look for a smooth ride to the finishing line. Antonio

Conte has made only 38 changes all season. His one tonight is in force,

Cesc Fabregas is recalled because of injury. Diego Costa needs one more

goal to equal his best Premier League tally. One change for

Middlesbrough as well, Traore starts and Negredo has three goals in his

last five starts. A game that both are desperate to win for very

different reasons. You do feel the opening exchanges are crucial for

Middlesbrough if they are to get anything tonight. Chelsea, trying to

win a Premier League home game for the 13th time in 14 home games.

Fabregas floating it into Alonso, who has already got too much room,

and very nearly gave Chelsea in the lead in less than 90 seconds. Marcos

Alonso already has five goals this season, with the opportunity here

look at the room he's got. Brilliantly found by Fabregas, and

it got through Guzan. Thankfully, as far as Middlesbrough are concerned,

not into the back of the net. Of course victory tonight for Chelsea

would mean a win at the Hawthorns on Friday night would clinch the title.

He might have something to say about that though. Traore all alone at the

moment, surrounded by blue shirts, and Cahill wins it back.

Costa has made his way to the back post, he has picked out Fabregas

instead, who will be disappointed that he couldn't find the target.

Diego Costa, then hazard involved. Just what Fabregas. Nowhere anywhere

near him, all the time to assess the situation. He has been at the top

for 148 days, looking to be only the fifth manager to win the Premier

League title in only his first season at the club.

That man did the league and FA Cup double in his first season, which is

what Antonio Conte has in his sights. Eden Hazard, trying to pick

out cost. He ended up in the back of the net, the ball didn't. He felt he

was impeded. Diego Costa initially wanted the pull-back, it went

across, and you can see his interpretation of the incident.

Fabregas. Fabio didn't get there, Costa did, and Costa scores. He

wasn't going to miss that. 20 league goals for the season and the top

scorer has just calmed the nerves inside Stamford Bridge. They have

been knocking on the Middlesbrough door, and midway through the first

half they found the way through. Fabregas had to be involved, he

delivered the ball, Fabio should have done better. Call us you like

from Costa. Fabregas has had a terrific start of the game, he knows

this is a big night. 1-0. The way by Gibson, clever little

touch from hazard. So was that. Moses... Wonderful move, just nobody

on the end of it. Middlesbrough thankful for that. Look at this from

hazard. That was inviting from Victor Moses. It has been a long,

hard season for everyone connected with Middlesbrough, no one feels it

more than him. Extremely hard work for Middlesbrough out of possession.

Alonso... He squeezed it low! Six goals for the season for Marcos

Alonso, who beats Brad Guzan at his near post. 11 minutes before

half-time, Chelsea already have a two goal advantage, and already you

feel they are moving within one victory of the title. A long period

of possession. Guzan won't want to see that again, but Alonso got there

off the knee of Brad Guzan and into the back of the net. Already this

looks a mountain for Middlesbrough. 2-0. They have only accumulated two

points from losing positions in the Premier League all season. Fabregas

again, into Moses. Look at the time and space he has got. He was unable

to keep that one out. Cesc Fabregas is single-handedly running the show.

Nobody went with Moses again. Hazard's interception. Here is

Pedro... Inches away from number three. In the first minute of the

second half, all too easy again. Let the ball come across him, crash it

against the crossbar. 16 Premier League games that Middlesbrough have

failed to score in, and that sums up their season in a nutshell.

Fabregas. Time for Pedro to turn, and look at the space for Alonso.

Then Costa! Chelsea, I'm sure, cannot believe the time and space

they are being offered here. Nobody close to Pedro, nobody anywhere near

Alonso and Costa very nearly finished that off. That's how close

he was to his second and Chelsea's third.

Alonso. Misjudged by Traore. Costa. Cahill! He caught that, beaten away

by Guzan. Won back by Matic. Chelsea free kick. This one from Gary Cahill

was certainly travelling. He has never scored in three consecutive

league games in his career. What a pass that is. Hazard. Fabregas...

Deflected. Just wide. These chances keep coming. Off the head of

Chambers, could have easily been an own goal. He knows his team are on

the brink. Fabregas. I'm not sure he has broken sweat tonight. Lovely

play from Moses. Drilled it into wards Costa, gives it away. Chelsea

corner. Middlesbrough don't want Chelsea to

run riot. Hazard running into the penalty area, space for Fabregas,

then Matic! Brilliantly worked. Fantastically finished. The Serbian

has his first Premier League goal of the season and Chelsea are one win

away from the title. That was a goal made with the confidence and quality

of the team close to being champions. Look at that touch from

Fabregas, one from the chest of Matic, and in the back of the net.

Middlesbrough are bamboozled. They know their time in the top flight

this season will come to an end, and Chelsea are threatening to run riot

here. 20 minutes of the second half gone, 3-0. The game is won. Do we

freshen it up, save a few for Friday?

Leadbetter. First save from Thibaut Courtois. Routine, to say the least.

Fabregas has space to run into, and has David Luiz. Pedro... This could

have at least been double, the scoreline, by this stage. In the

end, Pedro got underneath it. Into wards Costa, then it came back

to Moses! Good save by Guzan. All of this without Kante.

Chelsea on the brink. They can reach out and almost touch that trophy.

The cork is certainly loosened up the top of the bottle. One more win

away from being Premier League champions again. A complete contrast

in emotion for Middlesbrough, they are relegated from the Premier

League for the fourth time. It has finished at Stamford Bridge, 3-0.

I am delighted for my players because I think they are deserving

this. All this season, they put themselves in the team, in our

philosophy, and I think we are showing we deserved to win this

league. You have three games to do it, how important is it to do it

against West Brom? Not easy because West Brom is a tough team, physical

team, very strong and they will want to play a good game against us, but

we are ready. It's about the football and the players to rest and

prepare for this game. From a personal point of view, how much did

you enjoy tonight? As usual when I played this year I enjoyed because I

feel I contributed a lot to the team, personally and collectively I

think it's been a fantastic year for the club and hopefully we can make

it nearly perfect. Steve, can you put into context how you are feeling

now? Gutted, as we all are. We are bitterly disappointed with the

result this evening and obviously what it means. We have now lost our

Premier League status and that is something that we take great pride

in. I have just left a very silent dressing room. Commiserations, how

are you feeling now? That is the lowest point of my life really.

Cannot put into words. Now is not the time to go into details but we

have to reflect and think about what's gone wrong and tried to put

it right. You know the chairman better than most, I mean everybody

at Middlesbrough will feel for him more than anybody tonight. Yes, he

and the fans deserve Premier League football. People talk about him is

the best chairman in the country, without a doubt he knows Premier

League football. Middlesbrough are relegated, do you have a degree of

sympathy for the team in that situation? Yes, only England you can

see this and it's fantastic. Really, you've never experienced that

before? No, this must be an example for other countries and it's great

to see this. I felt in my heart to go and to Clarke the -- clap the

supporters. Let's hope your supporters are clapping you on

Friday. The victory means Chelsea are seven

clear and can clinch the title with a win at West Brom on Friday night

and a defeat for Middlesbrough confirms their relegation along with

Sunderland to the Championship. It was so comfortable wasn't it? It

certainly was, you look at the options that Chelsea have, the best

Player of the Season N'Golo Kante is injured and they can revert to

somebody like Cesc Fabregas and how he ran the show and dictated play

today. Albeit against a team in Middlesbrough who did not give

themselves a chance. How comfortable it was, did that surprise you in

anyway, that there might be nerves coming for a side going for the the

side going to try to stay up might have battled more? Not really, from

the Middlesbrough point of view they have played that way the majority of

the season which is why they have been relegated. I thought Chelsea

were brilliant. They completely dominated the game. 3-0 and it could

have been five or six. It was a very easy evening of work for Chelsea.

Cesc Fabregas took his performance in his stride in that interview but

he was without doubt Man of the Match. Yeah, he was, it shows the

calibre of the player. He wants to play every week. He's got so much in

his locker. Able to pick out players from anywhere in the position on the

pitch. Outstanding. He might be lacking pace but his reading and

understanding of the game is still world-class. Every time Chelsea want

to try to find an option, an outlet, they go to Cesc Fabregas and he is

knocking the ball from all over the park and it's easy for him in this

game because he's not getting put under pressure. All day he had the

options as well because the wingbacks are moving forward, they

stretched Middlesbrough from the off. Key is 30 years old, 11 starts

this season, do you sense a changing role for him over the coming years,

whether that is that Chelsea or somewhere else? Potentially, I think

in many other teams in the Premier League he would easily be a starting

player. It depends on if he wants to make the change. We know he loves

being in London, this season, the way he has conducted himself has

been outstanding. The ultimate profession. More and more as a

quarterback that we could talk about? Ten or more assists in a

Premier League season which he's done for six seasons, more than any

other player in the Premier League, do you sense that quarterback role?

He's done that the majority of the season and he's been a huge weapon.

What an array of players were on that list. You talk about Cesc

Fabregas, he's a European Championship winner twice and the

World Cup winner. I think you are doing a slight disservice that he

could only play that quarterback role because I think throughout

large periods of the season when he's come on, he would come on for

Pedro will Leanne in the right-hand forward position -- come on for

Pedro Oriol will I think what is good about Cesc is

that at the start of the season I am not sure Antonio Conte thought he

would get the reaction he got when he left him out, I thought he might

have thought he could spit his dummy out and say he should be playing and

he's obviously knuckled down. He's a huge part of the team in terms of

going forward. He benefited and other Chelsea players benefited from

a lot of space this evening. Work, first and foremost you have to

understand it's tough to go to Stamford Bridge. You have to go

let's make it difficult for them to break us down but what Middlesbrough

did, someone has to get close to Fabregas because he is running the

game and he's going to tear you apart and I just felt nobody within

the team or the midfield spotted it at any stage. When he's on the ball

your backline cannot be that high up the pitch, it just cannot be.

Negredo has a hard enough job as it is up front on his own, but the

three in midfield, I am not sure what they are doing. One of them has

to release themselves and go and engage Fabregas, close him down. As

we run it on, he does what he did for the majority of the game, got

his head up, picked out his man. Fabregas that time, but another man,

Azpilicueta in acres of space because Middlesbrough play so deep.

You cannot let defenders run, get their head up and pick a pass. When

you have runners like Hazard and Diego Costa, Willian when he was

playing. In the heat of the battle should the Middlesbrough players

recognise this? This ends up being a goal, Adam Forshaw has got to have a

go and impact the ball. He just ambles out. This is Chelsea at

Stamford Bridge, you have to have more intensity in the midfield area,

all over the park as well, you have to be intense. It's OK dropping off

but to a certain point and then you start to engage and get lively to

keep them away from your goal. Ki just accepted today I felt. So if

players are not spotting it, the management should? You have to see

some might Fabregas, you know he won't get around you, sprint past

due. He might pass a you but he's not going to sprint past due. I

would have man marked in the whole match, if he gets the ball... They

had three players in the, in the midfield, you could have easily, if

I was playing midfield... They would have been in even more trouble!

LAUGHTER Moving on, moving on. If they did

not have the bodies to get around Chelsea players or support Negredo?

Again, I think Middlesbrough have wasted what I classed as a very good

weapon in the armoury this season. They have left him isolated too many

times all season. What is he supposed to do with this? The ball

comes into him, by Chelsea players around him. When the ball eventually

goes into him, if it gets to him, what's he supposed to do? He has no

support, nobody looking to get a hold of him. Eventually he drops

deeper, the Chelsea defence tell him he can have it because he won't

affect the backline from there. To the white men to get closer? Yes,

midfielders need to gamble more and get closer. Negredo is at his best

in and around the box. Get the ball in towards his feet or get

deliveries into the box and he can cause havoc. Nine goals of their 26

this season he has scored, I feel like they have wasted, they have

wasted what is a very good striker for this week. If we are talking

attacking threat a lot of the Chelsea attacking threat throughout

the whole season has come from the wingbacks. Certainly after the first

ten games when they went to a back three. The players who benefited the

most were Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso, Victor Moses has had

problems getting in the team over a number of years at the club and

Antonio Conte has identified him as a perfect wingback. He is quick and

powerful and has been coached on the defensive side. When they are so

attacking minded he does not have to worry so much because they have so

much cover at the back. Alonzo, you look at him, he has the ability to

score goals, six this season, Victor Moses has scored three. When it is

one-on-one, Marcos Alonso on one side Victor Moses on the other,

often they are the two most forward players on the pitch. And they have,

only Diego Costa, Pedro and has erred have had more shots than

Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses this season. Going forward will teams

work out how to try to stop them? Yeah, I think against bigger sites

like Manchester City, Manchester United, they work them out,

Tottenham. They put more pressure on the wingbacks, that is one aspect

where you think OK, Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses in the defensive

side of things coming up against better opposition find it more

difficult to cope. It interesting, the games they missed, Victor Moses

injured during the Crystal Palace game and they lost, Marcos Alonso

away at Old Trafford, they did really miss both those guys when

they were out of the side. If as we assume Chelsea win the title they

will be praised and examined over the next couple of weeks so let's

focus back on Middlesbrough, the signings they brought in in the

summer, were they not particularly ambitious with the players they

brought in? I think they were very cautious. They did not really bring

in enough experience, when you look at the stats of how many experienced

players or players that had Premier League experience under their belt

at the club, Stewart Downing 378 games, Brad Guzan the second

goalkeeper for the vast majority of the season. The rest only had a

handful of games between them so it was always going to be a really

tough order for them to stay in the league. They had the momentum after

promotion as most teams do but it wore thin quite early on and they

just did not have the bite and experience. Cautious in your first

season back is not necessarily a problem, Sean Dyche said they came

up and went down and then decided this summer that they would roll the

dice a little bit more with the players they brought in. You are

going to get the fitting right? I would think Middlesbrough have got

some decent players, the centre-halves, Gibson and Chambers,

England internationals if not U21 internationals, sorry. In the

midfield, Clayton, Adam Forshaw, decent footballers. But how they

were set up and asked to play was too defensive. And now they have a

managerial appointment to think about over the course of the summer.

Certainly, it'll be a big decision, it will be interesting which

direction they take, what decision Steve Gibson makes, it's quite

enormous for the club's future. Thank you very much gentlemen, that

is it from us this evening. Middlesbrough have lost their

Premier League status and Chelsea are one step closer to the title.

Goodbye. A game that both are desperate to win for a very

different reasons. Fabregas floating it into words Marcos Alonso who

already has too much room and almost gave Chelsea the lead. Trying to

pick out Diego Costa. Fabio did not get there, Diego Costa did, Diego

Costa scores. Marcos Alonso squeezing it home. Total dominance

from Chelsea. Pedro! Inches away from number three. He knows his team

as it stands are being relegated tonight. 'S base for Fabregas,

Matic. MUSIC: Fire

by Beth Ditto