There is no doubt that Chelsea and their historic partnerships owes a huge amount of its recent success to the riches of their billionaire owner Roman Abramovich. However, money alone will not buy you trophies and a place in the history books. It is partly down to the quality of the manager, which have been aplenty through Cobham’s revolving door, but mostly down to the stars on the pitch who turn out to be the decisive part of a successful, winning team. Chelsea have had many lethal, title winning partnerships in recent years and the combinations that these world class players form are what propel sides to glory. Today, we will be looking at some of the partnerships form recent times that have helped the Blues become the one of the most successful clubs in recent history.
Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba
Hands down one of the most successful partnerships in Premier League history. It was awash with power and guile and they amassed 36 goal combinations over many trophy laden years, with Lampard setting up his teammate on 24 occasions. It has led to numerous quotes from the Ivorian in which he hailed Lampard as a major influence on his career and the two combined to give us some iconic moments over their 8-year partnership. They would often practice in training to create scenarios that they would translate onto the pitch, and so often in so many big games, they bared the fruit of their labour. The pair had many memorable link ups like when Frank delivered that delicious outside of the foot pass around the Manchester City defence for Drogba to run onto and score or the sweet one two between the pair in the 2007 FA Cup final, with Drogba going on to score the winner as he so often did at Wembley. There were times where they mesmerised us with their almost telepathic play, the best example being that flick over the shoulder from Lampard to Drogba who volleyed home against Bolton, a goal that left me utterly speechless watching Match of The Day on my sofa that night! Drogba wasn’t just the breadwinner in this relationship though, he setup his teammate on 12 occasions in the Premier League. Whilst it may not go down as the most legendary assist, the header from Drogba to Lampard in that title winning game in 2005 at the Reebok stadium will live long in Blue’s memories due to the sheer relief and importance it gave to Chelsea fans far and wide. It brought us our first title in 50 years and nearly had my dad shedding a tear, given he had waited for that moment of celebration his whole life!
Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa
From day one this duo got on like a house on fire, and it was the intuitive mind of Fabregas that so often picked out a powerful Costa in the most obscure of positions that led to several superb Chelsea goals. Fabregas was always one step ahead of the opposition, picturing the balls next move before it had even arrived at his feet and with Costa always playing on the last man, it was the perfect recipe for goals and they pair duly obliged. Cast your minds back to that delicate through ball to Costa splitting the Watford defence back in 2016 or the ball over the top of Phil Jagielka that saw Costa bully his way to the ball, before taking it past Howard to run the ball into any empty net. None however, top that picturesque ball over the shoulder of Koscielny, Costa chesting the ball down and lobbing it over the oncoming Wojciech Szczęsny, causing yet more misery for Arsenal fans at the hands of another deadly striker in Blue.
Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Best of friends off the pitch and a deadly strike partnerships on it. Often these pieces focus on a midfielder and striker understanding, however this is a rare case of a strike pair that could do no wrong when they stepped out on the turf together. Known as the ‘Fire’ and ‘Ice’ combination, the biggest shame when writing about these two is that us fans were unable to see them play together for longer, an unfortunate casualty of the new Abramovich era. In their second season together they scored 52 goals between them in all competitions and it was the mixture of English and Dutch language that would confuse defenders and give them that competitive edge. My mind wanders back to a sublime ball through the Middlesbrough defence for Hasselbaink to run onto and score and the one two, if you could call it that, in the game at Old Trafford which ended in Hasselbaink rifling a shot past Barthez into the bottom left hand corner, sending the travelling Chelsea fans into wild celebrations. Their dynamic can be easily understood in the goal at home to Liverpool in 2001 where Gudjohnsen controls the ball beautifully before sliding a ball through to Hasselbaink, all without even lifting his head. Countless interviews have seen the pair admit that they just knew where each other were on the pitch at all times and it was Gudjohnsen’s magic feet and Hasselbaink’s power and pace that so often lit the touch paper for Chelsea success.
Diego Costa and Yellow Cards
I could have talked about the fruitful partnerships that Azpilicueta and Morata shared for a season in which it seemed every cross from the inner right channel from Dave’s feet would end up with a Morata headed goal. But given the latter’s recent distasteful comments regarding his time in SW6, I instead decided to focus on a topic of much humour; Costa and his obsession with yellow cards. Always one for an off the ball scuffle or face to face spat with a rival defender, Costa was the king of wind up and fed off the knowledge that he had his opponent rattled. This culminated in many bookings, but surprisingly never a red card, seemingly preferring to save his suspensions for post-match disciplinary panels for the odd stamp or kick out. Never one to shy away from the headlines, it was this obsession with playing on the edge that earned Costa a lot of plaudits from the Chelsea faithful.
So often, seasons come down to a goal from one or two key players to separate success from failure and these players rarely disappointed, consistently striving to bring us silverware amidst indifferent surroundings. It was that relentless, unquenchable will to win that has ultimately defined these player’s legacies at the club as together they all played their part in what has been over a decade of unprecedented Chelsea success.
Sources: Talksport.com, premierleague.com, skysports.com
Edited by Dami Adeleye