The Chinese phrase ‘may you live in interesting times’ has never been more apt than the past few days in SW6.  Intended more as a curse than a blessing, CFCnet didn’t know whether it was either last Sunday.

Strolling down the Fulham Road at 3.35pm on Sunday afternoon, an almighty ‘rumble’ was followed by the wail of dozens of sirens and fire engines careering past the Bridge.  A thick plume of smoke could be seen a few hundred yards up the road and we walked up to see what all the commotion was about.

Some people had had a very lucky escape.

A whole side of a building, in the block between Finborough Road and Redcliffe Gardens, had collapsed onto the pavement missing the road by inches.

Whilst no one appeared injured (it was a freezing non-matchday and the streets were empty) it’s clear that if the incident had occurred at the same time, on the same day, before the Liverpool match on the 6^th Feb, dozens of fans could have been injured, perhaps even fatally.  Here’ a short Youtube clip below.

It goes to show how fate can deal its cards – sometimes for you, sometimes against you – and us Chelsea fans are extremely lucky that we had no home game last weekend.

With that close miss over, CFCnet’s attentions turned to Monday evening’s game against Bolton.  What a cracker!  Back to our old form of passing, pressing and shooting….and of course, goals.

Given the period we’ve been through, leaner than a wafer thin slice of ham, the display was simply magnificent on all counts. The team spirit, unity, skill and commitment were first class and, for the first time in many months, all our players were playing to their full potential.

Whilst all the plaudits have gone to Didier Drogba for yet another world class goal, special mention must go to Petr Cech who made two crucial saves that kept the match in our favour. The first one, from a header by Matt Taylor on the half hour, was the best we’ve seen from him this season whilst his one-on-one with Elmander was also a first class block.

Cech gets unfairly singled out whenever he makes a mistake but when he produces a world class save or two it is conveniently ignored by the media.  It’s a shame because his save from Taylor’s header was as match-saving as Drogba’s goal was match-winning. 

Perhaps the most pleasing part of the whole night was the unity on display as shown when the players mobbed Ramires (for scoring his first goal for the club) and secondly when all the fans chanted ‘Carlo, Carlo, Carlo’.  Solidarity between the players and harmony between the fans and management has been the basis for all our success so let’s hope it stays that way.

We’ve now won 8 straight away ties in a row at Bolton, scoring 18 goals and conceding none.  An unbelievable record.  Roll on Merseyside.