Newcastle United were cruising towards Premier League glory in early 1996. Kevin Keegan\u2019s men had a mammoth 12-point lead over second-placed Manchester United. David Ginola was selling more dummies to defenders than his image was L’Or\u00e9al hair products; his sumptuously whipped crosses were a primary source of Les Ferdinand\u2019s bounty of goals.<\/p>\n
And if that made the Magpies overwhelming favourites, the purchase of Faustino Asprilla, the extravagantly gifted Colombian, shut the book on the title race \u2013 literally in the case of one bookmaker, who famously paid out on the trophy making its way to Tyneside. He was apparently listening to the tune of the Toon Army minority famed for removing black-and-white jerseys from their chunky upper torsos and bellowing out the club\u2019s popular anthem, ‘The Blaydon Racers’, amid benumbing temperatures in that north-eastern winter. He should have been listening to the old adage that it\u2019s not over till the fat lady sings.<\/p>\n
That fat lady was caped in the red of Manchester United. For as Ginola and Newcastle lost their irresistible rhythm, another Gallic genius inspired what is, to date, the grandest title comeback in Premier League history. Eric Cantona, indeed, scored the only goal as the Red Devils won at St James\u2019 Park, and he headlined \u2013 ably assisted by Peter Schmeichel, Roy Keane, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and Co \u2013 an implausible run-in in which Sir Alex Ferguson\u2019s troops seized 40 points from a possible 45 to finish four clear of the Magpies.<\/p>\n
It was a bitter pill to swallow for Newcastle. Now, though, somebody is itching to give Manchester United a taste of their own medicine. That somebody is a team who were in crisis just four months ago.<\/p>\n
After winning their first five matches, scoring an average of 4.2 per game in the process, and keeping clean sheets in seven of their opening nine outings, Chelsea suffered a startling loss of form from November. A defeat at lowly Wolverhampton Wanderers in January, in fact, left them with a solitary win from nine games. The early-season leaders languished 15 points off the pace in fifth. Frank Lampard, Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba were enduring their worst spells in Chelsea colours, and Fernando Torres was in the midst of an alarming 903-minute run without a goal.<\/p>\n
Ancelotti admitted Chelsea\u2019s challenge was over; the consensus was that his time at Stamford Bridge would be as soon as their UEFA Champions League campaign ended. However, by the time their European run did end, courtesy of sickening solitary-goal defeats to Manchester United in both legs of their quarter-final, the west London outfit were revelling in a remarkable domestic renaissance. Indeed, having won 25 points from a possible 27, Chelsea will go into the penultimate round top of the Premier League on goal difference if they win at Old Trafford on Sunday (the sides are both on +38).<\/p>\n
Captain John Terry said: \u201cThey were running away with it, but I always believed. The manager’s done the right job, kept the players hungry, and all the supporters have been like that as well \u2013 they’ve never let us give up and think it was over. There’s no bigger spur than going to Old Trafford and winning to put ourselves right in the frame for bringing the Premier League trophy back to the Bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Midfielder Michael Essien added: “It has been a sweet and sour season. To use a sandwich analogy: sweet bread at the top, sour filling, and more sweet bread at the bottom. We started the season extremely well, had a sour middle part and are now ending strongly. I can assure you we are up for it. The team is playing well and I have no doubt we will give it everything we have to beat Man United.”<\/p>\n
And though United have a formidable home record this term, the momentum in Chelsea\u2019s favour. Essien, Lampard, Malouda and Drogba have rediscovered their touch; \u20ac25m defender David Luiz has reinvigorated the Blues\u2019 backline; Salomon Kalou has struck some decisive goals; and Ancelotti has picked up back-to-back Manager of the Month awards.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the best moment to play there, because now our condition is good and we have the momentum,\u201d said Ancelotti. And if Chelsea go on to lift the trophy? \u201cFootball is strange. If it happens, it will be really strange.”<\/p>\n
Stranger, even, than when the Frenchman with the patented turned-up collar returned from an eight-month ban from football to kick-start the fairytale fightback of \u201996 at St James’ Park. Can Chelsea find a Cantona at the Theatre of Dreams on Sunday?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Read the rest here:
\nChelsea out to copy script of \u201896<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Newcastle United were cruising towards Premier League glory in early 1996. Kevin Keegan\u2019s men had a mammoth 12-point lead over second-placed Manchester United. David Ginola was selling more dummies to defenders than his image was L’Or\u00e9al hair products; his sumptuously whipped crosses were a primary source of Les Ferdinand\u2019s bounty of goals<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-418779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n
Chelsea out to copy script of \u201896 - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/chelsea-out-to-copy-script-of-96\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Chelsea out to copy script of \u201896 - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Newcastle United were cruising towards Premier League glory in early 1996. Kevin Keegan\u2019s men had a mammoth 12-point lead over second-placed Manchester United. David Ginola was selling more dummies to defenders than his image was L'Or\u00e9al hair products; his sumptuously whipped crosses were a primary source of Les Ferdinand\u2019s bounty of goals\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/chelsea-out-to-copy-script-of-96\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/chelsea-out-to-copy-script-of-96\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Chelsea out to copy script of \u201896\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-06T16:50:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/chelsea-out-to-copy-script-of-96\/\"},\"wordCount\":776,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/chelsea-out-to-copy-script-of-96\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/chelsea-out-to-copy-script-of-96\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/chelsea-out-to-copy-script-of-96\/\",\"name\":\"Chelsea out to copy script of \u201896 - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-06T16:50:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/chelsea-out-to-copy-script-of-96\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chelsea out to copy script of \u201896 - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/chelsea-out-to-copy-script-of-96\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Chelsea out to copy script of \u201896 - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Newcastle United were cruising towards Premier League glory in early 1996. Kevin Keegan\u2019s men had a mammoth 12-point lead over second-placed Manchester United. David Ginola was selling more dummies to defenders than his image was L'Or\u00e9al hair products; his sumptuously whipped crosses were a primary source of Les Ferdinand\u2019s bounty of goals","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/chelsea-out-to-copy-script-of-96\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/chelsea-out-to-copy-script-of-96\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Chelsea out to copy script of \u201896","datePublished":"2011-05-06T16:50:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/chelsea-out-to-copy-script-of-96\/"},"wordCount":776,"commentCount":0,"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/chelsea-out-to-copy-script-of-96\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/chelsea-out-to-copy-script-of-96\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/chelsea-out-to-copy-script-of-96\/","name":"Chelsea out to copy script of \u201896 - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-05-06T16:50:22+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/chelsea-out-to-copy-script-of-96\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418779\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}