When last we met: Middlesbrough vs. Chelsea, 2013
By George Perry
Chelsea have only faced Middlesbrough once in the last seven years, with Middlesbrough dropping to the Championship in 2009. Chelsea’s 2013 FA Cup tie against Boro had many more fireworks off the pitch than on it.
Fun fact of the day: The last Chelsea player to score against Middlesbrough was Victor Moses. His 73′ goal in the fifth round of the FA Cup was his sixth of 10 goals for Chelsea in the 2012/13 season, before he began his journey through the loan army wilderness.
After Chelsea’s 2-0 victory at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium, then-manager (er, interim manager) Rafael Benitez all but begged for the sack in an unhinged press conference rant. Smarting from the travelling supporters’ chants and jibes, Benitez lashed out at the fans and pretty much anyone else associated with the club.
"The fans are not helping us… So this group of fans are not making any favourites with the team and they are singing and wasting time preparing banners. They have to concentrate on supporting the team, that’s what they have to do. Every game they continue singing and preparing banners, they are wasting time. What they have to do is support the team. – BBC"
Benitez, always the over-achiever, was not content merely to offend and alienate the fans. He then proceeded to test Roman Abramovich’s saintly patience and tolerance of dissent.
"I have a title. Someone decided the title would be interim. Why? Just in case? Fine, that is your decision. I don’t agree, but that is your decision and now everybody has to take responsibility.Everybody is interim because after you there is another one. In this case they didn’t have anyone, so why did they put interim?Was the title a mistake from the start? Yes, 100%."
Yes, because Roman Abramovich looks so kindly on his subordinates publicly saying that he made a mistake. Apparently when you are the interim manager and everyone – yourself included – wants you gone, a little bit of post-match YOLO is understandable.
Three players from that 2013 FA Cup tie will be in Chelsea’s starting XI on Sunday. Eden Hazard and David Luiz both came on as second-half substitutes, and will join Moses in the starting lineup. Who could have predicted then that those three would be the only survivors of the squad, and that Moses and Luiz would have to return to the Blues after prolonged absences?
In what may be our least bold prediction of the season, we think there is a much higher chance of Victor Moses scoring another against Middlesbrough than Antonio Conte flaming the fans post-match.
Next: Chelsea returns to action vs Middlesbrough: Predicted XI
Chelsea are 54W-29D-31L against Middlesbrough all time, going back to 1907. Tweet your score prediction for this match to @PrideOLondon, and we’ll choose one to include in our game-day round-up!