Winterburn, Hillier, Koewn, Shwartz and Linighan were all missing from the Paris encounter. McGowan came in at left back, Parlour and Jensen made up the midfield with Hellder and Bould returning. From the Parc Des Princes to the crumbling Stamford Bridge it was always going to be hard to raise ourselves. Glenn Hoddle was playing his last game and even Graham Rix put in an appearance. The players looked like they'd sooner have had an afternoon in front of Sky Sports than playing thmeselves. Jensen found himself tight on the back four, Parlour got caught going forward leaving Chelsea the entire freedom of the midfield to do as they pleased. Chelsea really could have won this by a mile. Both Stien and Furlong fired over with open goals from about 6 yards out. Hoddle even managed a dainty lob over Seaman from about 8 yards that looked easier to score than put over. Helder showed the odd flash of brilliance but rarely had much chance. Chelsea eventually took the lead after 25 mins when Hoddle slipped the ball thorugh to Furlong who finally had a chance he couldn't miss. Just before half time Furlong again bent a shot onto the post and the forward coming in found himself brilliantly thwarted by Seaman. Dave was impecable as ever as the Chelsea fans mercilessly taunted him. "Nayim from the half way line" was their most common assault. Incredibly just 4 mins after Chelsea had scored we equalised, Wright played the ball through to Hartson who beat Merson to the ball and on the stretch beat Kharine. Totally undeserved really. McGowan went off after a nasty looking clash and was replaced by Linighan. Second half and Chelsea continued to waste chances. Two goals were dissallowed for offside but eventually they broke through. Peacock fortnately controlled a cross field ball that completely sold Dixon. Peacock cut a delightful ball back form the touch line that Stein just coulnd't miss. This finally saw some action with Merson finally looking interested. Alas there was very little to show. Hartson forced Kharine into a fine save with a drive form the edge of the 6 yard box. Dickov replaced Hellder and looked slightly more lively, though Wright was the more obvious replacement as he was playing awful. Hoddle left to a standing ovation and Rix came on. In the final few seconds a Lingihan header from a corner brushed the top of the bar but for us to have got anything out of this would have been a travesty. We could have lost this by a lot more. Luckily we still have Dave Seaman.
Report by Trevor Collins