Newcastle 0-1 Chelsea

65 mins Chelsea win another corner, but Nicky Butt manages to hack it away.



63 mins After a tidy enough first 45, Newcastle have barely even left there half since the re-start. Martins and Owen are capable of scoring if given the chances, but can Newcastle even get the ball to them right now?



Goal! Newcastle 0-1 Chelsea (Michael Ballack - 60 mins) And there you have it, Chelsea break the deadlock with a very tidy set-piece indeed. I have to admit having been a touch surprised to see Drogba step up to take the free-kick rather than getting involved in the box, but he floated the ball right onto the head of Ballack, who timed his run to the near post perfectly to get in front of two Newcastle defenders and flick the ball across Harper and into the net.



59 mins: Chelsea pick up a free-kick in a handy position after Faye brings down Malouda on the edge of the box. Faye picks up a booking for his trouble.



57 mins: A few of you have been writing in to complain about the picture of Chelsea celebrating that was accompanying this article, so I've changed it for something more neutral.



55 mins ... But this one is cut out by a defender at the near post.



54 mins ... Which John Terry heads against the bar! Drogba almost manages to hold off three defenders as he vies for position to win the ball as it comes down inside the area, but Newcastle eventually manage to hack it behind for another corner ...



53 mins Drogba gets the ball into Ballack's feet this time with an extremely cheeky little back heeled flick on the edge of the area, but Taylor is across in double-quick time to put it behind for a corner ...



51 mins Chelsea do look to be playing with a little more urgency already this half, which has been spent almost exclusively so far in Newcastle territory, but without any real openings. Drogba is buffeted off the ball as he tries to pick out Michael Ballack on the edge of the area.



49 mins Chelsea win the first corner of the half, but nothing comes of it.



47 mins Martins and Ferreira go down in a heap just outside the left-hand edge of Chelsea's area, and the free-kick goes Chelsea's way. Ferreira rolls around for a few seconds before realising he isn't hurt after all and bouncing to his feet.



46 mins We're off again, with Newcastle sending on Alan Smith to replace Viduka, who apparently took a kick to the achilles at some point.



Back to the football Right then, 45 minutes remain for Chelsea to give themselves a fighting chance of winning the title next week. As I said at the beginning, a point would take it to the last weekend, but realistically Chelsea have to win to have any hope of actually getting ahead of Man Utd and so far they've really shown very little attacking intent, which is disappointing. Grant already has Anelka and Drogba on the pitch, which both limits his options and is probably part of the problem. Avram Grant's still got Joe Cole and Frank Lampard to bring on mind, and it'll be interesting to see how long he does leave it before making a change.



Excuses to miss work for Manu

"In one of the Simpson's episodes Homer manages to wangle two days off in one week due to the "Hamburgler's birthday" - Cian O Súilleabhái, Dublin.

"Manu could say he needs the day off to change his name to Manu Nited" - Fred Lane, Stockholm.

"Manu should do what I've done every year for the CL final since I can remember. Be honest. Employers in North America often find a love of football quirky and a sign of healthy eclecticism and broad outlook that is an asset to any company. Either that or make yourself puke in the office" - Richard Whittall, Toronto

"Has Manu ever thought of just taking the day off rather than skipping work and having it deducted?" Kevin Titman, France



A question "Has Drogba touched the ball yet," demands Adi. No, I answer. By which, of course, I mean yes, he probably has touched the ball, but he hasn't done anything meaningful with it. To his credit, however, I can say that I haven't seen Didier fall over once yet.



Peepety-Peep! And without any further bother, that's the half. Back in a tick with half-time thoughts and emails.



45 mins On the evidence so far, Beye might want to curb his attacking instincts. Seizing on a loose ball in the area after Chelsea fail to clear a long ball forward at the first attempt, Beye neglects the option of passing to either of two attendant team-mates and instead crushes the ball straight ahead in the direction he is looking. Which happens to be pretty much straight at the corner flag.



44 mins Owen is lurking again as Barton swings another ball towards the middle of the area from deep on the left, but once again it's cut out.



42 mins Newcastle finally break, stringing together a very tidy counter that starts with Michael Essien swiveling and laying the ball out to Enrique on the left, but ends when Michael Owen fails to out-jump people four times his size in the area as he looks to meet the ensuing cross.



39 mins Chelsea are beginning to build sustained pressure here, but aside from that Ballack chance they haven't really had any clear sights of goal. Mikel decides to let fly from 30 yards, but his effort soars a long way high of the target.



37 mins And now Anelka hacks one wide of the other post, letting the ball run too far across his body before pulling the trigger. At least his miss was from five yards outside the area.



35 mins My word that is a shoddy, shoddy effort from Michael Ballack. The German was presented with the ball inside the area by a very tidy little side-footed pass from Michael Essien, who nudged the ball out to his left as he ran at the Newcastle defence on the edge of the D, but sliced his left-footed effort wide from 10 yards and failed to even make Harper make a save.



33 mins Wee Micky rebounds about five yards backwards through the air and collapses in after running into Terry's chest just inside the Chelsea half. Referee Steve Bennett sees fit to reward Terry with a yellow card, which is probably a little harsh - Owen had just put the ball past him and I'm not convinced Terry could really have got out of the way in time to avoid obstructing him.



30 mins Enrique tries to repeat the trick with a raking ball forward down the left, but this time Chelsea manage to hack it away. Newcastle have their tails up.



28 mins How did that not wind up going in? Absolutely delightful ball forward from Enrique finds Obafemi Martins shrugging off Carvalho as he barrels into the area. He loses his footing, though, and Cech gets out to parry it off his boot. Viduka tries to seize the loose ball, but only succeeds in pin balling it back out to Owen off Carvalho, and Micky then sees his shot blocked on the line by Terry. Superb effort by the Chelsea captain to get back.



26 mins Michael Essien becomes the latest to screw a shot wide from the edge of the box.



24 mins "I hope the bar codes can at least get a draw," ponders Manu Talanki, who I'm going to guess may be a Manchester United fan, from America. "Also, I am struggling to come with an excuse to skip work on May 21. I already used up two excuses for the semi-finals. So any suggestions would be welcome!" Anyone care to help Manu out?



23 mins Habib Beye skews an ever-so-slightly ambitious drive roughly 40 yards over the crossbar from roughly 40 yards out.



21 mins For a team supposedly chasing a Premier League title, Chelsea seem spectacularly short of anything resembling urgency. Nearly half-way through the first 45 and they're yet to have a shot on target.



19 mins A significant number of readers have emailed me to say they are in America and there is no bank holiday there either. Don't you feel better for knowing that?



18 mins Chelsea win a free-kick 25 yards out on the left. Wayne Bridge demands to take it, places it carefully, eyes his target and ... wellies the ball straight into the wall at belly height.



16 mins Right, this game is beginning to settle into a pattern that goes something like this: Martins sprints into Chelsea half, runs out of ideas and lose possession. Chelsea pass the ball slowly into Newcastle half, run out of ideas and lose possession. Edge of your seat stuff.



14 mins Geremi works his way down to the goal line on the right hand side before cutting back a particularly woeful cross to someone in a Chelsea shirt about 30 yards behind him.



13 mins Martins is at it again, drawing an gratuitously loud roar from the home support as he pootles across the half-way before running straight into John Terry and losing possession.



10 mins Obafemi Martins jukes and weaves his way across the faces of John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho 30 yard from goal, before scuffing a drive fairly meekly into the arms of Petr Cech.



9 mins Anelka flicks a short cross on to the head of Malouda just inside the area, but it pings off the top of his head and over.



8 mins "If Newcastle wins, I have promised to buy pizza for my co-workers tomorrow to celebrate our two-peat," chimes Lyzette Austen. Because that will incentivise them to support harder?



6 mins Ooh - first proper chance of the match as Nicky Butt lofts the ball into the area for Michael Owen, who had snuck round the back of Terry but couldn't keep his shot down as he volleyed it first time from near the penalty spot.



5 mins Which Geremi hoists up and over the bar. And probably a little wide, just for good measure.



4 mins Michael Essien hops to the sideline to receive a spot of treatment after knacking his foot while kicking Joey Barton. Free-kick to Newcastle about 35 yards from goal ...



2 mins "In France we're all working, you should feel sorry for us," wails Philip Hall - who has presumably heard that all of Britain is currently enjoying a Bank Holiday. Apart from me. "Except that of course we had May 1 off. Then we get the 8th off too. Then the 12th. And most of us will have taken the two Fridays too. Hard month, May."



1 min We're underway, with Ferreira punting a long speculative pass down the right wing and straight off for a goal-kick.



I've just been looking at the form guide ... And you won't be surprised to hear that Chelsea are in better shape than anyone else in the league right now, having won five and drawn one of their last six games. But who is in second, I hear you ask. Newcastle - with four wins and two draws. They have a rather impressive goal difference of +10 in those games too.



An email Pete Boyce is at his desk in Chicago pretending to do some work. "I can't wait to see Newcastle end the title race. This will definitely be the most fans behind the Toon ever... Howay the lads!"



Team news: Avram Grant has only once before started with Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda as his attacking trident. That occasion was the Milk Cup final. Yup, the one where Chelsea lost to Tottenham.

Newcastle: Harper, Beye, Taylor, Faye, Jose Enrique, Geremi, Butt, Barton, Viduka, Owen, Martins. Subs: Forster, Cacapa, Duff, N'Zogbia, Smith.

Chelsea: Cech, Ferreira, Terry, Carvalho, Bridge, Essien, Obi, Ballack, Anelka, Drogba, Malouda. Subs: Cudicini, Shevchenko, Lampard, Joe Cole, Alex.

Referee: Steve Bennett (Kent)



And here's the flabby: Really Chelsea need to win, because United aren't going to lose at Wigan. They probably won't draw there either, to be honest, but there you go.



Preamble: Afternoon all. I'm hoping you all know the significance of this one by now, but if not here's the skinny: if Chelsea lose, Manchester United effectively win the title, given that they'll have a three point lead and already have a goal difference of +3,781 to Chelsea's +quite a lot less, it'll be as good as over.