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Chelsea's league season came at a close on Sunday with a 2-1 win over Blackburn that did nothing to reverse anything that happened over the past nine months, aside from adding an extra three points onto the Blues final tally of 64. We kicked off back in August on 0 points, and in amassing what is our lowest tally in the Abramovich era we had some truly remarkable moments, both good and bad for the Chelsea blue. In chronological order, here's the top five, after the jump.
Fernando Torres miss | Manchester United 3-1 Chelsea
Oh, the agony. This is something that I know will haunt me for a very long time, so I can't imagine what it does to Fernando Torres head. Having played so well in Chelsea's first few games, and continued the trend with a fantastic goal immediately after the break of this match, for Torres to stuff up an open goal opportunity in the manner he did was just about the worst thing that could've happened. It meant we fell even further behind the Manchester duo, and resigned the Spaniard to seemingly never-ending media torture. Oh, Fernando.
The entire game | QPR 1-0 Chelsea
Not the most important, or the most significant loss in Chelsea's campaign this year, yet I don't think it's unfair to label this the game the entire season hinged on. QPR scored an early penalty, Bosingwa and Drogba were sent off, and yet nine man Chelsea fought to the very end, to no avail. The sheer courage on display when tested with such a deficit was inspiring, yet the loss, coupled with AVB losing his head in the post-match press conference and John Terry being accused of racism, meant the entire momentum and feel of the season changed. Simply for being so infuriating and causing everything that happened in this one game, if there was justice in the world, QPR would have been relegated.
Lampard's penalty | Chelsea 2-1 Manchester City
Useless, nothing more than a goalscorer, ageing, and on the way out: whatever the papers said to degrade Frank Lampard, it wasn't enough to stop him trying to tear Joe Hart's goal in two on the way to condemning Manchester City to their first Premier League defeat of the season. This was a sweet way to finish off what had been a memorable week (having beaten Valencia 3-0 to confirm our place in the next CL round the Wednesday before). Beating the eventual champions has to be up there in the top five league moments.
Hernandez goal | Chelsea 3-3 Manchester United
From Manchester United's point of view, this was extraordinary. From our point of view, this was ridiculous. On a barren run of form, Roman hanging around training all the time, having signed no reinforcements in the transfer window, Chelsea were still inexplicably 3-0 up against the defending champions. Yet Howard Webb gave two soft penalties, and with five minutes to go, Javier Hernandez rose to Ryan Giggs superb cross to restore parity. To have been three-nil up, and then throw the game away, was painful, to say the least. Perhaps what AVB's tenure will forever be remembered for.
Di Matteo's team selection vs Arsenal, at the Emirates
A trip to the Emirates sandwiched in between a Champions League semi final against Barcelona was not going to be a good time to try and get ourselves back into the top four race. Di Matteo all but agreed that any form of Chelsea resistance was futile with his team selection, and the second string did nothing in a boring 0-0 draw to effectively confirm Chelsea's intense focus on the cups. A risky decision that divides many of us here at WAG, this was where we effectively placed all of our Champions League eggs in one basket.
In compiling this list it amazed me how much this season has done to our emotions. I've not even mentioned the 5-3 against Arsenal, nor AVB's last game (against West Brom),so please feel free to disagree in the comments and share your thoughts on this season's top five defining moments in the league.