That was pretty special

HAS there ever in the history of football been a league title won quite like this?

It has been one of the most enthralling, engaging and unpredictable races of all time, but after Chelsea produced a remarkable 8-0 demolition of Wigan on the final day there can be no doubt whatsoever the right team were crowned champions.

The scenes at Stamford Bridge as jubilant players and fans celebrated their first championship in four years will live long in the memory and any accusation that the title was lost by Manchester United rather than won by Chelsea simply doesn’t stand up.

The facts are that Carlo Ancelotti’s side, who have endured off-field controversy and occasionally on-field disappointments during a long campaign, ended it with a goals-scored tally of 103 – the most ever in the history of the Premier League and the best in the top flight since Tottenham in 1962.

It was a day when Chelsea once and for all stamped their authority on a title race that has ebbed and flowed between themselves United and even Arsenal for the best part of 10 months but which has now ended in the most memorable and iconic fashion. This was an afternoon that supporters of all clubs dream about and experience only once in a lifetime if they are lucky, an afternoon where everything goes right and every loose end is tied up in Roy of the Rovers fashion.

Chelsea not only won the title, wrenching it back from Manchester United after three barren years, but Didier Drogba’s hat-trick confirmed he will win the Golden Boot, ahead of big rival Wayne Rooney, while a heady afternoon ended with a remarkable eighth goal from revitalised left-back Ashley Cole.

His thumping left-foot volley on 90 minutes was Chelsea’s ‘Tony Adams moment’. Remember that goal at Highbury?

The one which saw Adams play a one-two with Steve Bould to score the most unlikely of goals, clinch Arsene Wenger’s first title and mark the start of a new era of wonderful passing football in north London?

Well, the same is happening now in west London. Ancelotti’s new style of attacking football, the kind of football owner Roman Abramovich has always dreamed about, has been deservedly rewarded.

No other Chelsea team has ever topped 100 goals in the top flight and yesterday wasn’t the only time this season they have run riot, putting seven past Aston Villa, Stoke and Sunderland and five past Portsmouth and Blackburn during the course of the year. So can anyone say with any justification that this Chelsea team do not deserve to be called champions?

The banner held aloft by one jubilant at Stamford Bridge read: King Carlo, More Than Special – and that was significant.

The club has been in the shadow of Jose Mourinho ever since he left – and when he returned this season to knock them out of the Champions League with Inter Milan it seemed that shadow was darker than ever for Ancelotti.

But the Italian has stuck to his principles and was rewarded yesterday as his team produced a truly inspirational performance.

The nerves were eased after only six minutes when Nicolas Anelka began the rout, pouncing to fire home Florent Malouda’s knock-down even though the Frenchman looked suspiciously offside from Michael Ballack’s header into the area.

The second had an element of fortune about it too because Lampard looked to have made rather a lot of Gary Caldwell’s challenge in the area which resulted not only in a penalty, that Lampard despatched with minimum fuss, but also in a red card for the Wigan defender.

That sealed the visitors’ fate and the second half turned into a rousing festival of football as Chelsea romped to their biggest win of the season, leaving Manchester United’s dreams shattered up at Old Trafford where victory over Stoke meant little in the end.

Salomon Kalou side-footed home in the 54th minute, before Anelka hit a perfectly-timed first-time volley for 4-0.

Drogba, who appeared to throw a strop in the first half when Lampard refused to hand over penalty duties, eventually got the goal he so craved – the one that put him ahead of Rooney in the race for the Golden Boot – after 64 minutes. The striker saw his spectacular overhead kick saved but Lampard chipped the ball straight back to the far post for Drogba to power home his 27th league goal of the season and Chelsea’s 100th.

The sixth goal came from the penalty spot, won by Ashley Cole and converted this time by Drogba after a shake of hands with Lampard, while Drogba completed his hat-trick by scoring from close range after substitute Joe Cole’s shot had been saved.

Then it was all left to Ashley Cole to wrap things up with his spectacular eighth which could yet mark the start of an exciting new era at Chelsea – and of course there is still the FA Cup final to come.

Sorry Jose, but you have to say; this was pretty Special.

MATCH RATING: ***** – There can be no better way to win a title – eight wonderful goals, a hat-trick from the league’s Golden Boot winner, a glorious volley from a left-back and everything completed with a swagger. Wonderful stuff.

REFEREE: Martin Atkinson (West Yorkshire) 6 – The fairest thing would be to say he gave Chelsea the benefit of the doubt – for their opening goal when Malouda appeared offside and for the second when Lampard’s penalty win was questionable.