The countdown to Christmas is on and every day across the official Chelsea website and Official Chelsea App we will be bringing you exclusive Blues content. On the second day of December, we look at some brilliant Chelsea duos…
There are few more satisfying sights in football than watching a pair of players combine to great effect - just think of the way Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson have linked up this year!
That duo are the latest in a long line of Chelsea double acts to have written themselves into the history books.
Here are a few of our most iconic…
Peter Osgood and Ian Hutchinson
Ossie and Hutch were the trademark strike partnership that fired us to FA Cup glory in 1970. Osgood, the King of Stamford Bridge, was destined for the top from his very first appearance, with an impeccable touch, wonderful vision and a thirst for goals.
Hutchinson, meanwhile, was signed from lowly Cambridge United for £5000 in 1968, having been transformed from a full-back into a striker. What he lacked in technical ability, he more than made up for in bravery, forcing his way into Dave Sexton’s side. The pair first led the line in tandem in November 1969, both scoring in a 3-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday, and by the end of that season had been pivotal in our Cup triumph.
They both netted in the third round, fifth round (watch above), and semi-finals, and in the Wembley showpiece against Leeds it was Hutchinson’s brave header that forced a replay. Up at Old Trafford, Hutch’s movement created the space for Osgood’s iconic diving header, and then it was his trademark long throw that David Webb bundled in to win us the Cup for the first time.
'He was my best mate,' Osgood once said. 'We called each other bruv and that’s what we were like – brothers. I wouldn’t have swapped him for anyone in the league.'
Their friendship extended beyond their playing days, as they ran a pub together in Windsor, while Hutchinson was Ossie’s best man at each of his three weddings. A truly great partnership, on and off the pitch.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen
Another strike pairing that complemented one another to perfection, Jimmy Floyd and Eidur ran riot in 2001/02.
Their link-up play was almost telepathic as they netted 52 goals between them to help the Blues to a sixth-place Premier League finish and the FA Cup final. They exchanged one-twos at will to dance around defenders, with so many of their goals resulting from a through pass from the other.
Hasselbaink was renowned for his ferocious striking of the ball, but he possessed a delicate touch when required, too, while Gudjohnsen was the epitome of classy in linking midfield and attack.
‘The partnership with Eidur was not worked on but it was very, very special, and it was also very pleasant,’ Jimmy Floyd reflected later.
‘It was very easy and it just clicked, the understanding was just there and it was like a tandem, and it just fitted very well.’
Damien Duff and Arjen Robben
Typically, great partnerships in football occur in the middle of the pitch, but Damien Duff and Arjen Robben, two wingers, were at the heart of a tactical revolution in the game.
They only played at their peak in tandem for a few months during the 2004/05 campaign, but that was enough to make an indelible mark.
Ostensibly both left wingers, the pair lined up on opposite flanks in a 4-3-3 but interchanged at will, giving their full-backs a torrid time. Regularly they doubled up on one side, such as the first game they started together, away to CSKA Moscow. Robben scored the only goal from a Duff assist.
‘It’s hard for the defenders to understand, so it’s good to have that change of style up our sleeve,’ said Duff. ‘I love playing with him and he certainly gives the team an extra dimension. I feel just as comfortable on the right as I do on the left; I’ve learnt my right leg isn’t just for standing on!’
It was the months between Robben’s debut in October 2004 and his injury away to Blackburn at the start of February that Chelsea decisively seized the initiative in the Premier League title race, winning 14 and drawing two of 16 games in that period.
And in our final 15 matches of 2004, Duff or Robben scored in 13 of them, a record most strike partnerships would be proud of. Their combination burned briefly but so brightly, and changed the way English football viewed what wingers were capable of.
John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho
The first centre-back pairing in this list, and arguably our greatest ever, JT and Riccy Carvalho formed the bedrock of our defence for some of the most successful years in the club’s history.
Carvalho joined from Porto in 2004 and accompanied new skipper Terry for much of our subsequent back-to-back title-winning campaigns, with the Blues defence among the meanest in football history.
Terry was the more ‘traditional’ English defender with a sprinkling of technical stardust, while Carvalho read the game superbly and soon adapted to the rigours of the Premier League.
‘We had a very good relationship together and we started to know each other quickly,’ Carvalho told us last year.
‘Sometimes we didn’t even need to speak, it was just about looking at each other and I knew what he was going to do. He knew that I liked to cover, I knew that he liked to fight for the first balls, so it was automatic. Those are the kind of things you feel and it is difficult to explain in words.’
But what a joy it was to watch in action!
Millie Bright and Magdalena Eriksson
From 2017 to 2023, Millie Bright and Magda Eriksson were mainstays in the all-conquering Chelsea Women side.
Like Terry and Carvalho, the defensive duo’s attributes complemented each other superbly. Bright renowned for her physical dominance and tough tackling, Eriksson tasked by Emma Hayes with starting attacks from the back with her cultured left foot.
When Eriksson left for Bayern Munich last year, Hayes said she, Bright and herself had been the three ‘standard bearers’ for implementing the culture at Chelsea that has seen us dominate the domestic game in recent years. There is no higher praise than that.
Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba
The only midfield-striker combination in this list, Lampard and Drogba are the second-most productive pairing in Premier League history in terms of goals.
In eight seasons together at the club, they combined for 36 goals in the league, with the Ivorian striker netting 24 of them.
Perhaps their most memorable link-up, though, came in the 2007 FA Cup final, when Lampard’s cute pass released Drogba to poke in an extra-time winner and ensure we lifted the prestigious trophy in the first final at the new Wembley.
Five years later, in 2012, Lampard assisted another Wembley FA Cup final goal for Drogba. Not long after came their crowning moment in blue, with Lampard captaining and Drogba scoring in our maiden Champions League conquest in Munich.
'It came with work,' Lampard later acknowledged. 'We were good friends and we became best of friends. We didn't go out that much together, but we had a really good relationship off the pitch and we spoke a lot in training.
'I've been watching back some of the balls I'd play over the top one-touch for Didier - it was a pass I loved and I knew Didier would run. We would talk about the timing of it, exactly where he wanted it, the defender he felt would get sucked into that first movement.’
Fran Kirby and Sam Kerr
Another dynamic attacking partnership, Kirby and Kerr brought the best out of each other following the Australian’s arrival in 2020.
Renowned as one of the best strikers in world football, Kerr was always likely to benefit from Kirby’s creativity and technical ability. She finished their first full season together, 2020/21, with the WSL golden boot, while Kirby’s performances after serious illness earned her the FWA’s Footballer of the Year award.
Between them, they netted 59 goals as we won the domestic treble and reached the final of the Champions League.
‘That pairing terrorises defenders,’ analysed Hayes, who benefitted from their combined services for three more seasons before Kirby’s departure at the end of last season.
To everyone who had the good fortune of watching them in tandem, they knew they were witnessing something very special.