Blues praise ref shock! Di Matteo discovers Friend in the middle

YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND ... official speaks to John Obi Mikel

CHELSEA finally ended their ref war last night.

Some people will never believe it but, after the Mark Clattenburg row, Blues boss Roberto Di Matteo was full of praise for official Kevin Friend.

Despite seeing his side knocked off the top at Swansea, RDM said: “The officials were very good. Kevin kept the players calm and he let the game flow. He didn’t have any influence on the game or the result and I congratulated him on his performance at the end.

“I didn’t speak to my players before the game because our team is usually very good.

“We are generally a fair team. There has to be something really out of the ordinary for them to react.”

Di Matteo’s admiration was in stark contrast to the criticism he dished out to Clattenburg after losing to Manchester United last Sunday.

The ref sent off two Blues stars and allowed an offside winner before he was reported by the club to the FA for using ‘inappropriate language’ to John Obi Mikel.

Di Matteo refused to blame the race row for his team’s poor showing yesterday after Pablo Hernandez’s late leveller for Swansea.

RDM admitted: “It’s been a tough week after two games against United and it would have been nice to finish it off with a 1-0 win.

“It’s a bit of a concern that my players are starting to feel a bit jaded already.”

Swans boss Michael Laudrup said: “When Chelsea get 1-0 in front they usually stay in front. But we got closer and closer to an equaliser — and I never gave up believing it would come.”