Local fans in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s capital, gathered haphazardly to watch the Chelsea-Arsenal encounter on their television sets on Sunday afternoon as they habitually do each time Chelsea play, but the ambience was morose.

“Let’s see what this guy will do today. I hope he’ll score against Arsenal to confirm what everybody is now saying about him that he’s simply a cheat who doesn’t love his country,” Julien Tapé, a beer parlour proprietor toldGoal.com minutes before the match.

When Drogba slotted home the first goal, nobody screamed as it used to be each time he scored. Faces were dark with grimaces as if hearts were saying 'who cares' 

“We don’t care about it. If he likes he should score 100 goals, that’s his business,” Maflan Kouadio, a roadside female fish seller said.

“This is pure wickedness. Can you see how he’s performing since he left Angola. Why couldn’t he do a quarter of this and take the Ivorian team a bit further,” Jean Jacques Diby hissed.

“The problem is, these Ivorian professionals play it soft each time they’re called upon to play here. But they play with high determination for their clubs,” Soro Diomadé, a school teacher said. 

“I don’t know if they’re afraid of injuries or because our FA doesn’t pay them enough. But, you kind of feel that Drogba and co are cheating the nation and fans.”

When the game ended putting the Blues on top of the Premier League, many Chelsea supporters here didn’t manifest their joy as they used to do.

It's becoming more and more obvious that Drogba needs to seek another occasion to show his Ivorian fans that he’s not a cheat or a bad guy, but still their once beloved hero. 

Hopeful fans will pray that he will do just that during the World Cup in South Africa this year, but only time will tell.