Liverpool vs Chelsea Preview

The Rafa Benitez 'boo-boys' will be in full voice at 4 o'clock today, as the Spanish interim manager returns to his beloved Anfield. The U18 side recently beat Liverpool twice is the space of one week, so let's hope the senior squad have taken a leaf out of their book, and can get the all important three points in this fixture.

Chelsea's last game against Liverpool, came at a time which seems so different from the Chelsea we know at the moment. Roberto Di Matteo was in charge, John Terry was a starter at the back, Frank Lampard was arguably the manager's favorite  and Fernando Torres had his horrendous golden locks. However, a lot has changed since then. Rafa Benitez, Chelsea enemy number one, is now in charge, John Terry's fitness levels aren't up to standards (well, according to Rafa that is, but his two goals mid-week to Fulham could earn him a start today), Lampard seem's to be off this summer, and Fernando Torres has turned into Zorro.

This fixture is very important for both teams involved. A Chelsea win would put us as hot-favorites to secure a top 4 finish, with an important 3-0 victory over west-London rivals Fulham midweek. A Liverpool win would help them get into a Europa League spot, as hope of a top four finish looks to be hanging by a thread.

Stewart Downing has finally found some form since his move from Aston Villa, but will be in contention with Jordan Henderson for a start on the flank, with the centre midfield trio likely to be Steven Gerrard, Phillipe Coutinho and Lucas Leiva. Raheem Sterling is still ruled out through injury. It will be interesting to see whether ex-Chelsea boy, Daniel Sturridge, will start for the reds today after returning from injury last week. Sturridge, as we all know, can play out wide for Liverpool, but will get a bit stroppy if he isn't starting in the number 9 role. Brendan Rodgers says 'Daniel's best position is a central striker', but whether he will start there ahead of Luis Suarez is the question. Brendan Rodgers could, and is open to, playing a narrow 4-3-3 with Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge rotating from the wing to the centre of attack. If he does play the 4-3-3 narrowly, Chelsea will need to keep an eye on fullbacks Glen Johnson and Jose Enrique bombing up the flanks to get behind our defenders. One player Chelsea will need to look out for is January signing, Phillipe Coutinho. Coutinho has been a great singing for Liverpool, and they haven't had many in recent seasons. The Brazilian has scored twice and has made three assists, in a total of eight premier league games so far. It is quite surprising that he hasn't been raved about, well not quite yet. However, Luis Suarez is definitely the name to look out for in this Liverpool side. 22 goals in 32 games speak's for itself really, and he is just an all round pain for any defender facing him. However, Suarez hasn't scored in his past four games - but all can change today.

Chelsea come into this fixture after beating west-London rivals Fulham 3-0 in midweek, with an impressive display all round. Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole and Marko Marin have all returned to training this week, and are fit enough to play against Liverpool. I would expect the attacking midfield trio of Eden Hazard, Juan Mata and Oscar to start this one. Between the three of them, they have provided 39 goals and 57 assists, a deadly combination. The question that Rafa must be thinking about is who to start up front. Rafa likes his rotating policy, and with Fernando Torres playing the full 90 minutes against Fulham, Demba Ba is the favorite to start alone up top. Torres has seemed to be playing a bit better in recent weeks, and a goal at Anfield would do wonders for his confidence, but saying that, starting the Spaniard could go wrong, and he could bottle it like other times he has played against his former team. I would be open, however, to playing both Demba Ba and Fernando Torres up front. When the two were on the field together against Manchester City last weekend in the cup, Chelsea looked a much stronger side going forward.

A win for Chelsea would be massive today, but Liverpool want to win this game just as much, so we are in for a hard-fought fixture all over the pitch. Liverpool like to play quite high up the pitch, which will put pressure on the defensive midfielders, who I am guessing will be John Obi Mikel and Ramires. Suarez will be all over the place too, so I would personally play Mikel paired with David Luiz in midfield, with Ivanovic and Terry the defensive pairing.

Either way, we are in for a nail-biting fixture, let's just hope we don't cock up! Come on the Chels!

My Team of the Season

Well I know this is a little early, and we could still be in for some shocks, but the Premier League season is unfortunately coming to a close, with most having played 33/34 games. The PFA Player of the Season nominations were announced this week, and Robin Van Persie, Luis Suarez, Michael Carrick, Gareth Bale, Juan Mata and Eden Hazard have been nominated for the prestigious award. I think these nominations are pretty fair. They have been the six best in the league this season, but have they been the most important six is another question. Sometimes I think players who have played well for their teams lower down the table should be nominated, such as Grant Holt, Rickie Lambert and Mohammed Diame.
Nevertheless, this is my team of the season.

Goalkeeper: Simon Mignolet
Sunderland's Belgian keeper has surprised a lot of people this season with his fantastic displays between the goal posts. The 25 year old has made 11 clean sheets this season, and with Sunderland not having the best defence in the league, that is impressive. Only Joe Hart and Petr Cech have made more clean sheets this season, respectively. I also find his 11 clean sheets very impressive seeing as no keeper has faced more shots than Mignolet this season, and with his Sunderland side winning only eight games so far this season, it would be hard to see them sitting mid-table without him.

Right Back: Pablo Zabaleta
Pablo Zabaleta is the Premier League's best right back in my opinion, and has proved himself again this season being Manchester City's third most played player, beating competition from Maicon and Micah Richards (when both fit). The Argentine has been the stand out player in City's side this season. I just love the way this guy plays. He is solid at the back, which is surprisingly uncommon for a lot of full-back's nowadays, and where he may not be the fastest of full-backs, he makes up with it with his attacking intelligence and bullet of a shot. He has scored twice this season and assisted twice, as well as picking up an impressive 2292 minutes since August in the league alone.

Centre Back: Jan Vertonghen
Another Belgian in this team is Spurs centre back, Jan Vertonghen. Jan has had a fantastic debut season after signing from Ajax for a fee of £9million, which seems a bit of a bargain looking back on it. I had a look at Jan's defensive stats and they really are impressive. The Belgian has an 81.25% successful tackle rate, as well as winning 61% percent of aerial duels. Jan has also picked up 4 goals this season, which is a good number for a defender, who I think is the best in the league at the moment.

Centre Back: Ryan Shawcross
I believe Ryan is quite underrated as a defender, probably because he plays for Stoke, but people seem to have forgotten to talk about the Englishman since he signed his 5 year contract at Stoke a few months back. Shawcross has arguably managed to keep his team just outside the relegation places this season, with a total of 52 tackles made.

Left Back: Leighton Baines
I don't think anyone can argue that Leighton Baines has been the best left back in the league this season. Baines has been impressive both attacking and defensively. The Englishman has scored an impressive five goals this season and has made 5 assists for his Everton team-mates in their fight for a top four finish. Defensively, Leighton has also been impressive with 72 tackles made. Baines has been very creative this season too, with similar stats to those of the likes of Juan Mata and Santi Cazorla in terms of passing. Baines has made a total of 105 key passes, and thoroughly deserves his place in this side.

Right Midfield: Eden Hazard
Hazard has had a brilliant debut season in England, which has been shown as he has been nominated for a Player of the Season award. 8 goals and 9 assists for a player who has mainly played out wide in the league is impressive, making him provide the third most assists in the league this season. Hazard's playing style has really spiced up Chelsea's play, with his quick bursts of energy and electric pace that leaves defenders chasing him.

Centre Midfield: Juan Mata
Juan Mata is the second Chelsea player on this team of the season, and also the second Chelsea player to be nominated for the Player of the Season award. Mata has racked up 11 assists to his name, the highest in the league, and has completed 85.3% of his attempted passes to his team-mates. As well as his impressive passing stats, Mata has scored 10 goals in the league alone this season, making him Chelsea's top scorer with 18 in all competitions.

Centre Midfield: Micheal Carrick
Micheal Carrick was the shock name on the Player of the Season list to some, but to those who have watched the Englishman closely will be pleased that he has received some recognition. Carrick has arguably been the heart of this Manchester United team who have pretty much won the league now. With an 88.1% pass success rate and an average of 2.4 tackles won per game, Carrick has been an ideal centre midfielder for United this season. It is a shame that Carrick has been quite un-noticed, like pretty much every defensive midfielder in football, but I'm glad he has been nominated.

Left Midfield: Gareth Bale
Pretty obvious choice isn't it? Since the new year, the Welshman has been on fire, racking up interest from the world's best, such as Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Bale has scored 17 this season, and made 3 assists, making him the league's third top scorer. Bale is one of the main reason's why Spurs have been heavily competing for a top four finish, as without him they do not look half the team they have been. Bale makes an average of 2.4 key passes per game, and is in serious contention to winning the player of the season.

Striker: Luis Suarez
What a season this guy has had. It can be argued that he can do a lot better than Liverpool, as personally I think he is one of the best players in the world right now. 22 goals is a brilliant record in 32 games, as well as picking up 4 assists and 8 man of the match awards. Suarez just bullies defenders, and you never know what the Uruguayan will do next. There's not much else to say apart from this guy has just been scoring for fun this season.

Striker: Robin Van Persie
Okay, I know Van Persie has been off-form a bit recently, and went ten games without a goal, but the Dutchman has still scored 21 goals in 30 games for the red devils. Robin has the highest goal and assists combined record at 29, and his goals alone have earned Manchester United 23 points this season, proving he has been their most important player this season - and my choice for the player of the season award.

Other Notable Mentions:
Romelu Lukaku, Santi Cazorla, Micheal Dawson, Michu, Christian Benteke, Marouane Fellaini, Rafael.

Chelsea Top 5 Prospects; Number 2 Romelu Lukaku

Romelu Lukaku joined Chelsea in the summer transfer window of 2011, after impressing at Belgian club Anderlecht. He had been linked to Chelsea for many seasons before he put pen to paper, and he was already being called the next Didier Drogba. Romelu deserved this tag, as he had already racked up 39 goals and 14 assists in the Belgian top division before his 18th birthday, an impressive record. I also read a stat last week that Lukaku is the highest scoring teenager in the Premier League in 14 years, since Micheal Owen in 1994.

Romelu Lukaku signed for Anderlecht at the age of 16 from the Lierse youth team, where he scored a mind blowing 121 goals in 68 games. It came to the point over in Belgium where Lukaku was just scoring for fun, scoring 41 goals in 98 games in his Anderlecht career. This is a very impressive stat for such a young striker, which is why he got attention from big clubs all over Europe.

It wasn't just Lukaku's goal scoring ability that attracted scouts from all the top clubs - it was his stature. Lukaku stands at 6 foot 3, and weighs 14 stone, making him more than physically able to bully defenders who stand in his way. Although he is this big, Lukaku is also shockingly speedy and agile for his house-like build. That is why Chelsea signed the youngster in 2011 for a fee reported around the region of £10million (rising to £17million including add-ons).

Lukaku played his first game for Chelsea when he was subbed on for Fernando Torres in the 83rd minute in a 3-1 win at home to Norwich, a game in which we saw Juan Mata's first goal for the club. Romelu made his first start for Chelsea in a League Cup tie at home to Fulham which saw Chelsea win the game on penalties.
Lukaku spent the majority of the season playing with the reserves. Lukaku was a great prospect, but at the time it was clear that he didn't have the skill just yet to play in the Premier League. Nearly every aspect of the Belgian's game needed work on - some serious training was needed.

Because Romelu has already made appearances for both Anderlecht and Chelsea in the season, Romelu was not allowed by FIFA rules to go out on loan to a third club, which was a big shame for both the club and the player. At the time Chelsea already had Nicholas Anelka, Didier Drogba, Salamon Kalou and Fernando Torres, so it looked increasingly unlikely Romelu would feature heavily in the season ahead. It was a big shame he couldn't go out on loan, as he only racked up about 400 minutes for Chelsea. Although he was playing consistently in the reserve league, he was physically dominant to most of the younger's that he would face.

One thing that baffles me about Andre Vilas Boas's time at Chelsea was that he had Romelu training and sometimes featuring on the wing for Chelsea. I'm no tactical genius, but even I could work-out that a player of Romelu's build and playing style lied in the centre of the attack. Not only was he not having time to develop, he wasn't seeing any perks of training along-side boyhood hero, Didier Drogba.

Lukaku started his first league game for Chelsea in the last game of the domestic season against Blackburn Rovers, where he put in a man of the match performance with an assist for John Terry's opener. However, Lukaku stressed that he was disappointed with his involvement at the end of his debut season, revealing that he refused to touch the Champions League trophy as he didn't feel a winner, as he didn't contribute to the win.

After an impressive pre-season with Chelsea, the club decided that the best thing for Romelu's development was to send him on loan. Romelu joined West Bromwich Albion on August 10th 2012 on a season-long loan. Originally, I didn't think this was the best destination for the promising striker, as I didn't like the idea of the competition against the likes of Shane Long and Peter Odemwingie, as West Brom would favor their existing strikers. However, this proved to be one of the best loan-deals Chelsea had made in a while.

Lukaku has racked up 1432 minutes under ex Chelsea coach Steve Clarke at West Brom this season, as has scored 13 goala and has made 3 assists.Although these stats looks impressive, they don't tell half the story. The threat Lukaku has on the pitch for West Brom is incredible. He got off on the right foot scoring on his debut against Liverpool, and generally bullying defenders with his pace and build.

Lukaku has shown signs this season that he will be one of the world best one day. Lukaku utilises his strength when winning balls in the air, and holds up play very well. He is oozing with confidence at the moment. West Brom are free to play long balls up to the front man with confidence he will deal with them, and continue the play. His dribbling has also improved massively. I remember when I payed a close eye on Lukaku's home debut against Fulham when I was there, and he would get into great positions and win the ball, but dribble into dead areas of the pitch, or hesitate when trying to get the ball past one of the opposing defenders. Now, Romelu is challenging defenders with his first touch has led to more shots on goal for himself, and chances for his team mates.

As of late, Lukaku's immediate future has been a discussion among Chelsea fans. The majority, including myself, would keep him at Stamford Bridge without shadow of a doubt next season. We could have done with him this season, as I'm sure he would have been playing ahead of our 50-million-flop Fernando Torres. In my opinion, this lad has the potential to be the world best striker, and at the age of 19 is already one of the Premier League's best.

Chelsea Top 5 Prospects; Number 3 Nathaniel Chalobah

The number three on my list of top Chelsea prospects is the defensive minded, Nathaniel Chalobah. Chalobah has spent this season on loan at Championship high-flyers Watford, and has played an impressive 2260 minutes under boss Gianfranco Zola.

Nathaniel Chalobah has been among the ranks at Chelsea for quite a long time. Chalobah made his under 18 debut for the Blue at the tender age of 15, and made his first senior bench appearance at the same age in the Carling Cup at home to Newcastle. Since then, the Sierra-Leone-born-Englishman has been a regular in both the the under 18 and reserve teams at Chelsea, playing as either centre back, or centre midfield. Chalobah went away on a six month loan in August 2012 to Championship side, Watford, and has been doing well ever since. It was quite the aggressive loan, sending him to the Championship at the age of 17, but Chalobah has dealt with the pressures and has become a regular in the starting 11 for the hornets. Due to his impressive displays, Chelsea and Watford agreed to extending the loan agreement in January to terminate at the end of the season.

Nathaniel Chalobah has also represented the England national side at a few different age levels. He made his under 16 debut for the three lions at the age of only 13 in 2008, and by 2009 he had already progressed to the under 17 squad, aged 14. He then went on to captain England to the 2010 European Championship victory at under 17 level, aged 15. Chalobah made his under 19 debut in September 2011, and is currently the captain. Nathaniel was called up to the England under 21 squad last November for a match against Northern Ireland, coming on for Jordan Henderson in the centre midfield role in the 76th minute, aged 17.

As I said earlier, Chalobah has been impressing at Watford, and is arguably the best centre midfielder in the entire league. He has made 29 appearances for Watford to date, and has racked up an impressive 2260 minutes on the field. Although being defensively minded, Chalobah has scored an impressive four goals to date, including a lovely struck volley from the edge of the box in a 1-1 draw against Burnley, three days after his 18th birthday.

Chalobah is a composed player who doesn't take any unnecessary risks, and plays the game very safely. It does benefit him that he started his career playing as a centre back, and has taken that composure and discipline into the centre midfield role. Chalobah is very quick in the tackle, and wins a lot of aerial duels, standing at 6 foot 1. Chalobah's work rate is also something to note, as he gives his all for the full 90 minutes, never giving in.

I think if he was at Chelsea right now, he would certainly see some playing time. Earlier on I said Chalobah is arguably the best centre midfielder in the Championship at the moment, but he would easily fit into half the Premier League's midfield's at the moment. Chelsea have been low on numbers in the double pivot role, especially when John Obi Mikel was competing in the African Cup of Nations. Chalobah would fit in brilliantly there. However, taking this into account I still think it was the best option to have sent him on loan to Watford, as he starts pretty much every game.

I'm not entirely sure what I would do with Chalobah regarding next season if it was up to me. I do hope Watford get promoted, so he can stay there for another season, whilst competing in the best league in the world. It would be such a shame if they didn't, and he got loaned to another Premier League club, where he didn't see regular minutes (like Josh McEachran at Swansea).

Although I'm not sure the best option for him next season, I am sure that Nathaniel Chalobah is certainly a name to look out for, for both Chelsea and the England national side.

Chelsea Top 5 Prospects; Number 4 Kevin De Bruyne

Kevin De Bruyne comes in at number 4 on the top 5 Chelsea prospects list having impressed this season as Bundesliga side Werder Bremen, as well as featuring for the promising Belgian national side. 

A fee to buy Belgian Kevin De Bruye was agreed in January 2012, but we sent him back on loan to spend the remainder of the season at his current club, Genk, before joining up with his new team mates in the Summer. 

Kevin made his first team debut for Genk in a 3-0 defeat away to Charleroi in May 2009, aged 18. Kevin made a name for himself in the 2009/10 season and scored his first goal for the club in February 2010 against club rivals, Standard Liege. He scored five goals and made an impressive 16 assists in only 32 league games in this season, a season in which Genk were crowned Belgian champions. Kevin scored a hat-trick for Genk against Club Brugge which ended in a 5-4 win for Genk in October 2011, quickly becoming a fans favourite. By this time, there was very strong speculation that Kevin was being targeted by Chelsea, after playing against them in the Champions League group stage. This move happened on January deadline day 2012, although he was loaned back to Genk for the remainder of the season. The fee was believed to be in the region of £7million.
Although he was technically a Chelsea player, this didn't faze Kevin, as he still performed week in, week out for his father club. De Bruyne scored his first goal after securing his move to Chelsea in mid February against KRC Genk, as well as assisting a goal in a 2-1 victory. De Bruyne wrapped up the season by scoring on his last game for the Belgian side, finishing the season with 8 goals in 28 league , as well as 15 assists.

De Bruyne joined up with his new Chelsea team mates for the pre-season tour of the USA in the Summer of 2012. He was quoted on the Chelsea website saying "To come to a team like Chelsea is a dream but now I have to work hard to achieve the level necessary". On his pre-season debut for the blues, De Bruyne played 45 minutes in a 4-2 win at the Seattle Sounders, as well as playing the first half against PSG at the Yankees Stadium. Kevin impressed in both games, and linked up well with fellow Belgian Romelu Lukaku, but showed he would struggle to secure a starting role at Chelsea, with Eden Hazard and Juan Mata also in his favoured position - attacking midfielder.

There was never much question whether or not Kevin would get playing time after it was announced that he would spend a year's loan at German side, Werder Bremen. Kevin has played pretty much everywhere for Brememn, having featured as a striker, a number ten role, left wing, right wing and centre mid, before finding his favoured role as just behind the striker. Kevin has been very impressive in Germany, having scored six goals and making eight assists in 25 appearances. 

Bremen lost Marko Marin in the Summer to Chelsea, but in return we gave them a better player on loan. De Bruyne has tremendous confidence on the ball for someone his age, and weaves in and out of defenders on a regular basis. His passing is also very good for his age. Kevin is pretty much an all rounder, and his abilities will only get better with the more playing time he gets.

The question is, where would he fit in at Chelsea? The answer, is all around the midfield. De Bruyne can obviously play in the attacking three midfielders, along side Juan and Eden, but having competition with Victor Moses and Oscar. However, with his combination of skills, Kevin could possibly play in the deep-lying double pivot role, with his passing, vision and shooting. I'd easily choose Kevin to play in this role over Ramires. From what I have seen of him, Kevin doesn't hesitate to defend, and takes the responsibility of defending from the front.

All in all, I'm not sure where Kevin will be next season. I would keep him at Chelsea, he may not start every game but he will surely add more depth and class into this Chelsea team. Others would argue another loan move would be beneficial, especially to the Premier League for him to get used to the English style of play, but Kevin can fit into it perfectly at the moment - and the Bundesliga is pretty similar. Without doubt, Kevin is surely one to look out for in the future. 

Chelsea Top 5 Prospects; Number 5 Islam Feruz

17 year old striker Islam Feruz has caught the attention of football fans worldwide, with his spectacular displays in the Chelsea under 21 squad this season, as well as playing his part in Chelsea's success in the Youth FA Cup and becoming the youngest player to represent Scotland at under 21 level at aged only 16.

Islam Feruz was born in Kismayo, Somalia, and spent most of his youth career at Scottish side Celtic. Islam moved to London at the age of 5, before moving to Scottish city, Glasgow.
Islam was scouted by Celtic's youth coach John Simpson aged only 10 where he impressed, and was playing for the Celtic under 14 side at the tender age of 11. 

Disaster struck when Islam was 12, as his family were threatened to be deported back to his place of birth in Somalia, however youth coach Tommy Burns successfully fought their case for them to be kept in Scotland, and gain a British passport. Thankfully!

Islam continued to impress at Celtic, but this gained attention from some of the big clubs in England. It was reported that Feruz had contact with Manchester City before signing for Chelsea in September 2011 - choosing this over a professional contract at Celtic for a fee of £300,000.

Ever since his move, Islam Feruz has impressed massively at Chelsea. Islam scored on his under 18 debut at the Blues away to Portsmouth. By the end of the calender year Islam had netted six times for Chelsea, before being promoted to the reserve squad. Islam finished the season with 12 goals for the youth team and two for the reserves. Islam scored two goals in the first leg of the FA Youth Cup final in 2012, and was also the teams top scorer in the competition with five goals as Chelsea went on to win it.

Feruz decided to play for Scotland although he had no Scottish heritage, as he had been studying in Scotland for five years, and he was the first footballer to play for Scotland under this rule. Feruz was called up to the under 17 Scotland squad aged only 14, and scored on his debut against Cyprus. In April 2012, Islam was part of the Scotland under 21 team for a match against Italy, making him the youngest 'Scot' to feature for them. 

Feruz is a great player on the pitch, and is sure to be world-class in around five years time. The under 21 game seems too easy for him at the moment, and he's scoring for fun with 13 goals in 18 games in the league, and four in the Next-Gen series. 

Islam is a very fast player, who has an eye for goal as well as a pass. Standing at only 5"5, Islam doesn't win many ariel threats, but when the ball is being played on the ground he weaves in and out of defenders with his incredible agility. 

It baffles me why Feruz hasn't even seen bench time for the full squad this season. Fernando Torres is useless to say the least, and Demba Ba can't play every game. Tonight for example against Bucharest would have been a perfect game for Islam to be part of. We had four defenders on the bench, and no substitute striker - there would have been no harm with including Islam on the bench. Even if he didn't feature in the match it would have been great experience for the young lad. 

The best thing to do in my opinion is to send Islam out on loan next season to a Championship side. Watford would be a good destination, as Nathaniel Chalobah has impressed massively working under Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola. Feruz would be no short of competition however, with Vydra and Deeney scoring 34 between them.
Brighton may also be a good choice for Feruz. Brighton play nice fast flowing football, and I think he could get in ahead of Ashley Barnes and maybe even Craig Mackail-Smith.

For now, Islam will just continue to prove he is worthy of a loan move playing for the under21's. I expect him to go on tour with Chelsea in Asia, and we'll see what happens from there. 

Chelsea's Loanees

Rafa Benitez has been quoted in the press prior to the 2-2 away draw at Griffin Park, claiming that Chelsea's squad size is too small, and blamed that for our under-par performances recently.

" In terms of selection it has to be different, we do not want too many players playing too many games, we have played nine games a month, we have two in the Africa Cup of Nations, we do not have too many bodies, and we have to change the approach."

Rafa is correct, our bench is looking far too weak for a team who is supposed to be competing in all competitions, and the players on the field are starting to look very fatigued. The thing is, we currently has 23 players on loan. Yep, you read it correctly, twenty three players. That's enough to make two teams, with one extra player! In total, these 23 players have cost the club £80million, so why doesn't Rafa call any of them back, seeing as our squad is running thin at the moment?

Our loan list is no shy of talent, and top Premier League-quality talent at that, as well as senior international stars such as Michael Essien and Kevin De-Bruyne, as well as up and coming starts such as Nathaniel Chalobah and Josh McEachran.

 At the moment, we are running low on players that can play in the double pivot role, behind the 3 attacking players. We would usually start John Obi Mikel, but he is off competing in the African Cup of Nations, and David Luiz is currently injured. Frank Lampard and Ramires have been starting in those two roles at the moment, but they don't seem to get on with it well - especially Ramires.

This is why if I was Benitez, I'd consider calling back Nathaniel Chalobah from loan. Chalobah is currently playing for Championship side, Watford, who are sitting in an impressive fourth position. Chalobah may only be 18 years of age, but he has surprised most of the football world with his fantastic displays through out the season, including a promising FA Cup display against Premier League champions, Man City.
Chalobah has been at Chelsea for a long time, and has came up through the academy system. He debuted for the U18 side aged 15, and made his first senior bench appearance at the same age. Chalobah has played at every England youth level, captaining the sides even though he is usually a few years younger than his team mates. Chalobah makes strong decisions both on and off the ball, and you won't see him making any crazy David Luiz-style runs up the pitch. Chalobah isn't quite the best defensive midfielder, but he certainly will be one day. I'd call him back, as I'm sure he could see frequent minutes in that midfield of ours.

Many would say that Chalobah would see more vital minutes at Watford, so that is why I would consider recalling Michael Essien instead. It baffles me why we let him leave, especially on loan! Essien is a senior player with a lot of experience, and that has been needed in Chelsea's team whilst captain John Terry has been out injured. Essien would fit into the double-pivot perfectly, and has looked impressive under Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid. He may not be at the same standard he was five years ago with his recurring knee injuries, but Ess is still a top player with a few years left in him.

We've also been having a bit of trouble up front, with Fernando Torres being, well, Fernando Torres. Romelu Lukaku is catching the attention of many football fans and professionals after his great displays for West Brom. Lukaku has already scored 10 times for West Brom, and he bullies defenders on the pitch. This gif of Lukaku out muscling Jamie Carragher never gets old;

Lukaku could easily start for Chelsea at this rate. 'The young Didier Drogba' has a point to prove to his boyhood dream club Chelsea after costing us a hefty £18million. However, Demba Ba has looked impressive in the few games he has played to cover for Fernando, and with Odemwingie handing in a transfer request at West Brom, Lukaku could see a lot more minutes in the second half of the season. 

Lastly, I would consider re-calling Kevin De Bruyne. Kevin has really impressed whilst being on loan at German side Werder Bremen, scoring 5 and assisting 7 in all competitions. Kevin has played as a winger and well as an attacking midfielder, a box to box player, and also a lone-striker role against Bayern Munich. De Bruyne's versatility would be very beneficial to Chelsea right now, and would fit in any of the front four roles. Eden Hazard is banned for two more games, and Lucas Piazon has left to go to Malaga until June. Marko Marin doesn't look like Premier League quality at the moment, whilst De Bruyne would start for nearly any team in the league.

So stop it Rafa, stop complaining! Look to see who's on loan, have a chat with Micheal Emanalo and get some players back for Christ sake! If we recalled Essien/Chalobah, Lukaku and De Bruyne, we would have a very strong team competing for a top four finish.

Why Has It Gone So Wrong This Season?

Before the season started, a total of 7 trophies were available for us to win. The Community Shield, The UEFA Super Cup, The Club World Cup, The Capital One Cup, The FA Cup, The Premier League, and of course, The Champions League. It is now January, and we failed to win the first three available to us, as well as crashing out of the Champions League in the group stage and failing to reach the final in the  Capital One Cup last night. The Premier League race is between the two Manchester clubs now, so we only have the FA Cup available to us. This simply isn't good enough, we're supposed to be the Champions of Europe for Christ sake! And with 60-odd million pounds spent in the Summer, I, and many others, thought we would have done far better than this at this stage of the season. I'm going to suggest a few reasons why I think we have failed to live to our expectations.

The Board
Roman Abramovich should be known as a club legend, the man changed our club, and I am very grateful. People who claim to 'hate' him, are clearly saying this out of anger after a rant about the club, or they are just an Arsenal fan. Either way, Roman changed us for the better as a whole.
However this season, Roman and co decided to sack Roberto Di Matteo in November. The man had such an emotional bond with the players, and sacking him the night we lost 3-0 to Juventus in the Champions League must have done the camp huge damage. It was the wrong time to sack the man that led us to the greatest night in our history, Abramavich, Gourlay and Bruce Buck should have given him a season to decide whether to take him on permanently. It was just a bad run of form in my opinion.

Roberto Di Matteo
I hate to say it, but leading up to Di Matteo's sacking, Chelsea were so, so poor on the pitch. After such a promising start to the season, it all went down hill for the Italian. Failing to win in the league in four games wasn't acceptable, and a poor Champions League run didn't help those matters.
Robby's failure to rotate the squad proved costly, as many player looked fatigued on the pitch after playing two full games week in, week out, and he was very attacking minded, losing concentration on the back four.
I don't agree that Roberto is a 'lucky' manager. He did show glimmers of hope during his short stay at Chelsea. I think we should have given him a longer time to prove this.

Rafa Benitez
So the club legend Roberto Di Matteo gets sacked, and in comes the man we all love to hate. Rafa Benitez. The fat, Spanish waiter himself, famous in West London for his remarks about the Chelsea fans (we haven't forgotten!). I'm not a fan of Benitez, and it would take a lot of persuading for me to become a fan of him. Maybe, a Premier League title, or persuading UEFA to let us back in the Champions League.
I was surprised when he was appointed, and didn't want to leave the media speculation leading up to it. He put Liverpool in a mess before he left, and he didn't do Inter many favours either.
We have failed to reach a stable run of form under Benitez. Our away form has been excellent, and you can't fault the man there, but we need to make the Bridge a fortress again. However, I do not feel Benitez is a very good man manager. He may know the game inside out, but that's only half the job. Look at Mourinho, Ancelotti, Di Matteo even - They were three successful managers at Chelsea, and they all had a great relationship with the team. Rafa however, does not.
I'm all for squad rotation, and the lack of it proves costly. However, resting our best players for a Premier League tie to QPR, and saving them for a cup game is just ridiculous.

The Players
It's easy to blame the manager. We all do it. Well, us Chelsea fans do, seeing as we're so used to it by now. Some would say we signed too many similar players in the Summer, in Hazard, Oscar, Moses and Marin, as well as already having Juan Mata at the club, whilst others would simply say that the squad packed with new players simply need time to gel. We were wrong to let Raul Meireles and Micheal Essien go, as we are terribly weak in the double pivot role, especially now Mikel has gone to the African Cup of Nations. Neither Ramires or Lampard suit the role very well, whilst Meireles and Essien do. If we had one of these players, we could play Ramires further up the field, where he did so well for us last season.

Defensive Tactics
Coming into this season, Chelsea favored the exciting attacking formation of 4-2-3-1, with 3 attacking midfield players supporting the lone striker.
The defence has been slacking. I've realised that when the opponents attack, the two full backs would squeeze in with the centre backs, almost making four centre backs, with the two in the pivot role chasing the ball down. Nowdays, all I see is the two centre backs defending, with the full backs staying close to the winger.
This is a drastic change in our defensive set up, and I think it has come at the wrong time, especially as we are currently playing without the powerhouse Mikel in the double pivot to help support the centre backs.
Our successive years under Mourinho were built on a solid defensive set up, and I'm sure all Chelsea fans would love to relive those days. Granted, John Terry has been out for the majority of the season, but Cahill and Ivanovic should be able to do the job.

Attacking Tactics
It's a well known fact among Chelsea followers that Roman Abramovich wants easy-on-the-eye, fast flowing attacking football, like Barcelona's famous tikka takka style of play. The lone striker for most of the season hasn't been getting the ball enough, and lacks support in front of him. Well, for most of the season that striker has been Torres - so we can't get a proper insight into this. We also fail to adapt to change formation. When we are on the back foot, the formation is all over the place, and sometimes we fail to get back into this formation, for example the Arsenal game at the weekend.

Torres
I don't like to single out any player, but I honestly believe a lot of this is due to our number 9. Fernando Torres. He just doesn't suit the team at all, and he's not a very good player anymore either! He isn't direct enough to suit the style of the three men behind him, and I think if we had Demba Ba for example playing there since the start of the season, we would have had a lot more success in this campaign. I'd love for Torres to find form and become a great player again, but I've lost hope.

In conclusion, this just simply hasn't been our year. With only the FA Cup left to fight for, a top 4 finish will look about it for us this season. Hopefully this is just the start of a second Chelsea revolution with the young squad needing time to gel, and a huge boost for them would be to win the legendary FA Cup.

Hazard 'kicks' ball boy? Jog on..

So my Twitter feed, Facebook timeline, my phone and every sports news website just exploded with the news that Eden Hazard has 'kicked' a Swansea ball boy after pushing him to the ground. It's amazing how one thing can be blown out of proportion so quickly, and that the fact of the matter can be exaggerated so badly by many of the leading UK newspapers.

80 minutes in, and Chelsea are frustratingly still 2-0 down on aggregate with no signs of getting a goal. A few players are getting frustrated, keep trying to break down the strong Swansea defence... and failing. The ball goes off for a Swansea goal kick, and the ball rolls towards a Swansea ball boy, who looks about 16/17. After theatrically falling on top of the football, the ball boy now fails to stand up, resulting in time wasting. Eden Hazard is eagerly trying to get the ball, but the ball boy shifts his body to stop Hazard from reaching the ball, which is under his body. Hazard pokes his foot underneath the ball boy to try and kick the ball out from underneath him. The Swansea fans go wild as the Welsh ball boy rolls over with some very poor acting. It's clear to say he didn't do drama at school. Hazard picks the ball up and runs to pass it to the Swansea keeper, Tremmel.

At this point the ball boy was proper milking it. Proper milking it. He's rolling on the floor, trying to tear-up his eyes. He's acting as so Cantona fly kicked him in the chest, remember that United fans? Forgotten about that one tonight haven't you! The boy was clearly time wasting, which frustrated me. He then acted like Hazard kicked his ribs, which frustrated me even more. The guy's 16/17 for god sake! Man up! Oh, and Hazard got sent off.

This is the thing that intrigued me though..

This is a tweet from the ball boy's Twitter account, 3 hours before kick off. He's admitting that he is planning to time waste. I think Swansea should ban this lad from being a ball boy in the future. It's ridiculous how the media have blown this up to look like some aggressive attack by Hazard, which it really wasn't.

I think it's fair to say that this Charlie Morgan is an idiot (I've decided not to swear on this blog). I think a lot of people on Twitter are exaggerating dearly, mainly because they are fans of rival clubs. I feel sorry for Hazard, he's going to get a bad reputation for this.

Football wise, we drew 0-0. I'm disappointed we didn't make it through, but credit to Swansea, and to Bradford. It's always nice to see an underdog in the final, let alone two. Let's go win the FA Cup!

Swansea vs Chelsea 2nd Leg Preview

Dreams came true last night at Villa Park for Bradford City as they beat the odds to become the first fourth division side to reach the final of the League Cup since Rochdale made it in 1962. I'm sure Phil Parkinson and his Bradford players will be watching tonight's game eagerly to see who they will face at the new Wembley come the 24th of February.

Chelsea come into this game on the wrong side of a 2-0 scoreline, after a disappointing result at Stamford Bridge a fortnight ago. I think we played well in that game, and created a lot of chances, it's just a shame that we couldn't convert those chances *cough*Torres*cough*. The Liberty is a hard place to go to, but statistics show that we are in better form away from the Bridge - and I'm sure the travelling Chelsea fans will create an atmosphere on this cold January night.

Although Swansea have a two goal advantage going into this second leg, manager Michael Laudrup still insists that his team are not favorites to progress, and knows what a strong Chelsea side can do once they are put under pressure. The Swans come into this game in fine form and currently sit a comfortable 9th in the Premier League table after their impressive 3-1 victory over Stoke.
Chelsea also go into this on a high after a 2-1 win against London rivals Arsenal (wooo!) on Sunday, and look to continue their (first half) form to make it 7 straight wins away from home.

Team News
Swansea
The Swans welcome back defender Chico Flores into this game after missing out on their win against Stoke, but whether he will start the game has not yet been announced. Michu has today signed a new contract lasting until 2016, so that should give the Welsh team a huge boost going into this tie.
Probable Starting 11Tremmel; Rangel, Chico, Williams, Davis; Britton, Ki, De Guzman; Hernandez, Michu, Routledge

Chelsea
Chelsea are still likely to be without David Luiz, but reports today are suggesting that John Terry will get his first start in over two months after being out with injury. Ashley Cole put pen to paper on a new one year deal yesterday which should boost the team. Victor Moses and John Obi Mikel are still on international duty at the African Cup of Nations, whilst Marko Marin is still, Marko Marin.
Probable Starting 11Cech; Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole; Lampard Ramires; Oscar, Mata, Hazard; Ba

Prediction
I think we can win this game, but whether it will be enough to progress into the final I don't know. I can see us winning 2-0 in the original 90 minutes, but what happens from there no-one know, as many factors go into an extra 30 minutes on the pitch.
I'm predicting a 2-0 win in usual time, and then a victory on penalties. Yes, Chelsea on penalties. We've seen it before though haven't we?
COME ON CHELS!

Who I'd buy this January

Well we are 15 days into the mid season transfer window, and we have signed one player, Demba Ba - which I am very happy about! Unfortunately for some, we had to let Daniel Sturridge leave to Liverpool too, and it looks like Lucas Piazon is off to Malaga on a six month loan. I'm hearing rumours of buying players everyday, as well as selling some of our beloved stars. How many of these actually have any truth behind them I don't know, but they're fun to read right!? Based on the rumours and speculation I have heard, I'm going to talk about some of the players we have been linked with in this window.

Marouanne Fellaini
If you haven't read my article on the possible signing of Fellaini, please check the link below this paragraph, however a lot has changed since I wrote it. L'Equipe on the 9th of January claimed that the Everton star would sign for Chelsea 'this week'. Now I don't know what's happening behind closed doors, but I doubt we'll hear the Belgian has signed tomorrow.
However, Fellaini would be a great addition to the current squad. Fellaini could can play in most positions across the midfield and attack, which would be great for us especially with holes to fill as Mikel and Moses are competing in the African Cup of Nations. Fellaini would also add some strength to our physically soft team, as well as additional threat from set pieces with his six foot four build.

Reality - 7/10

Excitability 9/10
David Villa
David Villa is a rumor that has popped up several times over the last four seasons or so. After 8 months out with a broken tibia, it seems as so David Villa is passed his best at the age of 31. However, his best was fantastic, so he is still a very good player, and would play an important if he came to Chelsea. Villa can either play down the wing or as a striker, although I'm sure he could probably fit in just tucked behind the striker too. David has scored 10 goals in his 22 appearances for Barca this season. Villa impressed at both Valencia and Barcelona, scoring a total of 276 goals in his career in 557 games, being used mainly as a wide man.
Reality - 4/10
Excitability 7/10

Radamel Falcao
Falcao. I must hear a rumor about this man three to four times everyday. However, it doesn't stop being exciting! Falcao has been linked with a move to Chelsea for a couple of seasons, and has also been linked to Man City, Real Madrid and PSG. The Colombian featured in the FIFA Team of the Year, and thoroughly deserved his place. Falcao has lifted Athletico Madrid into second place in the La Liga, with his brilliant record of 21 goals in 19 games for the Spanish side this season. Falcao is in my eyes, without a doubt the best traditional striker in football at the moment, which means teams will have a hefty price tag to pay if they want to sign him. In Spain, every player will have a release clause, and Falcao's is 55million Euro's, which is a lot to ask for. However, it is more likely we will sign a player with such a hefty fee in the summer.
Reality - 6/10
Excitability 11/10

Theo Wallott
This rumor has died down a lot, but I think it is still worth a mention. I am a big fan of Theo, and have been since he joined Arsenal from Southampton in 2006. He has recently proved he can play on both the wing and down the center in the striker role, having been reportedly tutored by legend Thiery Henry whilst he trains at the Shenley training center. Theo has great pace, and has the ability to finish having scored 14 goals this season, as well as making 10 assists. Despite his good record this season, a few Arsenal fans that I know have been quite negative of Theo, arguing that he is lazy and that he doesn't get involved as much. However recent form has changed this, and if he keeps playing the way he is, he would be a great addition to any team in England.
Reality - 4/10
Excitability 7/10

IscoI haven't seen much of Isco, but I have heard a lot. Last week a lot of rumours broke out from numerous sources such as The Mirror, The Daily Mail and The Metro claiming that we had agreed to sign the Spanish international. Unless it's been done behind closed doors (which I doubt), nothing has happened. New rumours of a summer move however have been mentioned however. Isco is a 20 year old attacking midfielder who currently plays for Malaga (Lucas Piazon looks set for a loan move there, if you catch my drift!). Isco has been described as the best Spanish player of his generation. Stat-wise, Isco has looked average in the La Liga this season, but his performances argue with this. He has been impressive in the Champions League with 2 goals and 2 assists, but with Oscar who is a similar age who plays in the same position, I'm not sure I can see this one happening
Reality - 6/10
Excitability 6/10

In conclusion, it is likely that we will add one more addition to the squad in this window, especially with the latest rumours that Marko Marin is off on loan. Although our team is quite impressive at the moment, a bit more depth would be nice, and depth with the talent to change a game. We need to compete in all the remaining competitions we are in, and a push for 2nd place doesn't look impossible. So go on Roman, open your wallet!....again.

Stoke 0-4 Chelsea: Reaction

For the second time in two weeks, Chelsea traveled away after a disappointing mid-week loss. Chelsea traveled to the Britannia for the Saturday 3 o'clock kick off, which saw us win an impressive 4-0 against an under performing Stoke side. Jonathon Walters scored 2 game changing own goals, whilst Frank Lampard scored his 194th for the club, and Eden Hazard scored a beautiful long range screamer. Chelsea have looked impressive on their travels this season, winning our last 6 games away from Stamford Bridge on the trot. 

Petr Cech was back in the side for this one, having recovered from his injury a week earlier than expected. Gary Cahill's partner was in labor, which saw him becoming the proud father of a baby boy, which saw David Luiz start along side Branislav Ivanovic at center back, as John Terry wasn't fit enough to start. Ashely Cole and Azpilicueta took the two full back duties. Ramires and Frank Lampard covered the two pivot roles, with Bertrand playing in a attacking midfield alongside Juan Mata and Eden Hazard. Demba Ba started up front (thankfully!). Away to Stoke was always going to be a tough game, especially with our absentees, but this starting 11 still looked the better team on paper.

A slow start saw Stoke have the greater share of possession, which made it hard for Chelsea to get into promising attacking positions. Stoke managed to push Chelsea back, but didn't look extremely dangerous going forward. An early Kenwyne Jones strike split our defence, but luckily it was just wide of the far post, with Cesar Azpilicueta putting a lot of pressure on the Trinidadian striker. If he had managed to find the net, we would have had a very tough game on our hand.

Chelsea got into the game after this, with a lovely piece of play resulted in a one on one chance for Frank Lampard, which resulted in Begovic pulling out a great save. I quite liked the one-touch football in this move, so it is a shame that we didn't take the most of the chance.

After a slow first half, the first goal came just before the half time break, with Jonathon Walters scoring his first own goal of the game. Hazard picked the ball up at the edge of the box, who played the ball through to Cesar Azpilicueta who was attacking on his right hand side. Cesar whipped the ball in towards Demba Ba, who couldn't quite reach the ball as it flew past his head. The ball looked to fall to Juan Mata, but Jonathon Walters jumped in the way to try and prevent the ball getting to Spaniard, which resulted in him headering the ball past his own keeper.

The ref pointed to the spot as Cesar Azpilicuta brought down Matthew Etherington in the box, and without many complaints Stoke had a penalty. However, linesman (or lineswoman!) Sian Massey had already called the run off-side, which to the relief of Cesar and the rest of the Chelsea players and fans saw a free kick awarded our way.

Juan Mata whipped in a precise corner in the 62nd minute, which looked to be flying towards the head of Frank Lampard. Demba Ba cleverly blocked the run of Ryan Shawcross which saw Jonathon Walters again heading the ball into his own net as he tried to defend the ball from Frank. It's a shame of Walters behalf, as both own goals were a result of him trying to defend, but even if he hadn't of got a touch of the ball, I think Frank would have converted the chance.

64 minutes in saw a lovely ball played by Lampard, over the head of ex Chelsea player Robert Huth to find Juan Mata pacing into the Stoke City box. With Huth pushing the Spaniard from behind, Mata continued to stay up until Ryan Shawcross cut across the box and slide in an attempt to win the ball, which saw Mata fall to the ground awarding Chelsea with a penalty, and a chance for Jonathon Walters to get his hat-trick. Joking aside, Frank Lampard converted from the spot to see his goal tally for the season reach 8. 

Frank Lampard should have made it 4 as Demba Ba's shot got blocked by Huth, which saw the ball fall to Eden Hazard. Mata played the ball into the head of Demba Ba (I love the way we can play high balls into the box now Ba is in there), who played the ball down to Frank, who's first time volley saw Begovic deny the Englishman yet again.

73 minutes in saw Eden Hazard make it 4, scoring his 7th in a Chelsea shirt. There's not much to say about this goal, other than Hazard struck it beautifully from 35 yards which saw it fly passed Begovic and into the top corner. Hazard had a brilliant game, and topped it off after scoring this.

John Terry was finally welcomed back into the side after his injury against Liverpool, which saw him give away a penalty with ten minutes of the game left to be played. It was the correct decision by the ref as Terry accidently tripped him from behind. This was Walters' chance to redeem himself after the disastrous two own goals. Walters was eager to hit the net, and gave it his all with a powerful shot only to see it hit the cross bar. What a bad day for him, oh well! We don't care!

In conclusion I am very happy with this win. Stoke is a hard place to go to, but we broke their un-beaten run at home, and by four goals. Demba Ba completely changed the way we play in a positive way, with more runs being made on the wing as we can confidently cross the ball into the box where he is. 4-0 was a bit generous, as by the scoreline it seems like it was a completely one sided game, which it wasn't as we both had the same amount of attempts on goal, and the possession split 56-44 in our favor. 

With Tottenham's draw away to QPR, Chelsea climb back into 3rd position and in an automatic qualification place for the Champions League. A 4-0 away win is a nice way to respond from a disappointing mid-week loss to Swansea. Bring on Arsenal!!

Ronaldo v Messi

This article is going to be a bit different for me, and one that I will not be doing regularly for the time being. This article has no relevance to Chelsea, but it is a well debated issue that football fans from across the globe all have a say in.

Chelsea 0-2 Swansea: Reaction

I do not know how we lost this game. We absolutely dominated this game, especially in the first half, but little silly mistakes across the field cost us this one. Not to mention the two terrible mistakes that Branislav Ivanovic made leading to both Swansea goals, and the poor managerial decisions made my interim manager Rafa Benitez.

This is the first time that Swansea won at Chelsea for 87 years, and they certainly did not deserve it. Chelsea set out a strong line-up, with Fernando Torres up front over Demba Ba. To begin with I did not know what was going through Rafa's mind, dropping Ba who scored two against Southampton on his debut. But after thinking about it, saving Demba Ba's energy levels for the away game to Stoke this weekend could be used as an excuse from the Spaniard.

Chelsea started the game brightly, and dominated for the first half an hour. We played beautiful fast flowing attacking football that I'm sure impressed owner Roman Abramovich. We dominated possesion, and always looked like we were about to score the opener. At this point I genuinely believed we would go on to win 3, maybe 4-nil. All of our attempts failed to hit the net, with some poor execution from the likes of Juan Mata and David Luiz. A lovely bit of play came in the 11th minute of the game, when Oscar and Eden Hazard combined together to break apart the Swansea defence to provide Ramires with an exciting chance on goal, but the Brazilian's final shot lacked power and placement and was comfortably saved by Swansea keeper, Tremmel. Another great chance came in the 26th minute, as Eden Hazard attacked the Swansea defence before squaring a pass to the open Juan Mata, who's shot lacked a lot of power and placement, which is unusual for Juan.

The 39th minute was when the pain began. Ross Turnbull passed the ball out to centre-back Branislav Ivanovic. A poor first touch saw the ball pounced on by De Guzman, who managed to shrug off the Serbian and get the ball to the last person Branislav would want the ball to fall to. Michu. The Spaniard hit the ball from outside of the box into the near post, gliding past Ross Turnbull to the Chelsea fan's shock, taking his season's total to 16 goals.

The second half started in the same manner, with Chelsea dominating possesion but failing to convert any chances. Swansea keeper Tremmel kept Swansea in the game again, as a well struck David Luiz free kick broke through the Swansea wall, resulting in a brilliant save by the German keeper. Swansea tried their hardest to stop Chelsea from scoring an equaliser, but it always looked like we would. Much to the home fan's approval, Frank Lampard replaced Ramires 20 minutes before the end, resulting in a huge cheer from the Chelsea faithful. Chelsea were still lacking the final finish, with Chelsea fans singing "We want Demba Ba". Ba finally replaced Fernando Torres 10 minutes before the end. Ba quickly made his presence known, looking like he would score with two attempts immediately. Ba (and nearly every Chelsea fan) thought he deserved a penalty as the Swansea keeper brought him down in the box, only to be wrongly booked for diving. Ridiculous decision ref, I hope that yellow card gets over-turned. I know football involves human error from officials, but it's costing us the game, and possibly even the Capital One Cup.

All hopes of Chelsea equalising with the Welsh team were banished as Ivanovic's poor back pass to Ross Turnbull allowed substitute Danny Graham to intercept, take it round the keeper and extend their lead to two. I jumped out of my seat again a minute after, thinking we had snatched a goal back as Ba scored, only to be called offside. The decision is an arguable one, but to be fair he was offside. Just.

This game angered me. A lot. I think if Demba Ba had started the game, or even came on 10 minutes earlier than what he did, we would have ended up winning this game, or at least going to Wales for the second leg with a draw. We were a lot better as soon as Ba came onto the pitch. We had a target in the box for crosses, who also made runs into the box regularly. There should be no question who our first choice striker should be. This looks the end for Torres. We stood by Torres all this time, but booing him as he came off shows that we have just given up. He's never going to return to the player he was. Ending the game with 64% possesion (71.8% in the second half) and 20 shots should have seen us win this game comfortably. I can forgive Ivanovic, as he usually puts in 110% every week, and rarely makes a mistake, but this is definitely something to work on, especially now he is playing in the center of defence. We played well, and definitely deserved to win the game, but football can be a funny (and stressful!) game.

These are my player ratings. I can go into detail on every one of them, but instead I have opted to rate them out of 10, with 1 being the worst and 10 the best.
Turnbull 4, Azpilicueta 6, Ivanovic 3, Cahill 6, Cole 5, Luiz 6, Ramires 7, Mata 6, Hazard 7, Oscar 7, Torres 2. Subs - Lampard 5, Ba 7, Marin 5.

Romelu Lukaku to stay at West Brom

West Brom today released a statement, confirming that on loan center forward Romelu Lukaku will be remaining at the Hawthorns for the rest of the current season, despite suggestion that he could be returning to Chelsea during this transfer window. The full statement is here.

"West Bromwich Albion are pleased to confirm that Romelu Lukaku will remain at The Hawthorns for the rest of the season.

The 19-year-old striker joined the Baggies on a season-long loan from Chelsea in August and has enjoyed a productive first five months, with his seven goals making him the club’s current top Barclays Premier League scorer.

As is often the case with season-long loans, parent club Chelsea inserted a January recall option in the deal. This option expired on Monday, which means Lukaku will complete the campaign with the Baggies."

Romelu has started his last two games for West Brom, but is usually brought on as a super sub once the opposition's defence is tired. Romelu exploits this with his pace and incredible strength. The Belgian powerhouse has made 19 Premier League appearances for the Baggies this season, 12 of those being sub appearances totaling in 849 minutes. Romelu has scored 7 goals and made the single assist with a goal on average every 121 minutes. Of the players with 20+ shots this season in the entire league, Romelu has the best accuracy rate hitting the target 53.7% of the time.

This is pretty impressive, seeing as Romelu is only 19 years of age. Romelu spent most of last season in the Chelsea reserves team, which upset a lot of Chelsea fans as we knew of his potential after signing for £18million from Anderlect. This upset Romelu as well. A life-long Chelsea fan, Romelu only made 12 appearances for Chelsea last season, as Andre Vilas-Boas wasn't a fan. Romelu featured more often towards the end of the season under Roberto Di Matteo, who clearly saw to potential in the young striker.On the last game of the Premier League season, Romelu started in a 2-1 victory at home to Blackburn Rovers, where he assisted John Terry's opener. Lukaku was so desperate to play, and it upset him that he didn't play a part in our Champions League victory. Therefore, Lukaku later revealed that he did not even touch the Champions League trophy, stating that his team mates deserve it and not him.

It is to no surprise that Romelu is impressing so much at West Brom. Lukaku became the Belgian Premier League's top scorer in his debut season, aged only 16, and in total scored 41 goals for Anderlecht in 98 appearances.

I remember before we signed Romelu, I watched a video of his trip to Stamford Bridge when he was aged 16 on YouTube. He was caught on camera staring at the pitch after his friends had carried on with their tour saying, "What a stadium. If one day in my life I'll cry, it will be the day I play here. I love Chelsea".

I really want Romelu to be successful at Chelsea. Many call him the New-Drogba due to his size and shot power. I honestly believe that Romelu Lukaku will one day be one of the best strikers in world football.

Chelsea to sign Marouane Fellaini 'This Week'

According to French newspaper L'Equipe, Chelsea are on the verge of signing Belgium international Marouane Fellaini sometime this week. News broke out a few days ago that the 25 year old has a buy out clause in his current contract at Everton, worth £22million, and I am pretty sure Chelsea can lure him in with an improved wage. I really hope that this deal happens. I am a big fan of Fellaini, and have been for a few years now.

Fellaini can play in a number of roles across the pitch. He can add to our midfield in either one of the three attacking midfield roles, or in the double pivot. Just because the two double pivot's look like defensive midfielders on paper, they aren't. Well, one certainly isn't anyway. Fellaini could also be used as an emergency striker if we needed him to be. Fellaini will add more threat to our center peices, standing at six foot four, and I'm sure his massive hair adds to that height! Chelsea have been interested in the Everton start before, so I'm sure that Roman and co are more than aware of his current buy out clause.

Fellaini had a wonderful opening game to his Premier League season at home to Manchester United, where he managed to score the only goal in a 1-0 win. Fellaini was brilliant in this game, and I'm sure most football fans who watched the game will remember his performance. According to some (un-reliable) sources, Manchester United are also interested in signing the Belgian. Manchester United are currently sitting top of the Premier League, and are in the last 16 in Europe, so if both clubs go for Marouane, I think United would seal his signature.

This would be a great signing, and it excites me. But whether there is any truth in the rumor is the question. L'Equipe have been correct with Chelsea before with the Eden Hazard signing and Salamon Kalou going to Lille but who knows? We can hope I guess!

Chelsea vs Swansea Preview

Chelsea go into this Capital One Cup semi-final first leg looking to win their third league cup in the space of nine years, whilst this is the first time in the clubs history that Swansea City have reached past the fourth round of the competition.

With Rafa Benitez being known for his squad rotations, a home tie against Swansea in the cup probably won't see Rafa send out his strongest 11. I would send this team out.  

Turnbull is an obvious starter, with Petr Cech expecting to be out for another two weeks after his thigh injury at Goodison Park.
I'm expecting a solid back four of Cesar Azpilicueta, Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill and Ryan Bertrand. With JT expected to be back in the side for this weekend's game away to Stoke, I think this will be a chance for Gary Cahill to show he is still worthy of a starting place after the skipper returns to the side. I think Ryan Bertrand will start this game, giving Ash a well earned rest. Ryan is a promising young left back who had broken into the England squad three times, so it's sure he can do the job.
Luiz and Lampard are the two that I have picked for the double pivot roles, with Oriol Romeu being out injured for the season, and Jon Obi Mikel at international duty. Our only other option in this position is Ramires, and we can't afford him to slip out of position against a decent Swansea side. Oscar has also made a few appearances in this position, but I don't think he is of the physical build to suit it.
My 3 attacking midfielders I chose were Marko Marin, Juan Mata and Oscar. Marin had a shocking performance against QPR, but at least he looked like one of the only players who was willing to try and beat a man. With Moses at the AFCON now, this is Marko's chance to prove he was worth his £7million price tag. Juan Mata is a must in this game, simply because he is the best midfielder in England. He has shown no signs of looking fatigued over the busy Christmas schedule so I'm sure he'll do fine. Oscar makes up my third attacking midfielder, as I think his passing ability and trickery can fool the Swansea defence. He also hasn't been playing an awful lot recently, which is a shame because I really like him, and think he contributes to the team very well.
Lastly, I've opted for Demba Ba over Fernando up top, simply because he scored two the other day. How can you drop him after that!?

I think we'll comfortably win this game 1-0. The most important part is stopping Swansea from getting any away goals, and a loss would be dreadful with the second leg in Wales. Danny Graham is my man to watch. The typical English poacher has scored six goals this season, including one against Arsenal last weekend.

Chelsea Close In on Taison

Sky Sports News are reporting as of this morning, that Chelsea have agreed a deal to sign Metalist Kharkiv midfielder Taison, but the report also state that they face competition from another unnamed Premier League club.

The Brazilian was quoted saying that he has visited Stamford Bridge in the past month, and had words with Roman Abramovich over a possible switch to west London. Ever since the rumours first landed a month or so ago, I decided to look into this player, as to be honest I hadn't heard of him before.

The 24-year old Brazilian can play all across the attacking third, and has proved this by playing in the attacking midfielder role, a winger and also the center forward role. He currently played for Metalist Kharkiv, who are currently fourth in the Ukraine Premier League. He began his career at Brazilian side Internacional, the same club as fellow country man and Chelsea number 11, Oscar, and has said he is keen to play alongside him again. Taison's current contract in Ukraine runs until 2015, and is currently rated at around 10-15 million pounds. So far this season, Taison has played 20 games and has scored four times, and providing six assists. In the Europa League this season, Taison has played five times, scoring once and assisting his team mates twice, meaning if he was to join Chelsea he would be cup-tied for this competition. Last season, Taison lived up to his full potential, scoring seven goals in 36 games, also providing 11 assists.

Taison stands at only 5 foot 8, and he isn't largely built at all. Taison's style of play is to attack defenders in one on one situations, and use his Brazilian skill to get past them. Taison likes to have the occasional long shot, as well as going one on one with the opposing keeper. Taison is fast, which makes up for his lack of strength.

Taison would be a great addition to the squad, but the question is asked whether we actually need him? We currently have Eden Hazard, Oscar, Juan Mata, Marko Marin, Victor Moses and Lucas Piazon filling up Taison's favored role. However, speculation that Marko Marin and Lucas Piazon could be going out on loan this month as well as Victor Moses competing in the African Cup of Nations could see Taison brought in, especially as he can play in the striker role.

Personally, I'm not too excited over the possible transfer, but he would be a good addition to the squad. However, whether he will be able to compete at a top level in the Premier League is another story, having not made an appearance for national squad Brazil, and only proving himself in the Brazilian and Ukraine League.

I've attached a video if you are interested.

Southend or Brentford Away in the Cup

The fourth round draw for the FA Cup has now taken place, and we now know that we will be facing either Southend or Brentford away, with the game to be played over the weekend of the 27th and 28th of January.

The two teams finished their original game 2-2 at Southend, and will have a replay at Brentford's Griffin Park in the coming week or two. Fellow west Londoners Brentford currently sit in 4th place in League One, with Southend sitting in a comfortable 6th place in League Two.

Chelsea have an away league tie to Reading on Tuesday the 29th of January, so I assume our match will be played on the Saturday, allowing us a two day break before the Reading clash. We also have a second leg game in the Capital One Cup against Swansea on the 23rd of January.

Both Jon Obi Mikel and Victor Moses will be away with their national team, Nigeria, for this tie, but I would assume that Rafa will play some squad players in this, and rest a few big name starters.

Southampton 1-5 Chelsea: Reaction

Chelsea re-found their winning ability after a poor 1-0 loss to west London rivals QPR in midweek, with a 5-1 thump away to Premier League strugglers Southampton. The big talking point in this game was new signing Demba Ba's fantastic debut, as well as Frank Lampard scoring his 193rd goal for the club, meeting Kerry Dixon's record, and sitting in 2nd place of our all time top scorers list.

As per usual, Rafa Benitez set the Blues out in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Brazilians David Luiz and Ramires being chosen to occupy the two double-pivot roles. I have no idea why the supposedly fit Mikel didn't start, especially as this was his last chance to play for us before being jetted away to Portugal to start Nigeria's training before the African Cup of Nations. Hazard, Mata and Moses were chosen to play in the front three behind new striker Demba Ba. I am still baffled about Rafa's choice of squad rotation over the last week, but let's not get into that now.

Although we ended the game 4 goals ahead, the first 30 minutes or so looked like it would be more of the same regarding our midweek loss. David Luiz and Ramires were poor in the double pivot, frequently losing the ball to Southampton's midfield, leaving the front 4 with nothing to work with. Due to this, a Southampton counter attack down the right side of the field ended up in a goal for the Saints, with James Puncheon playing in Jay Rodriguez, with his first touch taking him past Gary Cahill before calmly caressing the ball into the bottom left hand corner, past second choice keeper Ross Turnbull.

Despite being a goal behind, Chelsea still didn't look the team we expected them two, with passes being intercepted and attacking runs not being found. Hazard came close with a finessed shot at the edge of the area, which resulted in a fantastic save by Saints keeper Artur Boruc.

35 minutes in, and Chelsea managed to equalise, with a goal by debutant striker, Demba Ba. A lovely attack started down the left hand side, when Victor Moses played in Eden Hazard attacking down the wing. Come the edge of the box, Hazard played in Juan Mata, who cut in past two Southampton defenders before cheekily lobbing the ball over Boruc. The ball was in danger of being cleared before it reached the net, so quick thinker Demba Ba jumped at the opportunity to score his first Chelsea goal, equalising the game at 1-1.

After the equaliser, we looked a complete different team, with our midfield seeming a lot more confident, and our class was simply too much for Southampton's, and it wasn't to anyone's surprise that we took the lead just before the break. Mata picked up the ball at the edge of the box and played it to Victor Moses. A lovely 'Ronaldo chop' pass to Ashley Cole who saw his shot bounce off the Southampton defender and fall to Moses, who sweetly shot a left foot strike through the Saint's defence and into the bottom right hand corner of the goal.

The third Chelsea goal came in the 52nd minute, as rock solid Branislav Ivanovic jumped high to reach Mata's accurate free kick, after he had skilfully cut in down the left hand side. By now Chelsea had sealed the game, with Southampton showing no signs of getting back into it.

Chelsea made it 4 on the hour mark, as Mata picked up the ball on the half way line. David Luiz entered the attacking half as he loves to do, and attempted to play a long ball to Ba which got intercepted. Ba won the ball back using his brute force, and shielded the ball long enough for Moses to catch up, who received the pass. Moses quickly played the ball central to Ramires, who opted to go back out wide, this time to the right hand side where Eden Hazard played a beautiful through ball to the edge of the six yard box which saw Demba Ba score his second with a typical poachers finish.

Southampton did come close on the 70 minute mark, but a pair of great saves by Ross Turnbull prevented the ball from landing in his net for the second time. Ba could have made it three, two minutes later. A beautifully weighted pass by Ramires played Moses in on the right hand side. Moses saw Ba lose his defender in the area, and played a lightly weighted cross to the Senegalese striker, who headed it down, only to be saved by Boruc's feet.

Lampard won a penalty in the 81st minute, when the ref wrongly accused a Southampton player of a handball, when it actually hit his chest. Frank immediately picked up the ball, despite Demba Ba being one goal shy of a hat-trick, as Frank wanted to become the 2nd highest scorer in the history of the club. Lampard scored his 193rd goal, as his penalty was smashed into the bottom left hand corner, and you could really see his passion towards the Chelsea fans through his celebration.

So we made it into the 4th round draw which takes place at 3:30 on ITV1. Personally I'd like to see an away draw to Brighton, who beat Newcastle by 2 goals to 0, simply because I'd go to the match! But a good draw to see would be QPR, so we can get our own back on them after the shocking loss on Wednesday night.

Demba Ba

Demba Ba signed from Newcastle to Chelsea on the 4th of January, for an undisclosed fee. Well, they say it is an undisclosed fee, but Ba had a release-clause in his Newcastle United contract of £7million, but we can assume that there were some agent fee's involved too.

Demba Ba started his professional career at the French club Rouen, who were currently in the second division of French football. The Senegalese striker scored 22 goals in 26 appearances, despite only being 20 years old.
The following season, Ba played in Belgium for R.E. Mouscron. Despite Ba scoring in his first three appearances, Ba suffered injuries to his tibia and fibula, ruling him out for the rest of the season.
In 2007, Ba joined German team 1899 Hoffenheim, who were in the second division of German football at the time. Ba played a massive part of Hoffenheim's promotion to the Bundesliga, and scored a total of 40 goals in his 4 seasons at the club.

Ba's career here entered a new chapter, as the striker made his move to England. After a failed medical at Stoke City due to his recurring knee problems, West Ham signed him in the 2011 January transfer window. Ba impressed in the second half of the 2010/11 season, scoring 7 goals in 13 appearances, making him West Ham's top scorer for the season. West Ham finished the season in 18th place, meaning they were relegated to the Championship. After impressing in the season, a lot of speculation took place, to see which Premier League side Ba would join. Ba opted for Newcastle United, and scored 16 goals in his first season, and created a deadly attacking force with fellow countryman Pappis Cisse.

Before signing for Chelsea in January of 2013, Ba scored an impressive 13 goals for Newcastle. A day after signing for Chelsea, Ba was thrown straight in the deep end and started an away game to Southampton in the FA Cup, scoring a brace as we went on to win 5-1.

In my opinion, Ba is a brilliant signing for us. We sold Daniel Sturridge for £12million, and signed Ba for 7, meaning we also got a £5million profit. Ba adds the power into our attacking force. He is a born poacher, and plays a very direct style of play. Ba was brought in to score goals, especially with Fernando Torres slacking. Ba has already got off to a great start in Chelsea colors, and I can see him ending the season with 15 goals to his name in blue.