Friday 28 February 2014

Match Preview: Fulham Vs Chelsea


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WHEN: Saturday, March 1, 2014. 15:00 UK Time

WHERE: Craven Cottage, London, England

WEATHER FORECAST: Good Temperature, Rainfall is unlikely

Chelsea failed to hold on to a one goal lead at Istanbul as a result of their failure to kill off the game during the first half. In the end, it was a good date with our legend, Didier Drogba, it was good to see Drogba come up against us and share passionate hug with the boys.

So on to Fulham (the worst team in the division, not Manchester United). This is the sort of game Chelsea have to win even though it's a London derby. Chelsea may be a little tired as a result of their journey to Turkey and the inconsiderate Premier League scheduling, only a win will be acceptable.

TEAM NEWS

Marco Van Ginkel is sure to miss out of this fixture. We don't know if David Luiz will be available as he wasn't on the bench against Galatasaray. Mohammed Salah and Nemanja Matic were cup-tied for the Galatasaray fixture but are now back in contention.


PREDICTED LINEUP

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It's important that Mourinho avoids starting a tired side against Fulham. Cole in place of Azpilicueta should not be a bad move, the Spanish international has given his all in every game and deserves a rest.

Nemanja Matic has become the first choice in the pivot within a very short time and will almost surely start given his ineligibility for Chelsea in the Champions League. Fulham will potentially park the bus so I picked Frank Lampard ahead of Ramires and John Obi Mikel. 

I think Eden Hazard has looked like he needs rest in recent games but he is needed in every game at this point of the season so he will need to come strong in this fixture. Oscar needed to rest, he came on late against Galatasaray so he has to bounce out of that dip in form. Salah's ineligibility in the Champions League might allow Mourinho hand him his first start for the club.

Fernando Torres started and scored Chelsea's only goal in the Galatasaray game so there's a good chance he will start. I selected Eto'o ahead of him mainly because of his good linkup play with Eden Hazard especially and also due to the Cameroonian's ability to operate in little spaces.


ENEMY'S VIEW: Cottagers Confidential

KEY PLAYER

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Since his hat-trick against Newcastle, Eden Hazard hasn't been playing at the same level. It's hard to play at that level in every game though but Eden Hazard and we all want him to become the very best soon so he needs to be at that level in most games.

Fulham are the worst in the division in almost every department, their full-backs are not good, their defence is poor so they concede in every possible manner and they are not fast too. Hazard will spend most of the time running at Riether which should not be a difficult task for the Belgian.

Eden Hazard needs to step up to the occasion not just to help Chelsea win but own the headlines too by putting up an hazardous display. He will need as much help as possible from Oscar, Lampard and others.


PREDICTION: Fulham 0-3 Chelsea
  
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Chelsea have what it takes to batter Fulham but the only problem will be the one Jose Mourinho has always highlighted, Chelsea can't kill games. They will need to improve on that or settle for a 0-0 or 0-1 scoreline, neither result will be good enough.

John Terry and company must work hard to keep a clean sheet. Only a clean sheet will be good for the defence's reputation. It's also very important to concede less goals and score more as pointed out by the present standings.

If Chelsea live up to expectation, this is a game we really should be winning and by a very good margin too. Good luck Chelsea!  


    

 

Saturday 15 February 2014

CONFIRMED LINEUPS: Cahill Starts, Negredo On Bench.

http://i3.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article3109636.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Jose-Mourinho-shakes-hands-with-Manchester-City-manager-Manuel-Pellegrini-3109636.jpg


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Chelsea Substitutes: M. Schwarzer,  Cole, Lampard, Salah, Schurrle, Oscar, Torres.

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Manchester City Substitutes: Hart, Richards, Demichelis, Kolarov, Navas, Negredo, Nasri.

Friday 14 February 2014

Mourinho Brands Wenger A 'Specialist In Failure'

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Chelsea boss, Jose Mourinho dropped a bombshell today during his presser. Mourinho labelled Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger a "specialist in failure". He was responding to a comment Wenger made earlier.

Arsene Wenger seemed to have taken a swipe at Jose Mourinho by claiming during his press conference that managers who claim their team isn't ready to win the title simply have "a fear to fail". Jose Mourinho has repeatedly played down Chelsea's chance of winning the title this season so the swipe was definitely at him.

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Journalists never miss a trick so Jose Mourinho was asked about Wenger's claim during his own press conference at the Cobham training ground. 

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“He [Wenger] is a specialist in failure. I'm not. So if supposing he's right and I'm afraid of failure, it's because I don't fail many times. So maybe he's right. I'm not used to failing. But the reality is he's a specialist because, eight years without a piece of silverware, that's failure. If I did that in Chelsea I'd leave and not come back.”
                                                           - Jose Mourinho

As we all know, Jose Mourinho is a winner and has won numerous trophies in football, Wenger? No way as much.


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Not the first time the pair will publicly clash. Mourinho tagged Wenger a "voyeur" back in 2004 after the french man criticized Chelsea's playing style at the time. Wenger responded to Mourinho's "voyeur" comment angrily and said when success is given to stupid people, they tend to become more stupid. Jose Mourinho would go on from there to win even more, (back to back Premier League trophies at Chelsea, Treble at Inter Milan and a nerve breaking, record 100 points La Liga winning campaign at Real Madrid.

http://backpagefootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/mourinhointer.jpg

For Jose Mourinho, there have been friends and foes but only an idiot will deny he has been a very huge success in football and has done enough to be mentioned in the same bracket with the greatest managers this game has ever seen.

 http://talksport.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/tscouk_old_image/greatest_manager.jpg?itok=Lz-RrEZ4

This is not likely to be the last we will hear from the two as Chelsea are now league leaders with Arsenal tightly behind them. But for now, Wenger has to deal with this bombshell Mourinho has dropped. 

  

Tuesday 11 February 2014

CONFIRMED LINEUPS: Ramires replaces Frank Lampard, Eto'o leads attack...

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SUBSTITUTES: Schwarzer, A. Cole, Mikel, Lampard, Schurrle, Salah, F. Torres


WEST BROM 11: West Brom team v Chelsea: Foster, Reid, McAuley, Dawson, Ridgewell, Yacob, Amalfitano, Morrison, Brunt, Thievy, Berahino.

OFFICIAL: Chelsea Rated The Best Club In England

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If you've not heard about IFFHS before, International Federation Of Football History & Statistics is an official football body outside outside FIFA and UEFA so their rankings and ratings are respected unlike ordinary football websites.

They have released the statistics for the past twelve months and Chelsea have been rated the best club side in England and the third best in the world. SEE HERE 

Tottenham Hotspur are placed on 7th position, Arsenal on 12th and Manchester City on 16th. That's about all for English clubs as the next Premier League side find themselves on 30th position, I'm sure they will be pretty happy with that as they are currently 7th in the league. 

Top of the league, but this is something else to brag about! 

Match Preview: West Brom Vs Chelsea

                                          http://cdn.caughtoffside.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Chelsea-West-Brom.jpg

WHEN: Tuesday, February 11, 2014. 21:00 UK Time

WHERE: The Hawthorns


Last game week, Jose Mourinho's "little horse" sneaked ahead in the race for the Barclays Premier League title. Arsenal got whooped at Liverpool and Manchester City were held at Norwich City to a goalless draw so Chelsea now sit at the top of the league, one point ahead of Arsenal who will welcome the club we are all loving at the moment, Manchester United.

Back to business, Chelsea will travel to the hawthorns and will be looking to secure their position on the table. Anything less than three points will be disappointing and the blues will have to guard against what happened at the bridge the last time these two teams walked out of the dug-out. 


TEAM NEWS

Jose Mourinho has confirmed today that club captain, John Terry will miss this one but should be available for the FA cup encounter with with Manchester City. Fernando Torres has also been declared available for selection against West Brom. Long term absentee, Marco Van Ginkel is still working hard to come back earlier than anticipated. 


PREDICTED LINEUP

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 I really hope Ashley Cole starts tomorrow, he deserves to play more because he was good last time out, its just that Azpilicueta has been better. 

Ramires sat out the last game, his form declined recently in my opinion but the rest would have done him some good. And Matic? Chelsea haven't conceded in 301 minutes he has played, his numbers when it comes to interceptions and tackles are incredible. He has contributed a great deal to the attack too, giving the attacking trio the freedom they need to express themselves and combining with them even on some occasions.

We have a large squad and there's need to try and keep most if not all happy. That's the reason I think Andre Schurrle should start this one.

Eto'o has started all games recently, we need to make use of the large squad and I don't expect the manager to just throw a player just coming back from an injury like that. So maybe Eto'o will start with Torres to come on later. 



 KEY PLAYER


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"23 years old, the world at his feet.", those were the words of the commentator after Eden Hazard's second goal against Newcastle. He had a storming game and went on to celebrate a memorable hattrick, his first for Chelsea. Eden Hazard is in, (permit me to say) an insane form. Even when he doesn't score or assist, he completely leaves defences in shambles. He has a way of making defenders chase his shadow for 90 minutes.

And like in every game this season, Chelsea will be looking to Eden Hazard for inspiration against West Brom. As we all know, when Eden is in this kind of form he's as good as unstoppable. Expect him to have a direct influence on this result.


PREDICTION: West Brom 0-4 Chelsea



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Things have changed at West Brom since that 2-2 draw at the bridge. West Brom sacked Steve Clarke and now have a new manager, Pepe Mel.

West Brom have won one, drawn two and lost three in their last six Premier League games. Chelsea on the other hand have won five and drawn one of their own last six.

With that, I think if the Chelsea boys can keep up the concentration and not allow complacency, this one can easily end up being noy much of a contest.