Zola's Flick

I'm off to this, looking forward to it cos I've never been to Pride Park before. A definite banana skin, their form since McClaren's arrival is very impressive. We'll need to be on our game. I think Mourinho will rotate a fair few again but we'll have half a dozen regular starters out so, unless we just don't turn up mentally, should get the job done. Last thing we want is a replay, although that's preferable to a defeat... just That Will Hughes fella has looked a real talent whenever I've seen him on the box. Unfortunately it seems he's off to Liverpool if reports are to be believed. Be interesting to see how he fares against our experienced midfield. Pretty confident of a win but it won't be easy unless we score early. 0-2 with both goals coming in the last half hour.

I absolutely love Mata, my favourite Chelsea player but I agree that our substitutions changed the game, so credit goes to Jose. One of our best results of the season for me. We defended proper solid for the most part which was pleasing, three clean sheets in four now, good to have that resoluteness back at the club. Midfield did well, Torres put in a real good shift but yeah, this game was won by our subs and attacking midfield really. Glad to see Willian net, he worked his bollocks off so thoroughly deserved it. Hazard was impressive in setting up chances especially. Oscar put in one of his best performances of the season I reckon. Shame he dived when there was absolutely no incentive for doing so. Needs to cut that out his game and just focus on his ability, cos he's some player. Another tough game out of the way with three points in the bag. 10 points from Arsenal (a), Swansea (h), Liverpool (h) and Southampton (a) is a pleasantly surprising return, I was expecting seven maximum but we've changed our style a bit and it's working well. Man of the Match: Eden Hazard.

I think we're coming up against Southampton at the right time. They've been on a bad run of form (albeit vs top teams), had lots of injuries to key players and clearly lack depth so will be playing with lots of players against us who are either knackered or just came back from injuries. Not saying some of our players won't be tired but I'd expect Jose to rotate a bit for this, possibly see Cole, Schurrle and Mata coming in and a fresh Ramires will be a major plus. Plus we're coming in to this game off the back of a good point at Arsenal, typical-Jose win against Swansea and excellent win over Liverpool so confidence is growing in our camp. Will Eto'o keep his place? That's an interesting one. I'm one of those hoping we give one of our strikers a run but a) he wasn't particularly good aside from scoring on Sunday, b ) might be tired from playing both games over Christmas and c) January is around the corner, we're almost certainly going to upgrade on our attack so giving one of the current strikers a run of games isn't perhaps essential. Ba's got a fantastic record against Southampton but I'd imagine Torres to come in for Eto'o if anyone. I really rate Saints but they are struggling a bit at the moment for various reasons so I fancy us to take the points. Their pressing game will be sluggish due to injuries and tiredness and Jose adapted brilliantly in-game against them at the Bridge to help us turn the game around just last month. Go direct against them seems to be the best approach. Hazard to bag the winner in a hard-fought 0-1 win for the Blues. Happy New Year to all

What a huge win that was on Sunday. Had a real mixture of delight and relief come over me when the final whistle sounded. Think it was the first game since Jose's return where I've been so confident afterwards that the title is more than achievable for us this season. See it as a bigger win than the one vs Man City personally. We were terrific to watch in the first half, Liverpool's goal had the team spark in to life immediately. Great finish from Hazard, and although Eto'o's goal was slightly fortunate he did well to make a run across the defender, something our strikers haven't done enough this season. Second period was more even, neither team looked particularly like scoring. I know he's just a kid but I don't think Liverpool helped their case by bringing on that Smith geezer, he looked out of his depth. I couldn't believe what Eto'o did though, it was a really silly thing to do (the random kick on Suarez of course) which would have cost us on another day. Liverpool looked shattered from about the 15th minute onwards, we took advantage of that. We looked shattered from about the hour mark but were able to hold out. Despite the tiredness on show it was a fantastic watch due to the intensity of the game and, for the first time in a while against the scousers it felt like a really big game in the league. They've been well below par for a few years but clearly looked a much more cohesive unit now. Thankfully we played them at a good time and it's another step in the right direction. Hazard was the pick of the bunch for us, top performance from the guy. It was one of the few big games where you could see he looked more driven to have an impact on the game. More of the same please Eden. Chelsea are back fellow Blues. Let's enjoy the ride!

I'm really looking forward to the last game of the year. The Bridge should be in good voice, what with it being a 4pm Sunday game against a title challenger who we aren't exactly best friends with. A good atmosphere can only help the players. It's genuinely fascinating to find out which tactics Jose adopts on Sunday. In the last two games we have gone back to basics, or more specifically back to his more preferred style of play, especially in the game at Arsenal. I can definitely foresee Jose employing a 4-3-3 with Essien-Mikel-Lampard across the middle, then Hazard and A.N. Other out wide with probably Torres up top. By the same token, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if, like with the home game against Man City, he uses the 4-2-3-1 by playing Mata or Oscar off the frontman. Personally, my cautious self thinks we should go with the former, cos Liverpool are a real threat on the counter as they proved at the Etihad, but ultimately I approve of whatever Jose goes with. Ramires will be a big loss for us, no doubt about it. Especially in a game like this, cos a fairly static midfield including any or all of Mikel, Essien and Lampard against mobile, nifty midfielders like Allen, Henderson and Coutinho is a cause for concern. I haven't seen a great deal of Liverpool lately but clearly they have been on a good run. In the two games I did catch on the box, away at Tottenham and City they were very good. They shift the ball very quickly from back to front and if you let them play in front of you they still have the creativity to create chances, so there's no ideal way of playing them really. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to note that their achilles heel is defending set-pieces. Almost half the goals they've conceded this season have been from penalties, corners or free-kicks, something I feel Jose will look at and look to exploit with the aerial ability of JT, Cahill, Ivanovic and a couple of others. I don't think Gerrard is half the player he was now his legs have caught up with him and, if anything, their midfield probably plays better in the big games without him but they're without Enrique at left-back who I rate highly (especially compared to Aly Cissokho ) and Sturridge who, were he playing, would be a surefire bet to score against us again. I think it has the makings of a great game. Reading the previous posts in this thread I feel a few people are too pessimistic (predicting two or three goal defeats!) while others are underestimating them. If we score I see it being from either a set-piece, counter-attack (they sometimes leave themselves exposed, like for City's second) or maybe, just maybe, Torres will finally banish some demons against them. Suarez will probably notch or create a goal. Hate predicting matches like these but if I had to I'd go with 1-1. We preserve our unbeaten home record under Jose in the league, they go away happy knowing how tough it is to get a result at the Bridge. C'mon you Blues!

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum. Big blue, have followed Chelsea my whole life (born 1990). Season ticket holder so attend all home games and try and get down to as many aways as possible. As my username helps attest, Zola is my all-time favourite player. ZF