DYC.

Yeah I expected this would happen (mentioned it before the game). But the early goal helped us from having a pretty difficult afternoon (also mentioned that before the game ).

Mikel actually almost had a shot on goal A lot of miracles happening today.

True true We really have sucky corner takers. A real shame if you think about the fact that we have the likes of Drogba, Terry, Alex, Ivanovic in the box ''everytime''.

Anelka and Drogba taking our corners hahaha.

Great !!! Now Carlo has to bring Kakuta and Sturridge on around the 50-60 min

I'm not expecting to see things like high tempo passing, great through balls, one-touch passing (on a regular basis through out the game) coming from these three midfielders.. do you?

Malouda must be tired. Don't like Kalou on the sides, he is much more effective through the middle. Why not Ivanovic on the right and Alex in central defence ? Don't like our midfield too tbh. Very low footballing abilities in this midfield. Let's hope for a early goal out of a set-piece or something.

Can't wait to see Kakuta play . It's players like him that make football such a beautiful game.

Isn't Ivanovic injured ? Agree with the rest though. It's a real shame Zhirkov hardly plays, not even a single game in his natural position ...

Also in the squad will be Gael Kakuta, the Uefa Under 19 European Championship Golden Ball winner, who Ancelotti believes must be considered a part of the first team squad. 'He will be involved tomorrow in the game. Now he is first team, he will have the same opportunity as the other players and he deserves to play because he trained well, he is focused and concentrated,' explained the Italian. 'He will play and we now have to consider him not a young player but a player in the first team.' Hallelujah ! Finally quality over experience (not expecting any miracles from Gaël of course). First team game time would also make him more likely to sign a new contract. Wondering what role Ancelotti has in mind for him, attacking midfielder or a role from the sides?

Couldn't agree with you more about Mikel. He was great in pre-season and I really thought he had made great progression. But then the CS Shield match came and Mikel got exposed. His positioning and reading of the game still isn't at Chelsea standards (European Top) yet. And him being slow makes him even more vulnerable. His passing has always been good and he has improved his passing a little this season. He has become more adventurous. I would still prefer Essien in the DM role in the big matches. But the like you said, the match against Man City will be a good test. Wish he would work on his speed, would help him a lot. His stamina could use some work too, he needs to play with more energy.

Thank you very much

Surprised Anelka's not one of the main candidates. He's impressed me the most to be honest. He has been fantastic in build-up play and of great importance in the final third. He's passing the ball around a lot (and i mean a lot, he frustated me last season by taking too many touches on the ball) faster and he's a lot more adventurous in his passing. His off the ball movement has also been superb (always available to receive the ball) and he's finally more agressive going forward. He's also been the most consistent in all three games. So because of that, Anelka is my Chelsea Player of the Month.

A little help please...

Essien is very decent passing but certainly nothing special. He did deliver a wonderful pass to Sturrdige in the CS but that won't happen too often. Just like Terry's pass to Malouda yesterday. Essien also needs a lot of time on the ball before he releases a over a greater range than the simple short passes. Mikel has that too, needs a little too much time on the ball. His long passes from deep are lovely because he has time on the ball in those positions. Nothing for him to be ashamed for, he's just not that type of player. It shouldn't be expected from him in the first place.

Sorry, double post...

It is sad that all our midfielders have decent or average passing abilities and vision, except Lamps and Mikel's long passing. of course (Matic has great potential in the area of passing but he's not with us now ). Lucky for us Lamps is some kind of android who hardly gets injured but having another good/great passer in the squad would be helpfull. Our midfield play is be very predictable and the tempo in playing the ball around is much lower without him. That was painfully obvious yesterday (Lamps had a bad game).

Malouda in midfield and Zhirkov on the wing. Zhirkov hasn't played in his orginal left winger role since he came here so he should get a chance to play there. When he filled in for Ash, you could see what a attacking threat he is and he is just rotting on the bench. I feel so sad for him because he is Chelsea first XI material. He's like a left-footed Valencia. Likes to stick to the sides, speedy, great dribbler and a very good crosser. Please Carlo, give him a shot

Boring... but three points so can't complain. Hate the manager's 'trademark' late subs though. 9 and 5 min for Danny and Ramires ???Kalou seems to be the only one who comes on earlier...Kalou in the middle from now on please, way more effective there.

Ramires debut and first 09/10 PL minutes for Danny and PVA please !

Cant wait for The Machine's return Hardly remember him in a Chelsea kit

Cant wait for The Machine's return Hardly remember him in a Chelsea kit

Very boring group... Oh well,

Hope we get Ajax

Was afraid of that.. What about BlueHeart ?