LDN Blue

Marlon King?

Hope this isn't true..

Great news for the whole team! It's almost a year of set backs and hard work, but I for one am glad he's back! The competition between him and Ivanovic will be great to watch. Welcome back Bos!

I hope our defence is ready for Andy Carroll.. I've become a big fan of this kid, he's got a bright future, he's tall and powerful and doesn't have a bad finish either. If he uses his height to his advantage Bruma might be caught out a few times. He's no match for JT though

Good. I'd hate to see our "fans" boo him again

I'll be honest, Khedira doesn't really impress me much, I don't really see all the hype over him. But Ozil was a great signing by Mourinho.

I'd be surprised if that's true. I thought he'd start on the bench and come on later, but fair do's to Carlo if he does start him.

^ Agreed.. I really want to see Mellis play for us, looks like an exciting prospect. Plus he's a regular England u21, so he can't be that bad

Some stats from SkySports today..

If you think about it.. This is a great question! Correct me if I'm wrong, but in 2008 didn't we play Essien in centre back because we had an injury crisis? Well in the form Mikel's been this season, I don't see why, if we were to have a defensive crisis, Mikel couldn't play there. He's shown he's got the tackling ability to do it, his decision making has clearly improved and so has his first touch. We all know Mikel is now our #1 central midfielder (or defensive midfielder) which is the defender of the midfield quite literally.

Yeah I think the signings that are like near £20million aren't counted as "big spending"

The only papers I read and respect are, The Times & The Guardian. Everything else is usually bullshit or heavily bias, and not just on sports. Hopefully when you've got your degree you'll revolutionise the way papers right about our club

Agree with TX here, contract should be awarded at the end of the season rather then now. But Carlo's smart enough to not let such things distract his planning, he's already told the media of him commitment to Chelsea so it's all good

Carlo's using him well. He knows he's not quite ready to feature heavily so he's not using him as much as Sturridge or Bruma which is good. If we rush McEachran's first team action he may not adapt as well, the guy's like a month older than me LOL

Props to Holloway.. We could've sunk Blackpool with the way we were playing but he made 1 sub which seemed to sort that left hand side of defence, he put on Taylor-Fletcher and suddenly we found it harder to score. He also made some positive changes bringing on Harewood almost to say "we've got nothing to lose now, let's see if we can shake their defence up a bit"

Usually Chelsea report immediately when a players been taken to hospital. It's strange that there's absolutely no report of Hilario, maybe this story isn't true?

I noticed it too. I don't like Mikel going forward, he does possess that gem of a shot like Essien. I prefer what they did last time where Mikel stayed central and Ramires literally ran from box-to-box. Hopefully they'll revert to that next time, because Mikel is exceptional in central midfield.

Exactly! We're expected to be challenged by these games but also to win them. With teams who chase Champions League or even Europa League places seek to attack us because they know the points could go a long way for them, but if they lose it won't be that big of a blow because they'd still have enough quality to overcome the lower league teams such as West Ham, Wigan, Bolton, Blackburn ect (no disrespect to them except El-Hadji Diouf) Like BLionheart said, we need to beat teams like Shitty, Yids and Everton for our own morale as much as the points to gain.

Counting beans?! LOL.. Do explain

Ferreira's been quite solid in recent games actually. But Bosingwa will have to prove he's the same player when he comes back (emphasis on WHEN).

The phrase being associated with this game is.. Where our season really starts. Hopefully our players aren't deluded by our 100% start, which I don't think they are. They have a right to be happy and in a celebratory mood, but they should also take into account nobody's really challenged us (goal wise). West Ham put up their defence and tried to play us, but at the end of the day it was still a, more or less, comfortable victory for us. Hopefully (touch wood) Lampard and Terry should be back, which will be a big morale boost. I'd like to see Cole, Malouda, Essien & Cech rested on Wednesday because these 4 have been vital in the last few games and an injury to any of them (Cech & Cole especially) could have grave implications for our team.

Great first half.. Not so great second, but still lively! My man of the match was Ashley Cole, boy did not stop running!! I felt quite sorry for him, he must've been relieved when Zhirkov came on though. Important thing is, we came away with the 3pts, and thus 4pts clear off Arsenal/ManUtd Also surprised no youth today brought on from Carlo, but maybe they'll play on Wednesday?

Crap! My prediction was too low

COME ON CHELSEA!! :cfc: