BlueLion.

No real surprises there, although I would have expected to see Borini on list B since Didier will be suspended for three games - if he gets injured, we "only" have Kalou and Sturridge as cover, but injuries tend to come to certain positions at the same time, funnily enough.

Found this ages ago:

Let's not forget this is both a cup match and a local derby - in no way is it going to be easy; this will be their cup final this season.

His crossing is absolutely awful Still, if he can get himself into some of the goalscoring positions he's been getting himself into so far this term, we could be looking at him getting four or five this season which would be a massive contribution from full back.

Just been confirmed on Blues News; he's signed a new four-year deal with the club. More news to follow.

West Stand, Sixth Tier, Row 28 What a view

Agreed about Borini, I'd like to see him come off the bench to play. I can see Hutchinson starting at best, maybe with Borini and Kakuta on the bench. I doubt Ancelotti would play more than a couple of youngsters in a local derby - a game we want and need to win.

John Terry never complained about being number 26...

Group Stage Round-up Atlético de Madrid finished 4th in La Liga last season, and overcame Panathinaikos in the Third Qualifying Round to secure a mark in the group stage. Their talented front-line usually consists of two forwards; Kun Aguero and former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan, with Portuguese winger Simao and Argentine wide-man Maxi Rodriguez or José Antonio Reyes; formerly of Arsenal operating on the right flank. Their defence is very, very tight, with Czech Republican and Spanish centre-backs Ujfalusi and Jaunito forming the heart of their backline. They also have the likes of Santana, Sinama-Pongolle and Raul Garcia on the books, and young Sergio Asenjo is an excellent goalkeeper. Whilst having a wonderful season last year, in their first game of this campaign, Atlético were trounced 3-0 away to Malaga, who finished 8th last term. It should be warned that their potent strike partnership of Aguero and Forlan notched an incredible 55 goals between them last season, and though the new campaign has not got off well for the Spaniards, they will be the hardest team to beat in the group. FC Porto won the Portuguese Liga last season and have already claimed a 2-0 victory in the Supercup over Pacos de Ferreira. However, the Portuguese side have seen over thirty players leave the Estadi do Dragao this summer on either loan or being sold, including the likes of Lucho Gonzales to Marseille and Lisandro Lopez and Ahly Cissokho to Lyonnais. Porto's biggest signing of the summer is Fernando Belluschi, who cost the club €5 million from Olympiakos, and will operate alongside Hulk as a second striker; replacing Lisandro. Alvaro Pereira, formerly of CFR Cluj and a player who played against Chelsea last term for the Romanian side, has also joined the club, along with Radamel Falcao García, Diego Valeri, Sebastián Prediguer and Maicon fron Nacional, who is a talented young defender in the mould of former Porto star Pepe. The club have had an excellent start to the season, claiming seven points from nine and sit second in the Liga Sagres behind Braga. They have yet to concede a goal at the Dragao and have scored three goals in each of their last two fixtures, and coach Jesualdo Ferreira seems set on playing a 4-1-2-2-1 formation that closely mirrors the Christmas Tree of Chelsea. With Hulk injured for the first part of the season, top scorer Falcao has began the season in fine form, operating in front of two widemen; Silvestre Varela and Gonzales Mariano, who broke into the first team last term after signing a permanent contract. Fernando operates as the holding midfielder, behind Belluschi and Raul Meireles, who scored against Chelsea in a 1-1 draw at the Dragao in 2007. Alleged Chelsea target Bruno Alves is their defensive linchpin, but with Lucho, Lisandro and Cissokho all leaving, the side have lost a lot of pace and power in their attack as well as creativity and guile in the midfield. APOEL Nicosia are the Cypriot champions after cruising to the title last term, claiming 82 points from a possible 96 whilst losing only twice all season. APOEL won the Cyprus Super Cup a couple of weeks back but lost 4-3 in their opening league match. Little is known of the Cypriot side, but they do have a number of talented youngsters on their books, including former Chelsea starlet Nuno Morais, who had since blossomed into a promising defensive midfielder for APOEL. Nenad Mirosavljević, a Serbian forward, is the club's star player, and he has scored 21 times for the club since joining, and already have four goals to his name this campaign. APOEL also have a talented youngster called Demetris Kyriakou who is certainly one for the future, but I know little else of the club - let's just hope they're not too much of a surprise to Ancelotti's troops.

Frank had a very sloppy opening half an hour in my opinion, whereas Ashley was excellent the entire game.

When he says the youngsters will get a chance, I can only see one or two playing.

I don't think the number he takes will affect his first team chances, mate.

Still, if we continue to play the 'Christmas Tree' formation of 4-3-2-1, we could field the following line-up in January: Cech Bosingwa, Terry, Carvalho, Ash Ballack, Deco/Matic/Belletti, Lampard Zhirkov, Joe Cole Anelka Which is still a superb looking lineup.

Cheers Greg

Don't need anyone tbf.

In all honesty, I think the club should push to knock down the hotel at the back of the Shed End, and extend it to a three-tier stand, that way we could possibly reach closer to 50,000 seats, which I feel would be more than adequate at the moment.

Go CJ. I can't find anything on this. On Wikipedia, his profile states 24, whilst the Chelsea page states 27!

Hopefully Yuri can benefit from the international break and use it to improve his fitness. If he does make his debut at Stoke, I can imagine it being from the bench as he is behind almost every other player in the squad in terms of match fitness, and we will need a fully-fit, physical starting eleven against Stoke.

Welcome mate

Welcome

2010 - we get crushed in the semi-finals 6-0 on aggregate by CF Ronaldo Madrid

That's your opinion.

I'm a big boy, I can manage Haha, but thanks for the offer mate

Very talented defender, but that's exactly what we don't need.

I'd go as far as saying he's been our best player so far this season.