BlueLion.

Could quite easily pass the 120 mark by the end of this season if he continues to play as he is.

Thanks for reading everyone

I thought he was excellent today.

Awesome mate, glad you enjoyed yourself today, I certainly did.

Match report.

Saturday 29 August 2009, FA Premier League, Stamford Bridge, London Goals from Nicolas Anelka, Michael Ballack and Ashley Cole handed Chelsea a comfortable victory over Premier League new boys Burnley at Stamford Bridge. The Clarets had beaten Chelsea on penalties in the fourth round of the Carling Cup under the tenure of Luiz Felipe Scolari last term, but whilst complacency was apparent under the Brazilian tactician, Carlo Ancelotti's Blues were both rampant and professional against Owen Coyle's side; wary of their threat following excellent victories over Manchester United and Everton. Whilst the visitors frustrated Chelsea for much of the opening period, Nicolas Anelka converted a stoppage time Didier Drogba cross to open the scoring for the Blues, before Michael Ballack and Ashley Cole added quickfire goals early in the second half to confirm the victory for Chelsea. Manager Carlo Ancelotti was full of praise for his team at the final whistle, and will be delighted to see Chelsea take twelve points from their first four Premier League fixtures of the new campaign. The manager elected to make a number of changes from the team that defeated Fulham in last weekend's West London derby, with Deco, Michael Essien and Ricardo Carvalho all recalled to the starting line-up. There was no place on the bench for Andrei Shevchenko, who looks set to leave the club for Dynamo Kyiv in his native Ukraine. The first chance of the game fell to in-form Nicolas Anelka, who opened his account for the season with a well-taken strike against Fulham on Sunday. Dispossessing Andre Bikey inside the centre circle after the Clarets defender had dawdled on the ball, Anelka burst into the penalty area, where the visitor's goalkeeper; Brian Jensen, denied the Frenchman after quickly racing off his line to smother the ball. Anelka's final touch had been too heavy as he attempted to round the Danish shotstopper, allowing the goalkeeper to get a hand on the ball and steal it from the striker. At the other end, equally-slack play from the usually-reliant Frank Lampard allowed Martin Patterson to shoot at Petr Cech's goal after Wade Elliott had stolen the ball from the England international before squaring to his teammate, but the Burnley player's effort was wide of the Czech's near upright as the goalkeeper quickly came out to meet the Clarets number 10. Clarke Carlisle then excelled for Burnley when he blocked a fierce Lampard effort inside the area after the Chelsea vice captain had looked to make amends for his earlier error by latching on to an Anelka pull-back. The Burnley defence was a stubborn barrier that Chelsea were struggling to breach, and a free kick by Drogba was fired well wide of the target after he was felled outside the area. Jensen then made a superb point-blank save to deny John Terry's close-range volley and then a Frank Lampard effort, before a Drogba shot deflected wide for an ultimately-fruitless corner as Ricardo Carvalho headed wide under pressure from the Burnley backline. The Clarets looked determined to go into the break level, and though they were offering little going forward, they were putting in a spirited defensive performance in front of the Shed End. Chelsea finally made their breakthrough in first half stoppage time. With Jensen saving from both Lampard and the highly-involved Deco, Burnley looked to take heart from the confidence of their goalkeeper and made a rare venture out of their own half. However, the ball was soon back with Chelsea and with the Clarets stretched at the back, Essien's through-ball to Drogba saw the Ivorian cross between defender and goalkeeper to Anelka, who slid the ball in at the near post. It was a deserved lead for Chelsea, who could and should have opened the scoring already. With less than two minutes on the clock in the second half, Michael Ballack doubled Chelsea's lead with a stunning diving header from a sublime Lampard chip after the England international had found himself in space just outside the Burnley area. Sending in a delightful dinked cross, Lampard's early endeavours in the second half were rewarded when he saw Ballack convert the opportunity presented to him with aplomb for his second goal of the season. And just as Chelsea supporters had ceased celebrating Ballack's finish, they were on their feet applauding the brilliance of the Blues' attacking play once again when Ashley Cole volleyed home a beautiful third goal for the hosts. Playing a one-two with Lampard, the ever-involved Cole ran beyond the Burnley defenders and powered some a sumptuous volley beyond Jensen, who certainly did not deserve to be on the receiving end of such impressive Chelsea movement. Anelka then left the crossbar trembling in fear as he powered an effort against the woodwork before Juliano Belletti entered the fray after missing the first fixtures of the season due to injury. The Brazilian, noted for his attacking play, replaced José Bosingwa at right-back, and with Burnley offering next to nothing coming forward, the former Barcelona man had licence to bomb forward and support the strike force of Anelka and substitute Salomon Kalou, who had replaced Drogba, who received a standing ovation from the Blues faithful only moments after seeing a header saved by Jensen. Essien then forced the save of the match from Jensen, who flung himself to his right to deny the Ghanaian, who had his sweetly-struck effort clawed away by the Dane. Essien then found Jensen's midriff with another shot before the Dane pulled off a superb diving stop low to his left to beat away the Chelsea number 5's left-footed effort from twenty yards which was wonderfully-fashioned by some nimble footwork by the Chelsea midfielder. From the resulting corner, Ballack's header was tipped over by Jensen who was enjoying a superb game between the posts for Burnley, but he was helpless when Kalou beat him with a dinked finish, only to see Carlisle clear off the line when a deserved fourth goal looked on the cards. Nevertheless, Chelsea had comfortably seen off their opponents in clinical fashion, and head into a two-week international break at the top of the Premier League table. A September trip to Stoke is next for the Blues, who will look to maintain their wonderful beginning to the season. ___________________________________________________________________ Chelsea (4-3-2-1): Cech; Bosingwa (Belletti), Carvalho, Terry ©, A Cole; Ballack (Mikel), Essien, Lampard; Anelka, Deco; Drogba (Kalou) Burnley (4-1-4-1): Jensen; Mears, Carlisle, Bikey, Jordan; Alexander © (McDonald); Fletcher, Elliott, McCann, Blake (Guerrero); Paterson The TalkChelsea.net Man of the Match was Chelsea's number 3 - Ashley Cole

Only one way to describe how this game went - we killed them.

I can sense another hammering on the way.

Quite simply, you probably are.

Welcome to the forum

Fucking silly this is. Okay, its a dive, but he isn't the first and what about all the others who have dived, and will dive again in the future? Just another reason to suspend Drogba?

Not a bad replacement

Tuesday 15 September Chelsea v Porto Wednesday 30 September APOEL v Chelsea Wednesday 21 October Chelsea v Atlético Madrid Tuesday 3 November Atlético Madrid v Chelsea Wednesday 25 November Porto v Chelsea Tuesday 8 December Chelsea v APOEL

Burnley went to extra time in midweek so we're going to have the advantage of being less-fatigued than they are. They have a few suspensions as well - Caldwell will be missing at the back and he is their best defender in my opinion. Hoping Drogba will be up to the task of facing a very physical back four.

Kez that was a secret, last time I'm trusting you with anything

Welcome to TalkChelsea

In a 4-3-3, there are two responsibilities to a striker - one is obviously to score, but another is to make yourself available to receive the ball and bring other players into the game. Didier does that better than any other striker in the world in my opinion. Playing as a lone striker is incredibly difficult, and whilst he isn't as prolific as Fernando Torres or Samuel Eto'o, his all-round contribution is simply outstanding.

First match will be the 15th/16th of next month.

Awesome photos mate.

Getting Cech's new shirt and gloves as a present for my exams

Potentially difficult draw for us, confident we can progress though.

Thats really strange. I use firefox so maybe the new upgrade disagrees with internet explorer.

Never seen this happen before... what browser do you use?

Shed should be made a standing area for Over 18s imo. Would add to the atmosphere, and seeing the whole standing doing the bouncy would be fucking incredible.

The man's a genius, what more can be said?