BlueLion.

Long ball vs Long Ball Fuck me, the defence is so hesitant! Hilario did brilliantly

Ricky, can you share the stream?

Your tone has changed from three posts above to that one

Our team leaves me less than confident.

Chelsea are expected to line up in a 4-3-3 formation as follows: 40 Hilario 35 Juliano Belletti 33 Alex 22 Tal Ben-Haim 18 Wayne Bridge 5 Michael Essien 12 John Mikel Obi 13 Michael Ballack © 24 Shaun Wright-Phillips 21 Salomon Kalou 10 Joe Cole Subs: 30 Rhys Taylor, 20 Paulo Ferreira, 9 Steve Sidwell, 17 Scott Sinclair, 14 Claudio Pizarro. . Newcastle are expected to line up in a 4-3-3 formation as follows: Given; Beye, Taylor, Cacapa, and'Zogbia; Butt, Faye, Smith ©; Milner, Martins, Duff. Subs: Harper, Rozehnal, Emre, Viduka, Owen. Petr Cech and Andriy Shevchenko are absent through injury so Hilario returns in goal and Salomon Kalou will spearhead the attack. Carlo Cudicini's rib injury means a place on the bench for our 17-year-old Wales Under 21 international keeper Rhys Taylor. Shaun Wright-Phillips returns on the right wing with Joe Cole on the left. Wayne Bridge, Juliano Belletti and Tal Ben-Haim come into the defence and Michael Ballack captains.

Please use your spacebar more often

I would have thought if he plays, Carlo would have been skipper, but Ballack it is - he is the German captain I suppose.

I've heard Cech and Shevchenko are being dropped from the team and Grant has given Ballack the captain's armband until Lampard returns.

He's suspended for the FA Cup game, the ban is not immediate.

Fucking brilliant man

The gap between Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, United, City, Everton and the rest of the league is incredible. Those are the only teams we need to be wary of, but even with a twat in charge, a team of our calibre HAS to get into the CL every season at the barest of minimums.

Too fucking right, the FA have a single brain cell between all the fuckers there.

I knew we would fuck all from this. At least we only lose Cole for one game, according to SSN

I would not be shocked mate

But they go away to Man City next week, and I honestly think that has draw written all over it.

Mikel has been standing and admiring the ever-improving performances of Joe Cole these last few games

Belletti is a great player going forward, just maybe a little suspect at defending sometimes. One occassion he can stop someone, the next they just ghost past him like he wasn't even there

Of course we are still in the title race. We have such an incredibly small chance of winning it, but there is a lot more football to play. I don't think we will win the title, but we can win it, regardless of the current situation.

Well whatever the situation, and manager HAS to defend their own players. Its part of the job to keep morale high in the camp, and saying your own players are in the wrong is hardly helping.

Brilliant news, he is the kind of player I feel that Shevchenko will benefit from.

I hope he scores the winner against Newcastle.

But on evidence of yesterday, we can score goals without DROGBA and LAMPARD. If Terry had have played yesterday, I think we'd have won 4-2 without a problem. It was the defence that let us down, the strike force was magnificent.

A clean sheet is imperative after yesterday's fantastic defensive display

Even if the Scum win their game in hand we will still be a point ahead of them. Plus they have to travel to Manchester City next weekend.

Chelsea F.C. versus Newcastle United After dropping two valuable points against Aston Villa in midweek, Chelsea look to improve on their faltering form with a win against struggling Newcastle United. Chelsea are a wounded animal, and the next team to visit Stamford Bridge and test their 72 league games unbeaten record at home are Newcastle United - but the visiters are hardly enjoying life under their new manager Sam Allardyce. With seven points from nine, including one against then-league leaders Arsenal, Nnewcastle finally seemed to have found some form after a stop-start beginning to the campaign, which saw the northern side languishing in midtable. However, their latest result was far from encouraging, suffering a defeat away to the ever-improving Wigan Athletic. Chelsea's last three games have been less than productive, taking four points from nine. However, having come from two men down against Aston Villa to take the lead before squandering it will have taken its toll on the London side and with United winning, it means Chelsea are now seven points behind the Champions in the title race, and six behind Arsenal, who also slipped up away to Portsmouth. Only a win is acceptable, and recent encounters suggest Chelsea head into this game with both the superior record at home to Newcastle, and the better form of the two teams, with 13 points from their last 18. Match Chat here - and remember, predict in the Prediction League!