Jype

Cech; Bertrand, Terry, Cahill, Ferreira ; Mikel, Lampard ; Kalou, Meireles, Sturridge ; Torres Maybe Ramires could start too but the most important thing is that Mata, Luiz and Ivanovic don't play at all.

Not an excuse or anything but I think Maloney punched Ivanovic earlier in the game so maybe that was just revenge. Clever of him to do it behind the referee's back but it seems Daily Fail want to get him suspended so they made that news article of the incident and now he may be facing a ban anyway. Losing Ivanovic for at least three games is not something we can afford.

Actually Henry came to Arsenal from Juventus. Did play in Monaco for five years though but that's not the point.

Who's to say we can't do both?

A bad performance but still 3 points so can't complain. Ivanovic's goal was a clear offside though but I don't give a fuck. Bertrand MOTM even though Wigan's equalizer was partly his fault. Other than that a faultess performance. He must get more playing time in the near future because Cole simply can't play every match when there's so many important games coming up in such short time. Also I fear he will leave this summer if he can't play at Chelsea and I'm sure selling him would come back to haunt us sometime soon.

Torres on for Malouda to partner Didier up front would help break Wigan's defence and would also allow Bertrand to be more involved in our attacks. His crosses have been excellent and if Malouda would just fuck off he could dominate the whole flank on his own.

4-2-3-1 Cech ; Bertrand, Cahill, Ivanovic, Ferreira ; Essien, Lampard ; Malouda, Meireles, Sturridge ; Drogba Yes, I really said I want Malouda to start. Shocking.

I'd guess Barcelona would just have to fuck off then. Wouldn't it be similar to players who have release clauses on their contracts and triggering the clause just gives the buying club permission to negotiate a contract with the player and the selling club can't do anything to stop the transfer if the player really wants to leave? The player can still of course reject the contract and stay with his current club. That is if they haven't already negotiated the terms and put pen to paper on a contract which would only become active if Barcelona were to buy him back. Then I suppose he'd have to go whether he wanted to or not. But this all a bit pointless because we all know that if those catalan cunts really want him back there's no way he'd say no.

He still has 8 goals this season (more than Torres btw and 5th highest from the whole team) and he has played the majority of games in midfield and lately a few matches on the wings, which is not even his natural position. His main job isn't to score goals so can't blame him for occasionally being a bad finisher. Having said that, his miss from yesterday is still horrible and that has got to haunt him at nights.

Didn't your sports director Andoni Zubizarreta confirm AVB's claims in February by saying Barcelona have "first option" on Romeu? That is different from a buy back clause as far as I know. No matter what the clauses are it's been confusing these past couple of months. First he was a first team regular, then he is "injured" despite clearly being in training with everyone else and now we haven't seen him even on the bench for a very long time. It's like he doesn't even exist anymore. I get the feeling we aren't being told everything about this matter.

Who the fuck is Drake anyway?

Voted for Mikel too and mostly for the same reasons. Also a foul on him made the referee give Maxi Pereira a sending off which turned out to be a key moment in the match. Chelsea hardly kept the lead when playing against 10 men so I don't even want to know what could have happened if they had 11 for all of the match.

First leg is on Wednesday the 18th at 19:45 and second leg is a week after that on Tuesday at 19:45.

If it were United or Liverpool I'm sure they would but we all know that's not going to happen for Chelsea and 6pm on Sunday it is.

Not the best performance but a good result nonetheless. Should have killed the tie in 2nd half when playing against ten men and with all those wonderful goal-scoring chances we got but I guess this is the Chelsea we all love, always keeps things interesting till the end no matter what. Barcelona it is then. Wonder if they're going to bring Ovrebo back from retirement for this one?

A good lineup for Chelsea and looking at Benfica's starting lineup I got even a little bit more confident about getting the result tonight. Their central defense is a joke with Emerson & Garcia neither even being a proper CB. Also looking forward to Ramires vs Capdevila on the right wing, that guy is slow as hell compared to our little Brazilian. 4-1 to Chelsea.

Only seen him play a bunch of times for Dortmund but based on those matches I'd certainly welcome him to Chelsea. His stats are very impressive for a 23-year old player who's playing only his second season in Europe after moving from Japan (27 goals and 12 assists in 64 games). His contract is running out in 2013 so wouldn't be too expensive either.

Torres to score a hat trick today. You heard it here first. :blue scalf:

I'd say you're not a supporter if you don't hope Chelsea win the CL. What's wrong with acknowledging that the other remaining teams are three of the best in the world at the moment and most likely Chelsea won't win the whole competition but still hope for the (almost) impossible to happen?

Nah, there's a difference between being a realist and being delusional (like Liverpool fans ). If we even make it to the semifinals tomorrow there is Barcelona waiting and knowing them it would take a huge performance from Chelsea to beat them even if they didn't get help from UEFA. And we all know how much UEFA loves those catalan cunts and how Platini wants Barcelona to face Real Madrid in the final so it will be twice as hard for Chelsea to progress to the final when the opponents always have the referee on their side as well.

It is official now that Barcelona can not be beaten in a UEFA competition. Chelsea don't stand a chance against their 4-3-3-3 formation.

Wasn't hungry before opening this thread. I am now.

Haven't decided between Mata, Luiz and Ivanovic yet but one of those three will win it.

WTF man? Of course that result would mean victory for Chelsea because then it would be 5-2 on aggregate. Only if Benfica win 1-2 or 2-3 etc. or by a margin of 2 or more then Benfica goes to the semifinals.

Good luck trying to convince someone to pay 6m for Bosingwa or 9m for Malouda. Also, if Kalou is to leave after this season he will go for nothing because his contract will expire in the summer.