Jase

Indeed they are. Furthermore, Villa are unbeaten in their last 2 league visits to the Bridge and have scored 3 goals in each of those matches. Won 3-1 last season and drew 3-3 the season before that.

Remember what happened last season? We were crap last season but to lose at home against a shit Villa side managed by Alex McLeish(ALEX McLEISH FFS!!) was ludicrous!!! Admittedly, we have a better squad this time around than last season but that doesn't mean we should be taking them lightly. After all, our squad last season should have been good enough to beat them!!

LInk not working...

Mourinho has said he wants to return to England because it's where he belongs. He has already won league titles in Italy and Spain, which he targeted long time ago. He's only 49 y/o this year and apart from maybe the Bundesliga, I can't see where else he would manage say for the next 10 years or so. He did say he wants to manage the Portugal NT but rejected the idea now because he's still young and you'll only play like 1-2 matches every 3-4 months, which is dull for him at his age now. Can't see it happen till he past 60 y/o. Furthermore, surely someone as smart as Mourinho himself, he would realize that he needs to settle down in one place and create some sort of dynasty at a club. He wouldn't want to be as nomadic as he has been.

Just realized earlier that we haven't won a league game at home since beating Norwich 4-1 on 6th October. Since then, we have played 4 games, drawn 3 and lost 1. With tough away games coming up against Norwich and Everton, anything other than 3 points against Villa this Sunday will be a disaster and a blow to our position in the Top 4.

Just saw this...

Added a few more information into that posts regarding Hazard's goals and assists count. Why? Getting drunk too often already?

Think they were primarily asking if Pjanic can play in the pivot, not as a DM. We need someone who can sit in there and initiate attacks etc.

Can't even be compared one is a DM and the other is a CM. Both of course would have different set of qualities.

From what I've checked, Hazard has scored 5 goals and has 11 assists in all competitions so far this season. GOALS(5): PL - vs Newcastle(H) PL - vs Norwich(H) PL - vs West Brom(A) LC - vs Man United(H) LC - vs Leeds(A) ASSISTS(11): PL - Ivanovic's goal vs Wigan(A) PL - Cahill's goal vs Reading(H) PL - Ivanovic's goal vs Reading(H) PL - Torres's goal vs Newcastle(H) PL - Mata's 2nd goal vs Tottenham(A) PL - Torres's 1st goal vs Sunderland(A) LC - Ramires's goal vs Man United(H) LC - Torres's goal vs Leeds(A) CWC - Torres's goal vs Monterrey(N) CL - Oscar's 1st goal vs Juventus(H) CL - Torres's goal vs Nordsjaelland(H) Winning penalties do not officially count as an assist. It only counts as one in Fantasy Football Manager. And Opta defined an assist as this: That is why for example, Hazard's corner that led to Cahill scoring the goal against Spurs didn't count as an assist for him because it did not directly led to the goal. Hazard's corner was half cleared by Gallas and it then presented the chance for Cahill to score. And wasn't @ keeping a track of this record awhile ago?!

Give him time and I'm sure he will be able to cope. He's not one to go missing entirely when it comes to defending.

Possibly. Played the same way against Stoke at home prior to that IIRC. Also, Lambert went with 3-5-2 at Norwich when we played them at home last season. Caused us plenty of problems before we got a lucky break through the penalty and Ruddy being sent off.

Pjanic is a versatile player. He can play in CM, as a CAM or as a narrow wide midfielder.

Added the full draw for Last 32 and 16 including the ties' date in the first post. Can check out the full details of the draw there. Yup. We won 1-0 away and then drew 0-0 at home against them.

Both winnable ties. Play to our strengths and we should qualify for the quarter finals.

IF anyone bothers, you can watch the draw for the Last 32 and 16 here. http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2013/draws/index.html

Real Madrid v Manchester United. Got what I wanted! Arsenal v Bayern Munich. Bye bye Arsenal? Shakhtar v Dortmund. This should be a cracker! Porto v Malaga. This can be a really good tie too especially if both teams play to their strengths.

Despite having a squad filled with youngsters, we can't afford to underestimate them whatsoever especially after what happened in this fixture last season. Furthermore, Villa are in decent form coming into this. They are unbeaten in their last 5 league games - W2 D3 - and 6 in all competitions - W3 D3. On the plus side for us, the 5-1 win yesterday should help boost morale heading into this game and the return of Ramires and Cahill from suspension will help to give Benitez a bit more options.

The Europa League draw for the Last 32 and 16 will take place later today at 1pm UK time. And if anyone is interested, the Champions League draw will be made at 10.30am UK time.

Of course, we got Swansea. We all wanted the easiest opposition left in the competition but ended up getting the toughest. Typical. Need to win the first leg at home and hope we can take a healthy lead to Liberty Stadium. And in this two legged semi final tie against Swansea, the away goals rule is in place BUT will only count after extra time if the score is leveled on aggregate.

Chelsea vs Aston Villa PRE-MATCH DISCUSSION AND LIVE CHAT Barclays Premier League 23rd December, Sunday 2012 Stamford Bridge 16:00 Kick Off (UK time)

Chelsea vs Aston Villa POST-MATCH DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS Barclays Premier League 23rd December, Sunday 2012 Stamford Bridge 16:00 Kick Off (UK time)

Great comeback win! Thought we could come from behind to win since we didn't play too badly in the first half but never expected us bang in 5 goals. Was worried fatigue could well creep in especially going 1-0 down but the players showed great character to bounce back in the way they did. And since the 5 goals came against Leeds, will take that! Also, we somehow got away without playing an actual DM in the pivot.

I'm pretty pretty sure that he plays out wide on the right quite a lot.