Jase

I don't think the keeper was expecting Mount to go directly for goal there. Was likely expecting him to cross into the box.

He's in the Roma squad to face Sampdoria tomorrow.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/01/26/chelsea-still-trying-tie-edin-dzeko-deal-will-move-agreement/ Gone from Thursday to Friday to by the end of the weekend for negotiations to be conclusive. Only 2-3 days to find an alternative...yup, will definitely end up with Crouch or Barnes or Rondon!

We've gone from Thursday to Friday being the decisive day in the negotiations.

So, we've spent the last week trying to sign Palmieri from Roma to suddenly wanting Kurzawa from PSG with only a few days of the transfer window remaining?

If that is true...how many scattered gun decisions can a club make?!

If you're looking for some hope, none of the journalists have come out to say Dzeko has rejected us...yet. Negotiations are probably still ongoing.

Just waiting for us to end up signing Ashley Barnes on Deadline Day.

Wait, did you say just Matic is a WORLD CLASS? I get what you're trying to say but c'mon now. That's just silly.

Nah. Reckon the defining point will be from mid-Feb till mid-March, when we play Barcelona (h), Man Utd (a), Man City (a), Barcelona (a). No thanks. His teams play decent football but can't defend and he seems to be one of those who can get easily distracted by external happenings.

As if we'll be able to pull that off!

Then how do you explain his sudden good performance against Brighton?

IF this goes to a replay, it's an auto loss. And never mind us, wonder how serious will Rafa take this game. Newcastle are only 1 point above the bottom 3 and face Burnley and Palace within 5 days after this tie.

Didn't happen often but there were couple of times in games last season where Conte switched to the 4-2-4 when chasing for the win. Happened against West Ham, Watford, Burnley etc.

It's one thing to be realistic. It's another to keep on talking about till it sounds like defeatism, something Conte has done all season. How can one expect the players to be motivated when the manager is constantly saying we can't compete with City and United? How can anyone expect the players to feel confident when the manager is indirectly saying they aren't good enough by constantly moaning about transfer signings? It's little wonder that the players have looked they CBA for most of the season. Correct me if I'm wrong but has Perez even spoken publicly about Hazard? I know he has expressed interest in Neymar but nothing about Hazard, IIRC. A lot of the Real Madrid stems from the fact that Zidane is there. Take him out of the equation and I'm not sure how genuine do Real want Hazard.

Looking forward to seeing Batshuayi for the rest of the season...

Fact checking?

How is that a calculation?