Stats

TBH I thought Eto'o was average. Went missing large moments of the game. Not poor but also not good. That besides, excellent performance though.

That is a fact. The amount of talents we have who are going to be brilliant players once they mature is amazing. RLC, Boga, Brown, Feruz, Baker, Ake, Christensen. Quite crazy, the abundance of talent we have. No wonder our team are always up there to win the youth cup and I expect them to be back at it again. The likes of Feruz, Boga, Kiwomya, RLC, Christensen, Brown are still eligible to play in the competition. Exciting talent we have!

Schurrle? He has played very well recently which is why he is unlikely to start tonight because he has earned starts in the major competitions with his performances.

That is wrong because Walcott got a set back a few days ago and was ruled out for another 2-3 weeks and Podolksi is not ready yet despite those rumours and neither of them are in the squad. Just to let people know, it looks likely that Arsenal will start young Isaac Hayden tomorrow. Whatever team Arsenal play we should not underestimate them as they fielded many youngsters against WBA and managed to get through and they will be eager to win against us. That being said, will be nice if we can go out and give them a beating.

He does but due to their schedule he will have to make sacrifices. Ozil being the key one as he has started every single game since joining. The fact that Arsenal are doing so well in the league and are 50/50 in their champions league campaign means Wenger will put less empthasis on this cup which might play in our hands but at the same time they still will have a good team and should not be underestimated. Also, yes you are right about their last COC match. Wenger but out quite a lot of unexperienced players. Will play a slightly better team against us but still with quite a few players from their normal 11 out because they far too many important fixtures coming up that will tell a big part in how their season ahead lies.

Extremely harsh on Mikel. Poor??? Sorry but I completely disagree. He done his job and I don't recall him looking like a weak link. Mourinho put him on for a reason. To help shore up the midfield and provide more cover for the defence and he done that. He kept possession and provided needed stability for the team.

They have Liverpool, Dortmund and United in the next fortnight. I definitely don't see Ozil starting. Wenger cannot afford to lose him for those fixtures so I am quite sure he will miss out against us. They have a few injuries as it is and while it is a comp they would like to win, they are not going to make it a priority over the PL and CL and with those fixtures coming up, Ozil will more than likely be saved for those games.

Walcott and Podolski are both injured. Expect the likes of Gnabry, Rosicky and Vermaelen to start as well and maybe even Eisfield and Miyaichi to play as well due to their important upcoming fixtures. Will be nice to see KDB and Essien play though. Feels like an eternity since they last played ans hopefully they along with the rest can put in a performance to give Jose a problem.

If that was the case he would have started against Cardiff then but Eto'o did. Jose will rotate because of our options and if we have got another like for like option like Eto'o, Jose will play him as he has 2 strikers who are 100% match sharp. Nice problem to have if they can carry on from where they last left of.

Look at your original post I replied to. It is pathetic and unreasonable and tbh I don't know why I bothered replying to such bullshit. I won't bother...

Highly doubt it even if he continues his good form. Last season we played a huge amount of games and he got more chances as he was basically one of our 2 attackers. Now we have three and Torres will be rotated for many. Last season Torres had to play all the European games because Ba was cup-tied and we did not have any other reliable options at the time. Now we have three strikers. Would be amazing he could but a lot of the reason he got those goals as stated was because we kept playing him and played a higher percentage of games more than most teams. This season he will be rotated a lot to refresh our attacking options but would be good to see him get near those figures.

If we are talking about creativity, Lamps is not the sort of player who will dribble through like Silva, Ozil and Mata and do an exquisite through ball but if people think that his vision and creativity in terms of passing is average then they need to look again. His range of passing is excellent. Has been the key in many games. Chelsea 6-0 Man City... the pass he done for Drogba was one of the best you will see and only a few players with technical skills can pull of stuff like that. I can't mention all of them but there are so many games where he has pulled of brilliant passes. So those who think most of his assist are all due to set pieces are completely wrong. Remember the game in the FA Cup against Arsenal where Drogba scored the winner at Wembley. The vision he had to pull of that long pass for Drogba was magnificent. Oh yeah, Malouda's equalizer as well. Who done that brilliant ball for him? Lamps, was the decisive factor that game. His vision is excellent and as I said he has one of the best passing range I have seen in football.

Well that is rubbish because he could of chose to stay with City during the winter run but he obv has love for his country and went to play for them.

Barcelona, yes when he came on, his goal was priceless but apart from that has he proved to be the match winner in big games. He got consolation goals against the likes of United in the 3-1 loss and scored against Arsenal when we beat them at the Emirates last season but apart from that he as not scored against big teams or made a huge impact. In Europe, with all respect he scored against teams such as Genk. Drogba scored against so many big teams and was the decisive factor in many big games in domestic and European competitions. That being said it is good that he is looking on form right now but I have seen it far too often. Hopefully he can carry on his form and add a few more goals to his game and be the decisive factor like the game on Tuesday night where he was excellent.

Also goals are goals but Drogba scored goals against the highest caliber of oppositions and many of Torres goals came against Europa League opponents and as you say Drogba just offered many other things than goals. The amount of goals he got us that got us trophies and decided big games were priceless.

Woah. That is his best asset. As Rosenior mentioned on the FL show, he is a natural finisher. I definitely don't think he was hinting he needs to work on his finishing. He has like 12 in 16 or something and his finishing has been nothing but sublime.

Plus the 0-0 draw at Emirates a couple seasons ago. He was voted by the Skysports commentary team as MOTM. He never has been a weakness. Just not as high profiled as Cole but a very good option to have.

Happy that Bertrand gets a chance today. I feel in games like this where we are going to have most of the ball and be on top, Bertrand should be starting as he is much more of an attacking threat than Cole and I reckon we will see the difference he adds in this game. Like his positive attacking instincts. Not a world class LB of course but he has impressed me most times I have seen him in a Chelsea shirt.

What will it be then? Most of us want him here but if a big offer comes along I don't think the board will swiftly reject it. I reckon they would consider it while we have a brilliant keeper as it stands.

I would hate to see Courtois leave but I really can see Barca willing to spend big on him to get him. I would not be surprised if they offered around £30m for him and I am sure our board would find it hard to resist an offer like that. It works both ways as it would be good business but on the other hand you are losing a GK talent who is up there amongst the best already and could be our no.1 keeper for the next 2 decades. Will be interesting for sure.

Mata's goalscoring record since joining has been brilliant since joining us. Despite not hitting the net yet he is probably the best scoring attacker in our attacking midfield. Mata got around 20 goals last season.

We don't need him. He scored tons of goals last season but he does not suit our style and he is not an out and out centre forward. A no go for us.

Look, Cole is a better defender but not a superior defender as Baines is not a weak link in defence. He just loves going forward but is superiority going forward outweighs Cole's better defensive ability. As a fullback it is good to defend but in the game nowadays the fullbacks get forward much more and it is an added bonus. England would be much more of a threat with Baines in the team. I cannot even recall that much games where I would say Baines was a weak link in defence. Cole was the best LB in the prem if not the world but now I reckon it is time that he gets replaced by both club and country imho.

Yeah but this has nothing do with Lukaku. We already know he is a top talent but at 18 years old Lukaku never could get a start at us. Januzaj was obviously considered good enough to start in a key game for United which shows he obviously has a lot of quality. LOL and Oscar has proved a quality addition to our team, that makes no sense. What Januzaj done was exceptional. Clear talent and I don't think no one is overrating him. Moyes clearly sees the quality hence why he is starting him, considering the fact that he is not actually playing because others are injured, it is because he is playing on what Moyes has seen of him.

Fully agree about Cole but Shaw is not going nowhere in January and possibly next summer as well. Southampton have no need to sell. They are doing well financially. There chairman, Cortense is highly ambitious and Shaw signed a five year contract not too long ago and Southampton are a club looking to reach Europe. Shaw is getting regular football there. Something he will not get if he moves here but I would love to see him here as our LB in a few years.