TorontoChelsea

Arsenal have wingers but they generally build up pretty centrally through Arteta and Cazorla. I was surprised by the way Arsenal came out to be honest. Podolski and Ramsey on the wings gave them no width at all then when they brought on Oxlade-Chamberlin, he was able to take advantage of the space some more but ended up drifting too centrally (and kind of all over the place). Still, thought it was surprising not to take advantage of what we were giving them. Spurs are different. They have Walker and Lennon on the right and Bale and Vertonghen on the left. Bale can drift in some but their natural width can really open up our side and allow for space for Defoe (Or Dempsey or even Dembele) to run into.. I'd actually probably prefer Ramires on the right for this game because I think Ivanovic's defensive positioning has been poor this season and Mata provides basically no cover for that. However, as you say, we might decided to take the game to them. If we do that successfully, we might force Lennon and Bale inside to defend and they'd lose some of their width. They are definitely beatable, but it will be tough. (I think the ManU/Spurs match makes for interesting scouting. Here's the MOTD if you haven't seen it. http://www.soccer-blogger.com/2012/09/29/manchester-united-vs-tottenham-2-3-highlights-2012-vertonghen-bale-nani-kagawa-dempsey-goals-video/)

Was thinking a bit about this. I'll be very interested in what RDM does for this match because Spurs are a team that naturally will be difficult for Chelsea. They have real width and they tend to attack from there. We haven't really played a team like that so far. It will be interesting how RDM decides to play it because his preferred lineup seems to fit very poorly in this match.. Mata and Ivanovic marking Bale and Vertonghen? Yikes. It will be interesting to see if RDM goes with what's been working recently or plays the matchup more.

I'm not bothered when he shoots and it gets saved. What bothers me was the first chance when he has a shot and then tries to be too cute with it and plays himself out of a chance. Just shoot!!! Still, I'm OK with where he is right now. He's scoring regularly and he's doing a lot of link-up play well. I doubt he'll ever be an elite striker again, but he's miles better than he was last season and probably good enough for us to win with.

No. I just discovered that app two weeks ago and was thrilled only to find that I couldn't use it. From their website "Initially, Stats Zone will only be available for iOS devices (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad run in scaled mode). However, hopes are high that it can be brought to other platforms, including Android and a bespoke iPad version at some point in the future. As with everything, the future development of Stats Zone will be based on how well this first version is received."

This is when it starts to get tough. In the next 10 games we're at Spurs, at Donetsk, home against ManU twice, at Swansea, home to Donetsk, Liverpool, at West Brom and Juventus, home to City. Not one easy match there and almost all very difficult ones. Looking forward to the challenge.

Was excellent today and noticed even in Denmark that he seems to be timing his runs well and it paid off in a goal today. Was responsible for a lot of the good build-up play and switched play up very well. He'll still be contributing a lot to Chelsea this season.

And Giroud is proving the case once again that small sample sizes can be ignored. 1 goal, 1 assist so far. Not saying he's going to turn out great, just that you can't call someone a flop after 2 bad starts.

Out best game of the season so far. We were having trouble creating any chances and we had about 10 today (and 3 penalties that weren't called). Yes, it was Norwich, but still a positive. It's going to be a tough stretch after the break so it's nice to see us gelling. Ivanovic, Lampard, Mata, Oscar, and Hazard were all immense today.

Three today!

So close...beautiful set-up and I'm happy Torres shot. I'll take those kinds of misses.

This is getting ridiculous. Two obvious penalties!

This is sexy football.

Are you f#$@*ing kidding me? Lampard has had a fantastic first half. His passing has been superb. He set up a number of excellent chances and scored a goal. He had the pass to Torres to set up his first chance. He had the long pass to Mata to set up Ivanovic for the cross for Torres goal. He made a brilliant tackle that led to Oscar's great move. He made a couple of beautiful passes to open up play wide. In fact, he has our highest gamescore in the first half from whoscred.com Why are people so obsessed with hating on Lampard?

I know it's Norwich, but this is the best we've looked all season. Gorgeous passing and ball movement.

But they were fantastic. There is no way we beat Barcelona without the two of them (or score either the Drogba or Ramires goals). The partnership has been mediocre so far this season, but it's been what, 3 league games and one CL match? As I pointed out earlier, our overall record with these two in the double pivot, despite excellent competition is very good. It's not perfect, but it's hardly the mess people want to make it out to be.

More promising than winning the Champions League?

Yes, it's worked many times, in fact most of the time, it's worked. We are 9-4-1 under RDM with the two of them in the starting lineup with the only loss being away at Man City. (And that's including the CL semi final and final and the FA Cup final...hardly an easy schedule.)

I'm fine with anything official, even twitter!

In fact, there will be loads of people posting loads of lineups because twitter usually has about 10 different lineups. I'd love if people waited until some official starting XI before posting but I think that's probably asking too much.

And he saves a goal. It's always like that, isn't it. You say someone's awful and then they make a great play...hmm, gives me an idea. Everyone on Chelsea sucks! They can't score, they can't pass, they can't defend. (Let's hope that works.)

I hope so. There really aren't many more fun players to watch in the world. He's like uranium or something...if contained, he can power the entire team, but if not, well he will explode the entire game. I'd love to see more players like that.

Have to say, City are very entertaining to watch this season. Probably because their porous defence which means that games tend to be very attacking for both sides. I wish we would be playing them now because you have to think they'll get their defensive problems sorted out at some point.

TV/Online or in a bar. I actually prefer to watch most games alone because when I'm with people, there's some inevitable distraction. (Also, Chelsea games tend to be on in the morning here and I like to go to bars to drink not to eat breakfast.)

Congrats Hutcho. Well deserved. (and a big thanks to everyone who supported me.)

I'm happy Mata is not going. Don't care about Spain and it's better for Chelsea. As for deserving to go? Depends on what Del Bosque wants. I can understand picking Silva who is out of form but who has worked well in the Spanish national team for years and Cazorla who is having a fantastic season and is more well-rounded player than Mata. ( works hard defensively) What Mata provides is fantastic creativity and movement, some scoring, great passing, very good at free kicks, etc...For Chelsea, that's absolutely crucial but when you have Xavi, Iniesta, Fabergas, etc...it's much less important. Spain right now probably has the greatest collection of midfielders in history so there's no shame in not making that club. If Mata keeps playing like he has the past few games however, he'll play his way on to the team.