Reddish-Blue

Will our midfield cope without Lampard?

KDB might as well be sold. He's behind Hazard, Oscar, Willian, Mata & Schurrle in the pecking order and unless something drastically changes, he will always be our 5th/6th best AM...

Won't bother reading the essay. The last two lines of your post basically sum up the Mata situation....he's a great player but selling him wouldn't be the end of the world.

1. Lampard breaking the goalscoring record 2. Mourinho returning 3. Possibly seeing Juan Mata in a Chelsea shirt for the last time

West Ham basically play a three man midfield...against Sunderland, they had Noble, Diame and Morrison as the three midfielders

Should be a tough match but expecting 3 points

We might as well let Aké take Essien's place on the bench.

Maybe in two years time he'll be ready to play for Chelsea

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1666302/chelsea-midfielder-michael-essien-join-champions-league-club-next-month?cc=3436 Essien to leave Chelsea in January? Wouldn't be surprised if he did leave..

Eto'o was poor today, other than the goal which was a good finish, he was fairly quiet. Also, when Ivanovic got injured, the only real option from the bench was Ashley Cole.

Our summer window wasn't wasted...we just spent too much on Willian (he's a good AM...but definitely not worth 30 million)

http://en.valenciacf.com/ver/34183/juan-antonio-pizzi-signs-his-contract-as-the-valencia-cf-manager.html Valencia hire new manager, good luck to Mr. Pizzi

This thread should have been closed a long time ago....

Guarin could be a decent signing...but then you see rumors linking Matic to Chelsea for 30-35 million... The rumors could be entirely false but if they are true.. I'd rather take a DM/CM like Matic to partner with Ramires/Lampard...then Guarin.

Unfortunately, you can't change a players approach to the game at Luiz's age. He likes to take risks and get the ball forward. If you want a no nonsense, consistent defender then Luiz isn't the answer.....then again, Cahill isn't the long term answer either..

Expecting a tough match...will probably finish 1-1

A win is a win...but seriously, the lack of killer instinct might cost us the title.

This guy can only get better and better Good performance from Hazard

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/12/24/clint-dempsey-fulham-loan-stay-fit-world-cup-help-out-club-feels-home Confirmation that Clint Dempsey has returned to Fulham (on-loan)

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/chelsea-transfer-news-markovic-matic-2956730 According to that article...Matic could be available for only 20 million!

Happy with the point...was a bit worried when Giroud had that chance in the last 10 mins but luckily Terry came to the rescue.

4 signings - CB, CM, ST and LB to fill the void of Ashley Cole.

I just don't like the idea of losing to Arsenal...it will give them a psychological boost heading into potentially tricky away fixtures against West Ham and Newcastle..

Exactly..he's a hungry kid looking to make an impact, he wants to score goals... Out of our current strikers, none of them look like they want to prove a point.... Eto'o has already achieved everything with Barca and Inter...Torres' best form is long gone and Ba just isn't good enough to lead the line for a club like Chelsea I just hope we can start next season with Lukaku and (insert name of new striker) as our main options upfront.

I think thats the main issue...he's not going to massively improve our midfield. The major concern with signing Guarin is that the defensive side of our pivot won't change If we do end up signing Guarin, I expect him to be a squad player, NOT a starter at Chelsea...