Chelsea vs Aston Villa

[Drogba11CFC 108]

Townsend's lineup:

Cech

Bosingwa Bruma Terry Cole

Ramires Essien Lampard

Anelka Drogba Malouda

Telegraph predicted Ferreira at CB

[BlueLion. 21,491]

At this moment in time I believe the Ram-Lamps-Essien combination is the best midfield we can possibly play until Zhirkov returns. Ramires played very well against Bolton and although he's still feeling his way into the Premier League, he is a high-energy player with a high work-rate. Essien and Lampard need no description on their qualities, but I believe whilst Frank is regaining full fitness and not yet at his imperious best, its likely that Essien and Ramires will get forward to support the forwards. I'm a big fan of Zhirkov and feel that the games he's played in this season, he's been impressive. He is a very creative and composed player but the best thing about him in midfield is his versatility. He won't always stay narrow and when he's playing on the left with Cole and Malouda, the three interlink very well and make us very difficult to play against. Its just a shame we don't have the same dynamism on the right.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

until Zhirkov returns.

Am I the only one frustrated about lack of information about what's wrong with him? :mellow:

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Definitely not mate, I'm a massive fan of Zhirkov, who I think is another underrated and under-appreciated player at this club. He played such a massive role in our incredible form between January and March whilst Cole and Essien were injured. And he's been good in the majority of games he's played this year too.

I think we're missing his drive and the width he offers. Although I said this earlier and got laughed out by the more narrow-minded supporters who can't appreciate players unless they score endless amounts of goals.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Definitely not mate, I'm a massive fan of Zhirkov, who I think is another underrated and under-appreciated player at this club. He played such a massive role in our incredible form between January and March whilst Cole and Essien were injured. And he's been good in the majority of games he's played this year too.

I think we're missing his drive and the width he offers. Although I said this earlier and got laughed out by the more narrow-minded supporters who can't appreciate players unless they score endless amounts of goals.

Nono, definitely agree with you. One just needs to look at his drives into the box when playing to know how much more he gives to our attack. His drives are tremendous vs Aston Villa last year (in the 7-1) it was his strides into the box that won us penalties because defenders could simply not handle him.

His improvisation is also something we miss, his cross for Ivanovic in the game vs Blackburn was sensational. The way he twisted his whole body to get that beauty of a cross to Ivanovic was just beautiful and hardly picked up by people. Certainly, when he comes back, he'll give us a big boost when we attack.

[eldo 868]

Zhirkov is great player, but imo not as a midfielder.

[DYC. 7,542]

I agree with you BL about Zhirkov being a quality player, i thought I was the only who recognised his quality. But CA has been using him ineffectivley for too long. He's too inconsistent in a midfield-three for me and he should be used in his natural left-winger role. I think he can become a real hit in his natural role. He's the only winger we have with real pace and his dribbling, technique and crossing is impressive too. Yet he has made only one appearance (!) as a winger for us.

I'm hoping CA finally decides to play him there (switching Louda to the right?) when he comes back. It's a shame he's so injury-prone though...

[Milan 17,853]

It is not a coincidence that Zhirkov is nicknamed 'Russian Ronaldinho'. We can see it sometimes but put him on a wing and his potential will be immediately seen in full.

[Ollie 4,400]

Wanna see a performance now, a performance to say hang on a minute, we're chelsea, we're the champions and we're back in business. We thumped this team last season, i'm not saying we'll go n score 7 again but they are having a really bad season and are on free-fall at the moment and their defence is a shambles. Huge opportunity for us tomorrow to regain some confidence and stop looking scared. 3-0 at least.

[Laylabelle 9,351]

Results today have been shit! nervous about this one eeek!!

Win tommrow be all good and kick start the year

Dont go back to being shit Chelsea for christ sake!

[Steve 10,227]

Good to see Jeffery in the squad hope he has a good game. The lad deserves this, so I hope he shows his worth!

[Kostas 1,468]

Cech

Ferreira - Bruma - Terry - A.Cole

Essien

Ramires - Lampard

Anelka - Drogba - Malouda

Bench: Turnbull, Bosingwa, Kalou, Sturridge, van Aanholt, McEachran, Mellis.

[Mário César 975]

Ferreira?

[Kostas 1,468]

Ferreira?

Either Bosingwa is still unfit or his contract situation doesn't allow Carlo to use him more^{1 2}.

¹ Similar to Borini's case

² On a second thought that didn't stop Ancelotti from using J.Cole

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Bosingwa still doesn't strike me as a player who is fully fit so I'm not at all surprised he's been rested.

[Milan 17,853]

Boz will most likely come in during the second half.

[Mário César 975]

Chelsea

http://www.atdhe.net/31768/watch-chelsea-vs-aston-villa

[Laylabelle 9,351]

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek! Dont fuck this up Chels!