Hopefully we get off to a better start then three weeks ago, in which Milito fired the Nerazurri into a third minute lead, the stats were on our side but the score told a different story, as for all the pressure we exerted couldn’t find a second away goal. Kalou was denied a stonewall penalty near the end of the first half but in the second half his curling long ranger found it’s way into the corner of the net thus giving us a vital away goal. The scores stayed level for just four minutes, before Ivanovic’s clearance fell to Cambiasso who found the back of the net with his own long shot. For all our efforts, the truth is a lot were from outside the box and most never looked to trouble the keeper, the best of the lot being Drogba’s free kick that came back off the bar, and Ballacks long ranger that Cesar could only parry.

Since the last encounter we’ve let slip at home to Man City, beaten Stoke in the F.A Cup and most recently destroyed West Ham 4-1, after a lacklustre first half. Florent Malouda was the man all the plaudits warmed to on Saturday, putting in a series of decent crosses and taking his goal well too, hopefully he will turn in a similar display later.

Ancelotti has announced that Petr Cech and Hilario are still out, whether he is being as truthful as Mourinho in Barca ’05 remains to be seen, although such deceit is unlikely. This leaves Ross Turnbull in goal, and should are keeper crisis deepen during the match, Rhys Taylor may find himself between the sticks.

Carvalho is back, giving Ancelotti a centre back selection headache, having the Portugeezer, Terry, Alex and Ivanovic to choose from. At a guess Ivanovic will fill in the right back slot and Zhirkov will replace the ineligible Ferriera at left back, with Malouda being allowed to play his preferred midfield role he was partly deprived of in the first leg.

In midfield Mikel has often been preferred to start in the holding midfield role, with Lampard sure to start in the middle of the diamond, whether it’s alongside Malouda or Ballack is the bigger question, perhaps Carlo start them both, with Ballack at the top of the diamond. Or perhaps Ballack will play at the bottom and Mikel will be rested, but with Joey Cole seemingly out of favour this option doesn’t seem likely.

The attack writes itself, Drogba and Anelka. Drogba grabbed another two goals on the weekend and the Ivorian will be fired up for a clash against one of his biggest admirers. Sturridge and Kalou are sure to be waiting in the wings.

Inter’s league form has also been patchy, they have recently let slip in the league, with their lead at the top reduced to just one point. A 3-1 loss away to Catania was their latest slip up, drawing 0-0 with Genoa at the start of March and ending February with a 3-2 away win against Udinese. Inter are reportedly without Balotteli, Motta and Arnautovic.

Mourinho decided to decline the offer of being able to train on the Stamford Bridge turf, reportedly to stop anyone spying on him, something he used to allegedly do whilst in the Stamford Bridge hotseat.

There’ll be mixed feelings at Stamford Bridge this evening, Jose was the man who delivered us our first league titles in half a century and was loved by the Chelsea faithful, he has been surprisingly quiet in the build up to the match, possibly out of respect for his former club, a more likely reason then out of any respect for the man in the opposite dugout. His only real words ahead of it were pointing out that he doesn’t lose at Stamford Bridge, his only defeat being at home to Barcelona in the Champions League in the 05/06 season. Hopefully, his next defeat at Stamford Bridge will also come in the Champions League.

Predicted team: Turnbull, Zhirkov, Terry, Carvalho, Ivanovic, Mikel, Malouda, Lampard, Ballack, Drogba, Anelka.

Predicted score: A Jose special, 1-0 to Chelsea – Carvalho with the goal.

With news that Bosingwa will miss the rest of the season, and rumours that Essien might be joining him and Ashley Cole in doing so, let’s hope that the team come through unscathed tomorrow. Petr Cech is still out, Riccy Carvalho is a doubt and Ballack and Belletti are both serving suspensions for their sending offs in last weeks hiccup against Man City.

Unlike in previous rounds, Ancelotti is yet to name his side for tomorrows clash. Hilario will be expected to start in goal, whilst Zhirkov is back from injury and hoping to replace Malouda at left back. Alex wa an unused sub last week and and can provide back up should Riccy be out, alternatively Ferreira could slot in at right back and Ivanovic could partner JT at centre back. Deco also returns, and with the aforementioned suspension of Ballack, has a strong chance of starting the match, as do Kalou and Joey Cole.

Daniel Sturridge has four goals in the competition so far and has scored in all three rounds. No other player has scored more then one for us in the competition this season. Sturridge has started the last three rounds, but now we’re playing Premier League opposition may be overlooked in favour of the more experienced partnership of Drogba and Anelka.

If John Terry does play, then he equals Dennis Wise on 445 appearances for Chelsea, making him our joint fifth highest appearance maker.

Stoke have overcome some stern challenges in the F.A Cup so far and their passage to this round has arguably been much harder then ours. Last round they took Man City to a replay and beat them 3-1 in extra time, the round previous they beat Arsenal by the same scoreline, and the round before, they also won the third round by that score, this time against York City. Ryan Shawcross is suspended for his challenge on Ramsey, and Higginbotham and Etherington are both doubts. Robert Huth will be welcomed back to Stamford Bridge.

Their team last week saw Sorenson in goal, Huth at left back and Wilkinson right back, Faye and Shawcross in the middle of defence, Delap, Whelan, Whitbread and Pugh in midfield and Fuller and Sidbe up front.
Our last encounter was settled deep into stoppage time when Florent Malouda popped up with the winner at the Brittania Stadium, we again face The Potters at home on a Sunday at 4pm at the end of next month. The last time we met at the Bridge was the memorable match where we trailed 1-0 to Rory Delap’s goal, in the 88th minute Belletti headed an equaliser and Lampard scored a stoppage time winner. Our last F.A Cup meeting was in 2003, when we won 2-0 away with goals from Hasselbaink and Gronkjaer. Stoke beat us 2-1 in the 1972 League Cup Final.

The man in the middle is Mark Atkinson, our only other two matches he has officiated this season were the home wins over Liverpool (2y) and Man United (6y).

Predicted Team: Hilario, Zhirkov, Terry, Alex, Ivanovic, Mikel, Malouda, Lampard, Deco, Anelka, Sturridge

Ancelotti – who reportedly doesn’t get on with The Special One – will be in familiar territory as he returns to the stadium he managed rivals AC in for eight years, departing nine months ago.

Inter’s manager is obviously familiar amongst the Chelsea faithful, being the man who guided us to back to back Premier Leagues, our first top flight titles in half a century. After his abrupt departure, Mourinho took the rest of the season off, before joining the reigning Serie ‘A’ champions.

The weekend saw just our second away league win since November, a 2-0 win over Wolves courtesy of a Didier Drogba brace. Petr Cech was on fine form, and knows he needs to be again in the hostile atmosphere of the Giuseppe Meazza.

Frank Lampard missed the weekends clash due to a virus, but has travelled to Milan and is expected to start. There is a mini full back crisis though, with Ashley Cole joined on the sidelines by Zhirkov, Bosingwa is still out and his countryman Ferreira is not registered for European action. Deco and Essien are out in the midfield. But Belletti and Alex have both travelled with the team.

Cech will be expected to start in goal, the full backs are anyones guess, will Malouda be risked there? A position where he will potentially be exposed. Ivanovic is a likely candidate for the spot, with Belletti as the right back. John Terry and Riccy Carvalho will have Sammy Eto’o and Diego Milito to contain.

With a lack of alternatives, Mikel could well start as the holding midfielder, with Lampard, Ballack and Malouda the candidates for the centre of the diamond, Joey Cole could find himself at the apex of the jewel. Ballack’s Champions League experience should see him start, whether it will be alongside Lamps, at the tip, or even holding at the bottom is likely to only be known by Ancelotti. Drogba is in fine form and will be hard not to start, with Anelka partnering him as usual.

Inter’s preparation wasn’t ideal for them, having their second goalless draw in a row, and having both centre backs sent off in the first half, as well as Eto’o booked for diving. Mourinho’s handcuff action in response to this has put him in more bother with the Italian F.A.

We’ve never played Inter competitively, but did beat them 2-0 in Los Angeles in a pre-season friendly. Three times we’ve played AC Milan in the San Siro, twice in the 1966 Fairs Cup, and again in October 1999 when Dennise Wise scored a rather good goal. Whilst Carlo Ancelotti used to manage their neighbours AC, the Nerazurri were twice managed by our neighbour Fulhams manager, Roy Hodgson.

Inter have won the last four Serie ‘A’ titles, partly due to the max fixing scandal in Italy prior to the 2006 World Cup, which relegated their main competition and saw AC docked points. They call he stadium the Giuseppe Meazza, in tribute to a man considered to be one of the greatest Italian footballers of all time, who played for both Milan clubs, but mainly Inter.

Predicted Team: Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Carvalho, Belletti, Mikel, Lampard, Ballack, J. Cole, Drogba, Anelka.

Predicted Score: 1-1 (Drogba and Eto’o)

Last round saw us beat Darren Ferguson’s Preston side 2-0 at Deepdale, with goals from Anelka and Sturridge. The third round saw us play another Championship side, Watford, who we trashed five nil at home, Sturridge grabbed two that day, as well as Malouda, Lampard and an Own Goal. Making Sturridge our only player this season to have scored in both rounds so far.

Our team has two well documented absentee’s in it, JT is off patching things up with his wife, whilst Ashley Cole has unfortunately been ruled out for around three months due to a fractured ankle. Cole, who has won the F.A Cup the joint highest amount of time, is likely to miss the rest of the season, and has only featured in the third round win over Watford, where he started and came off in the 74th minute for Kakuta. Belletti is reportedly fit again, but isn’t on the bench, Essien, Deco and Bosingwa are still out injured too.

Ancelotti has named the team already. As with the two previous F.A Cup encounters, Hilario is in goal, Zhirkov has played both games in midfield, but is replacing Ashley Cole at left back tomorrow. Alex, Carvalho and Ferreira will complete the back four. Mikel will hold the midfield again, with Lampard and Ballack in the middle of the diamond, Joey Cole will play at the top of it with Sturridge keeping his F.A Cup starting place, and Drogba leading the line alongside him. The subs are Turnbull, Bruma, Ivanovic, Malouda, Matic, Borini and Kalou.

The Bluebirds, currently fourth in the Championship, have their own injury problems, with up to eight players out and Chopra and Gyepes rumoured to be asked to play through injury. In incomparably more serious news to other absentees, Stephen McPhail made his Cardiff comeback last week, after being diagnosed with stage one MALT lymphoma last October, but has since picked up a rib injury and is out tomorrow.

Peter Whittingham (15) and Michael Chopra (14) are the two top goalscorers in The Championship. Cardiff are in a good form in the push for the play offs, and in all competitions have won five of the last six, beating bottom placed Peterborough on Tuesday but losing 5-1 to Newcastle last week.

The last time we met was in the League Cup back in 1986, where Cardiff won 2-1 at Ninian Park, we’ve never beaten Cardiff in the F.A or League cups.

Cardiff lost to Portsmouth in the 2008 F.A Cup final, and in the only season they’ve won the F.A Cup, 1927, they knocked us out in a quarter final replay. They are still the only non-English team to win the competition.

Off the pitch they’ve had their problems recently, in another story far more serious then some other those that have received high coverage as of late, Cardiff have been battling their second winding up order by HMRC, for part of an unpaid tax bill. They’ve been given 28 days to pay it, so a victory tomorrow would really be welcomed for them in aiding their battle.

The ref will be Andre Marriner, he was the man in charge for both our league fixtures with Fulham this season, as well as Bolton in the League Cup and Arsenal away back in November.

If the match goes to a replay, it’ll take place on Saturday March 6th, at Cardiff City’s new Stadium, creatively titled Cardiff City Stadium.

Predicted Score: 2-0 Chelsea. Sturridge and Drogba.

After dropping two points at Hull in midweek, Carlo et al will be looking to keep ahead of Man United, who are at home to bottom side Portsmouth tomorrow.

The Hull match saw us concede from a corner, giving the number of goals conceded from set pieces a rise to 75%.

The big news is off the pitch is that John Terry has been stripped of the England captaincy, hopefully he will be mentally fit for Sunday, and no more allegations will come to light before the match.

Petr Cech will start in goal, the back four will likely consist of A.Cole, Terry, Carvalho and Ivanovic. Mikel returns so could be put into the holding role, Belletti is still out so Ballack is the other candidates for the role, unless Carlo opts for Deco or Zhirkov. Lampard, Malouda, Joey Cole, Deco will also all be competing for a midfield spot.

Up front, you can’t look further then the Drogba and Anelka combination. Drogba has scored ten goals against Arsenal and marked his club return by scoring a free kick against Hull, similarly placed to his one against Arsenal back in November.

The last time we played Arsenal it ended in a 3-0 win for us at the Fly Emirates Stadium, with Didier Drogba scoring two and Thomas Vermaelin scoring an own goal, Ashley Cole grabbed two assists for us. Arsenal were the last team to beat us at Stamford Bridge, 16 months ago.

Arsenal also dropped points last match, suffering a 3-1 defeat at home to Man United, the match before was a goalless draw away to Aston Villa. Their goal difference is currently six worse then ours. Eduardo, Vela, Djourou, Gibbs, Merida and Van Persie are all out for Arsenal.

Mike Dean is in charge of the match, he last officiated our away match to Preston, and before that West Ham in December, where Lampard had to twice retake his penalty. He also oversaw the Stoke City away much, but is yet to be in charge of a match at Stamford Bridge this season.

Predicted Team: Cech, A.Cole, Terry, Carvalho, Ivanovic, Mikel, Lampard, Ballack, Deco, Drogba, Anelka.

Predicted Score: 2-0. Drogba (2)

January was much kinder to us then December, winning both our F.A Cup matches, thrashing Sunderland 7-2, Birmingham 3-0 and beating Burnley the Saturday just been.

Drogba’s quest for the golden boot has suffered due to the ACN, he left as joint top on 14, but is now third place, six goals behind Rooney and one behind Defoe. Essien is out injured, Mikel and Kalou are back from international duty. Jose Bosingwa and Belletti are out injured, everyone else should be available.

Anelka is expected to start, surely alongside Drogba. Malouda, Ballack and Joey Cole are all waiting on who will get the nod, Lampard the only midfielder who is surely certain of his starting place. Will Mikel be recalled to hold the midfield? Joey Cole was subbed off after a lacklustre display on the weekend and may be dropped to the bench.

The defence almost picks itself, but there’s a question as to who will partner JT in central defence, Ashley Cole, John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic should all start, Alex started against Burnley and will perhaps be favoured to Carvalho again.

The Tigers fortunes could barely contrast ours any more, they lie second bottom, one point from safety, a win will see them go to 15th. Phil Brown has been under fire and will be desperate for a win, the ‘six pointer’ against Wolves ended in a 2-2 draw on the weekend, with Gardener scoring a horrific own goal.

Jimmy Bullard is likely out of action for Hull City with a knee problem, Ghilas, Marney and Zayatte are also doubts, Ashbee is definitely out, Seyi Olofinjana returned from ACN duty. Since Christmas, Hull have played five Premier League matches, drawing three of them and losing home and away to Man United. They’ve not won in any competition since beating Everton at the end of November.

The match in August was Carlo’s first at the helm and eventually finished in a 2-1 victory. We went a goal down when attempted murderer Stephen *unt scored for them, and Drogba equalised with a free kick eight minutes before the interval. With the second half a stalemate and into injury time, Didier’s cross somehow found it’s way into the back of the net, cruelly robbing Hull of a point. We had 26 shots at goal, with twelve of them on target, out of Hulls seven attempts, three were on target.

The referee has is Mark Clattenburg, who has officiated two of our matches this season, the Burnley and Pompey home matches, handing out a total of one yellow card.

Predicted Chelsea Line Up
Cech, A.Cole, Terry, Alex, Ivanovic, Mikel, Ballack, Lampard, Malouda, Drogba, Anelka.

Result – 2-1
Drogba, Anelka

Last round we beat Watford 5-0, with Daniel Sturridge registering his first two goals for us. Lamps and Malouda also scored, with the other being an own goal from Eustace. Lampard (2) and Malouda scored three between them in our only match since then, last weeks 7-2 drubbing of Sunderland, that day they were joined on the scoresheet by Anelka (also grabbed a brace), Ashley Cole and Ballack.

Ancelotti has decided to rob us of any speculation over his teamsheet, having come out and announced it already. Hilario will be between the sticks, Zhirkov, JT, Alex and Ferreira will be the defensive quartet. Belletti keeps the holding midfield position he was given for the Sunderland and Watford games, Lampard and Ballack are in the middle of the diamond and Deco returns and will be at the tip. Anelka and Sturridge will lead the attack.

Carlo announced that Ashley Cole has been left out due to minor injury but should be back for Birmingham, Malouda and Joey Cole have both been rested, presumably both will be on the bench. Hopefully Kakuta, Matic and Borini will also be waiting in the wings, all three came on as subs against Watford.

Lampard has scored five goals in the last six matches, and with eleven for the season he is back on track to score twenty goals, which would be enough to see him go joint third all time with legends Osgood and Bentley on 150. Surely you wouldn’t bet against him grabbing a goal tomorrow. A brace tomorrow would see Lamps equal Ossie on F.A Cup goals for Chelsea (19).

The Lilywhites currently lie 17th in The Championship, six points above safety with a game in hand, alternatively they are nine points off the play off spots with a game in hand. Alan Irvine had been the man in charge last season, a late league push which included a 6-0 win over Cardiff, and PNE winning on the last day and Cardiff losing saw them scrape the play offs ahead of the Bluebirds, both had the same points and Goal Difference but Preston had scored one more goal, but yet again they failed to secure top flight status, losing to Sheffield United in the semi finals. After two years at the club Irvine was sacked at the end of December and ex Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson replaced him.

Preston’s last match was Darren Ferguson’s first in charge, a 4-2 defeat away to Bristol City, that was their third league loss in a row, albeit all of which occurring away from home. Their passage into the Fourth Round was booked courtesy of a 7-0 drubbing of Colchester, who are currently fourth in League One. Then again, that was a Colchester side who followed one thrashing with another, a humiliating 5-0 home defeat against Norwich last week.

Preston have won the F.A Cup twice, in 1889 and 1938, they have been runners up five times, one of which being 1922 when they lost to Huddersfield Town at Stamford Bridge. The 1888/89 season was Preston’s most successful to date, as they also won the inaugural season of the Football League, therefore becoming the first team to do the double. The next season the regained the league title, but much like us 116 years later, they haven’t won the league since their back to back victories.

Chris Brown is Preston’s top scorer on nine goals in all competitions, with Jon Parkin one behind and ex Scouser Neil Mellor one behind that. Preston defender Sean St Ledger played against Anelka and Malouda (an 88th minute sub) in that now infamous World Cup play off match where Henry exposed himself as despicable cheat.

The last time we played Preston was at home in an F.A Cup match in 2002, when they were managed by David Moyes. After going down to an early Cresswell goal, Eidur and Jimmy score one apiece to put us 2-1 up after 26 minutes, and Forssell scored late on to seal the win in a match that Preston fans felt they could’ve earnt a draw in. Our only other F.A Cup encounter against each other was back in 1969, a goalless draw at Deepdale saw the replay at Stamford Bridge, we were two nil up but an electrical fire caused a blackout with 16 minutes to go, the match was replayed again and we won 2-1.

Mike Dean is the ref tomorrow, he was the one that got Lampard to rub it in West Ham fans faces just before Christmas by making him score his penalty three times before finally deciding one was allowed to count, that game saw seven bookings. He also officiated the 2-1 away win to Stoke back in September, booking Kalou for blocking a throw-in with his head, despite the fact he was standing the required two yards away, six players were booked that day. He was also in charge of last seasons away F.A Cup win at Watford, as well as Pompey and Arsenal at home, West Ham and Spurs away.

For each of the last five years, Preston have bowed out this competition at Deepdale to Premier League opposition, let’s hope that run continues. If the match goes to a replay, it’ll occur on Tues or Weds February 2nd/3rd and the Hull City fixture will be moved. The Fergusons look to be teaming up to pile misery on Ancelotti , a Man United win in the league against Hull would put them two points ahead of us, albeit having played two more matches.

Predicted Score:
3-1
Sturridge, Belletti and a Lampard penalty.

The match is a 12.45 Kick Off and was moved for television.

December wasn’t our best month in the league this season, in six matches we managed two wins, three draws and a loss our, that nine point total was three less then in our four games in August, our form in the last six games is the sixth best in the league.

As it stands, we’re two points ahead of second placed Man United, and four ahead of Arsenal, who have a game in hand. The Tigers fortunes could barely contrast ours any more, they lie second bottom, four points off bottom spot. Such is the narrow gap in points at the foot, that a win for them could put them up to 13th if other results go their way. Phil Brown has been under fire and will be desperate for a win.

Drogba’s quest for the golden boot has been put on hold, currently joint top on 14, he won’t be with us again this month due to the African Cup of Nations, Essien, Mikel and Kalou are also away for it. Jose Bosingwa is yet to regain fitness, same with his ‘countryman’ Deco.

Anelka is expected to start, whether two goal Daniel Sturridge will accompany him remains to be seen, or maybe a change of formation is to be made. Malouda, Ballack and Joey Cole are all waiting on who will get the nod, Lampard the only midfielder who is surely certain of his starting place. Zhirkov, Matic and Belletti are the obvious choices for the holding role, although Ballack has slotted back there on occasion.

The defence is likely to consist of Ashley Cole, John Terry, Riccy Carvalho and Branislav Ivanovic. Alex started against Watford though and is now back in the fold.

The ever charismatic and truly hilarious Jimmy Bullard is out of action for Hull City with a knee problem, as is Ashbee. Both Cousin and Olofinjana are at the ACN. Hull have failed to win in their last six league matches, their last home match was a 3-1 defeat by Man United, and for their last league match they travelled to Bolton, where they drew 2-2. They were dumped out the F.A Cup 4-1 away to Wigan on the weekend.

The match in August was Carlo’s first at the helm and eventually finished in a 2-1 victory. We went a goal down when attempted murderer Stephen *unt scored for them, and Drogba equalised with a free kick eight minutes before the interval. With the second half at a stalemate and into injury time it looked like the points would be shared, until Didier’s cross somehow found it’s way into the back of the net, cruelly robbing Hull of a point. We had 26 shots at goal, with twelve of them on target, out of Hulls seven attempts, three were on target.

The referee is Martin Atkinson, who has yet to brandish a Red Card this season, our only two matches he has officiated this season have been the home wins against Liverpool (2 yellow cards) and Man United (6y). Last season he oversaw our 5-0 win over Sunderland (1y), the F.A Cup Semi over Arsenal (5y), and the 2-0 away win against Stoke (2y). The season before that he sent off Drogba in a 0-0 stalemate against Fulham, as well as our home League Cup match against Liverpool, sending off Peter Crouch, and our 1-0 away win to Everton in Sky’s unique Thursday Night Premier League Football Special.

Predicted Chelsea Line Up
Cech, A.Cole, Terry, Carvalho, Ivanovic, Zhirkov, Ballack, Lampard, Malouda, Sturridge, Anelka.

Everton are the guests this time as Ancelotti hopes to see out the weekend with us maintaining our top of the table status.

Our home league form can’t be faltered, seven wins in a row, netting four past Wolves, five past Blackburn and sandwiched between them was a win over Man United. It’s been over ten hours of football now since the solitary goal against us at home in the league, against Hull on the opening day.

Our last league match was a 2-1 defeat away to Man City, our third loss of the season, a match in which we created few chances and except a Lampard penalty never looked likely to grab an equaliser.

Jose Bosingwa and Alex are both doubts, Kalou should be out still, Essien has a torn hamstring and is expected to be out of action until after the Cup of Nations.

Who will get the nod at the apex of the diamond is anyones guess, Ancelotti kept faith in Deco for the full 90 minutes against Man City, and has preferred him to Joey Cole recently. Ballack and Lampard are likely to start in the middle of the diamond and with Essien injured Mikel should be playing the holding role.

Everton lie in a lowly 15th, and their away form can’t fill them with confidence, they’ve so far had seven away matches, losing five of them. Their only win at Stamford Bridge in the Premiership came over a decade ago, in SW6 our last three PL matches against each other have ended in a stalemate.

The Toffee’s squad is severely depleted for tomorrows encounter, Tim Cahill is suspended for picking up five bookings, captain Phil Neville is out, as are central defensive pairing Yobo and Distin, in midfield Arteta, Osman, Vaughan and alleged Chelsea target Gosling are missing. As is Anichebe and long term absentee Phil Jagilka won’t be back until after Christmas.

Set pieces have been our Achilles Heel so far, and with Fellaini comes height, although regular corner taker Arteta isn’t there to provide the assists. Russian Bilyaletdnov, Rodwell and Peinaar are expected to make up their midfield, with Jo playing just behind Saha. Tony Hibbert got moved into the centre of defence last weekend and is expected to be there again, alongside Lucas Neill, Jonny Heitinga will likely be their right back with Baines at left back.

Last seasons matches against each other both ended in goalless draws. The encounter at Goodison Park was reffed by tomorrow’s official Phil Dowd, the match was just before Christmas, John Terry was sent off for a lunge on Leon Osman.

The match at Stamford Bridge was the last time we dropped points in the league at home, Guus Hiddink’s Chelsea outfit probably turned in their worst home display under him, a midweek match in which Jo, Pienaar and Cahill all had chances to win it for the visitors.

There’s also the small matter of last seasons F.A Cup final that both sides contested, a half clearance by Alex resulted in Louis Saha beating Robbie Di Matteo’s record for the quickest goal in an F.A Cup final, before a Drogba header levelled in the first half. Frank Lampard created space for himself, turned onto his weaker left foot and scored a beauty of a curling shot to win it for us.

In his 13 PL games officiated this season, Phil Dowd has made four sendings off and booked 44 players. One of those red cards being Petr Cech away to Wigan back in September, a game in which he gave four bookings.

Predicted Team: Cech, A. Cole, Terry, Carvalho, Ivanovic, Mikel, Lampard, Ballack, Deco, Drogba, Anelka.

Predicted Score: It’s normally close against them, but with their injury problems I’m going for a 2-0 win.

Ancelotti made eight changes to the side that saw off Arsenal with ease. Hilario, Ivanovic, Ferriera, Belletti, Malouda, J. Cole, Kalou have been ever present throughout our League Cup campaign, Mikel, Zhirkov, Deco and Ballack completed Wednesdays line up, they have each started two of the three matches. Drogba, Kakuta and Bruma were joined on the subs bench by Turnball, Hutchinson, Matic and Borini.

Neil McDonald stood in for Sam Allardyce, who has had heart surgery and should be back in the stands this weekend.

The first half was one to forget from Chelsea, an appalling half of football saw us trudge off a goal down. With Blackburn on the attack, Chimbonda and Pederson linked up for a one-two, the low cross found Kalinic who tapped in from close range, dreadful defending. Our chances were limited, Zhirkov had an effort saved by Robinson, as did Joey Cole, Ballack hit the side netting with a volley.

At half time Ancelotti decided to go for a triple substitution, bringing off Joey Cole, Deco and Belletti for Drogba, Kakuta and Bruma. Two minutes into the half and Malouda’s cross was met by Drogba, his powerful and well placed heard beat Paul Robinson and put us on level terms.

Four minutes later Zhirkov’s clever pass split the Blackburn defence and found Solomon Kalou in acres of space, Kalou advanced with it, waited for Robinson to come out a little and placed it superbly into the corner.

Hilario knows that displacing Cech is an impossibility, but Turnball replacing the Portugeeser as Cechs understudy is a possibility, so he unfortunately did himself no favours for Blackburns equaliser. Emerton’s cross was deflected high in the air, as it came down Kalinic jumped for the header but didn’t make contact. Hilario had to wait until that moment to commit himself to the ball, but unfortunately he missed timed going down to collect it and it went under him and into the net.

By the 70th minute Blackburn had made two subs, Grella came on for Pederson and Hoilett came on for Roberts.

Drogba had a good shot saved by Robinson in the 71st minute, almost straight after this Kalou got injured and had to come off, leaving us to play the last 20 minutes with ten men. Memories of the Feb 2005 Newcastle F.A Cup game must have been coming back to all.

Benny McCarthy thought that he had won it for Blackburn in the last minute of the match, but his goal was ruled out for offside. Kalinic then saw his last ditch effort saved by Hilario, so the game went into Extra Time.

Blackburn then used their last substitution, Heerden came on for Nzonzi. Just two minutes after the restart and Blackburn were in front, Zhirkov slid in but caught the man instead of the ball, ref Alan Wiley correctly gave a penalty. McCarthy converted the penalty. Bruma picking up a caution for fouling Kalinic is the only other point of note in the half.

The second half of extra time saw a penalty appeal from Chelsea, Drogba was in the box and going near the by-line, as he cut inside Samba dived in for the challenge, taking the ball then the man, Drogba went down under the challenge and his head hit Paul Robinson’s knee. After a quick bit of treatment the Ivorian was back on the pitch.

The fourth official held up two minutes of stoppage time. Right at the death, a high ball went into the Blackburn area, Robinson went for the aerial ball and under pressure from Ballack failed to deal with it, the ball fell to the unlikeliest of heroes, Paulo Ferreira rifled the ball into the net.

So it went to penalties, McCarthy started the shootout, he stepped up and converted his second penalty of the night. Michael Ballack, the usually ever-reliable penalty taker was second-guessed by Paul Robinson, who dived magnificently to tip the German’s effort on the post.

Emerton, Drogba, Grella and Malouda all scored their ones, Kalinic then saw his effort saved by Hilario. Zhirkov and Holiett converted their efforts. So upstepped Gael Kakuta, the eighteen year olds effort was fairly strongly struck but down the middle, and unluckily for him, Robinson hadn’t committed to much of a dive and was able to save it.

It must be hard on Gael Kakuta, having received a transfer ban which has been suspended, and now missing the decisive penalty. He is only eighteen, and these are the sorts of things that will mould him as a person, hopefully he will become mentally stronger from it.

In the League Cup, since Villa knocked us out in normal time in December 2003 we’ve now either reached the final or lost on penalties. Last season it was Burnley and 05/06 it was Charlton – both of which were at home. With Robert Huth missing against Charlton, maybe League Cups are an Achilles Heel for German penalty takers. Neither Ferreira nor Mikel took a penalty this time, but both did last season in the defeat against Blackburn’s Lancashire neighbours Burnley, with the latter missing the decisive one.

So after the hour mark Carlo’s Half Time gamble looked like it’d pay off, but then unfortunately Blackburn equalised, Kalou got injured and we had to play 50 minutes with ten men. It was a good opportunity for some fringe players and youngsters to get involved and display their talents to the new manager.

Good luck to Blackburn in their Semi Final against Villa. As for us, well, we’re five points clear in the league and the treble is still on.