The details of his involvement came out during a Law Society case against Timothy Drukker, the solicitor ostensibly dealing with the transfer and Chelsea’s defence will be that they thought they were dealing with Drukker alone. Earlier in life Mr Drukker choose, wisely, against a career in secondary education.
Rumours also that Nicolas Anelka will be getting contract extension soon and that Ashley Cole is back from his holi… recuperation in France to work on his ankle at Cobham.

Wednesday 10 March
Chelsea reserves 3:0 Stoke City reserves
For once the men against boys analogy worked the other way round as a strong Chelsea reserve side whopped a Stoke academy team. Goals came from Daniel Sturridge could have scored five but settled with just two (he’ll boast about the one that bounced in off his backside) and Gael Kakuta.
Any explanation as to why the reserves are still playing at Cobham gratefully received. Any suggestion that Griffin Park is too expensive should be rejected out of hand.
Our FA Cup trip to Wembley will be on Saturday 10 April, with a five o’clock kick-off.
This diary rarely pays any attention to gossip but Britain’s most successful newspaper, (the Daily Star, if you have to ask) is suggesting that Joe Cole will be leaving in the summer because the pay deal he was offered was a one-year extension and a 40% pay salary cut. It cannot be true.
Finally, Ryan Bertrand scored his first goal in professional football, as the Reading loaned, left-back lashed in a right foot shot in against the Derby ’keeper Robbie Savage. It would take too long to explain how Savage ended up in sticks but a goal is a goal.

Thursday 11 March
Congratulations to Didier Drogba who is 32 today and African player of the year on his birthday. It is his second, or third, victory in the Caf award. In 2008 he won only to be stripped of the title because he couldn’t attend the award ceremony. Things have clearly changed, a spokesman said back then: “Any player who is absent at its award ceremony will not be taken into consideration in placements of African footballer of the year”. None of the players on the short list will be attending this year’s ceremony.
Drogba is not feeling his age mind: “If you put in your head that you are 32 and you are old it is going to be difficult. I still feel like a kid when I am on the pitch so sometimes Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has to pull me back.”
Didier also said his injury free season was down to putting his knee right last season: “I can say that I am lucky or I can say that the few months that I took out last year to get my knee well are now paying off.”
Petr Cech could be back for the Blackburn game, if the season isn’t shot by then, as optimistic noises waft out of Cobham.

Friday 12 March
Bugger, wouldn’t you know it, just as one jittery, unreliable goalkeeper pulls up with a hamstring another steps unto the breach. Yes, Hilario will be missing tomorrow and Ross Turnbull will be between the sticks and probably stay in for Inter’s visit next Tuesday.
Thankfully Rhys Taylor, who is confident and reliable, is on the bench.
Yuri Zhirkov returns.
Talking of Internazionale, they lost this evening in Sicily to perennial strugglers Catania.

Saturday 13 March
Chelsea 4:1 West Ham United
Florent Malouda tore West Ham to bits and sent their fans back East to think of some more original John Terry songs. The Frenchman crossed 16 times in the game, created two headed goals and scored with a shot of his own.
Malouda didn’t start looking like a left wing terrorist, his first involvement was to lash the ball hopelessly wide and West Ham could/should then have taken the lead. Mido, of all people, was allowed to muscle aside Ferreira, stand in left back, to pick out Ilan, who could only wallop the ball into the Harding upper
Malouda then tore forward to force a corner and when his kick came back to him via JT, he crossed for Alex to head home unopposed. 1-0.
Malouda crossed again for Matthew Upson to deflect the ball onto the bar, Green scrambled it clear with Didier breathing down his neck.
Given the number of chances at the start nobody expected what came next: old boy and persistent irritant, Scott Parker lashed one goalward on the turn and remarkably it went in. 1-1. Ross Turnbull looked extremely pissed off to lose his clean sheet to an impossible shot.
We kept pressing and Lampard had a shot turned round well by Green but things felt flat at half-time.
The restart felt a little flat too until John Terry got frustrated and burst forward found Drogba at the edge of the box who fed Malouda, who else, who crossed for Didier to head into an unguarded net. 2-1.
Robert Green then did his Gordon Banks impression, launching himself sideways to keep out another Alex header, just before Joe Cole came on to the usual warm and appreciative reception from the away fans.
Malouda tired of setting up team mates for the goals chose to score the next himself, taking Drogba’s knockdown 30 yards out he cut inside Danny Gabbidon and reversed the ball past Robert Green. 3-1.
It was all the fun of the fair after that: Joe Cole tried to make up for lost games in the half hour he was given; Lampard hit the post as he tried to steer in yet another Malouda cross; finally, Didier Drogba reacted fastest when Lampard’s shot was deflected by Green. 4-1.
Not the best performance of the season but Gianfranco Zola obviously took pity on us by leaving Carlton Cole on the bench and playing dumb and dumber up front. Turnbull didn’t have a shot to save until injury time and that was straight at him.

Chelsea youth 2:0 Birmingham City youth
This was the usual Saturday Cobham fare but in warm-ish sunshine for a change. Birmingham had a few players out and Chelsea were warming up before the FA Youth Cup game against Blackburn on Wednesday so the game lacked real bite and goals from Milan Lalkovic and Jacopo Sala in each half settled things.
Budding wing-maestro Gokhan Tore came off as a precaution in the second-half but he should be fine for Blackburn.

Breaking hypocrisy news: (or should that be breathtaking hypocrisy news) Fabio Capello has explained that his captains must set an example to the young and that Terry will not captain the side again under him.

He will be able to explain to the nation’s youth then why a man who drunkenly assaulted a DJ will lead out the team on Wednesday, in the absence of his first choice captain who served a nine-month drugs ban.

Wednesday 3 March
England 3:1 Egypt
The booing was somewhat predictable until it seemed the meatheads realised that England’s defence was struggling and the only player holding things together was John Terry when the boos started to die away. One thumping clearance just after we’d taken the lead filled the new stadium with cheers and that was that: John Terry was back and captain in all but name.
Upson’s slip to let Egypt take a first-half lead helped JT’s redemption as did his solid display and forays forward. The England mojo was rebooted by Peter Crouch with two and, however unlikely he looks, we should be used to it by now. Shaun Wright-Phillips scored the other.
Elsewhere in World Cup warm-ups, Hilario made his debut for Portugal aged just 34 (we’ll soon find ourselves saying “don’t footballers look young these days”), Paulo Ferreira played left-back. Ballack’s Germany were beaten by Argentina, Anelka and Malouda were in the French side beaten 0-2 by Spain. Finally, Miroslav Stoch, who has been tearing up Dutch defences for FC Twenty this season came on late for Slovakia as they lost to Norway.

Friday 5 March
Jose Bosingwa will not play against this season or in the World Cup because of complications in his knee. Michael Essien will be a few weeks later than planned with a slight complication.
Dates have been set for the you cup semi final against Blackburn Rovers; away first next Wednesday and then at the Bridge on Monday 22 March both games at 7pm.

Saturday 6 March
Chelsea youth 2:2 Southampton youth
Jacopo Sala doesn’t make the headlines as often as some but he opened the scoring here and could have had a couple. Milan Lalkovic scored the other to put us 2-0 up before half-time. But, Southampton’s youth set up has been excellent for some time and we’ll say they battled back, rather than describe the intercepted back pass or rickety defending that lead to their goals. Our report that Aldi Haxhia had left a few weeks ago appear to have been wide of the mark. We will check our sources more carefully in future.

Sunday 7 March
Chelsea 2:0 Stoke City
This grinding game and ultimately comfortable win was just what the doctor ordered. Chelsea have been struggling on and off the pitch and surviving a Stoke City battering will have lifted confidence.
Stoke started with menace and the usual Rory Delap long-throw. Keen watchers of Chelsea’s reserve goalkeepers knew what to expect as Hilario flapped and panicked but somehow, well Obi John clearing off the line, they failed to turn the first twenty-minute spell into a goal.
At the other end things were more profitable: Anelka had one tame effort saved before dispossessing a defender on the edge of the box a driving a fierce shot across Sorenson’s goal.
For every block in the Stoke penalty area Alex was making one in ours, denying Mamady Sidibe and Tuncay.
The goal when it came was not born of beautiful football but a knockdown from a scrappy corner. Terry laid the ball back to Frank Lampard whose shot took a slight deflection on its way in. 1-0.
The relief around the ground was clear, it didn’t shut up the Stoke fans behind the Shed end goal. They seem intent on annoying JT, he would give them his response a little later.
The second period started with a long throw, this time Ivanovic’s effort eventually fell to Lampard but he volleyed over.
Anelka could have scored with a header which was again brilliantly blocked by the Stoke defence, perhaps we should employ Tony Pulis as a defensive coach, the subsequent corner was cleared but the next was bulleted in by Terry again taking a deflection. 2-0. JT rushed to the crowd, rolled his sleeve up and showed his captain’s armband. There is only one England captain.
Frank Lampard had a thrash from 30 odd yards and both Kalou and Anelka had chances on the break. In the end Hilario only had to muddy his gloves once late on and the team seemed determined to get this one.
If this match marks a turning point and we don’t chuck it all away again against West Ham, then John terry will need to put in a captain’s shift in each game to keep us on course for the treble. That is probably asking too much even from him but it holds out the prospect of glory.
Aston Villa await in the semi and we will have at least one wallet stretch to Wembley. If things go to plan though we’d better start saving in earnest for another.

Wednesday 24 February
FC Internazionale Milano 2:1 FC Chelsea
Cracking matches don’t come much better than this. Behind after only three minutes Chelsea regrouped and played a much-fancied Inter side off the park for the best part of the match. Losing Petr Cech to an injury could possibly change the course of the season.
It couldn’t have started better for Jose Mourinho and the Nerazzurri, a simple ball reversed into Diego Milito a quick step inside a flat footed John Terry and Cech was beaten at his near post. 1-0. Given all the pre-match chatter about who would play left-back (Florent Malouda who played there in his time at Lyon) a swift attack down the right was perhaps the surprise tactic.
The goal didn’t distract Chelsea from their task, as the midfield gained first control and then dominance. Kalou, playing wide left was the greatest threat but it was Didier Drogba’s free-kick that thundered back off the bar after 14 minutes.
The half closed with a note of controversy; Kalou broke into the box and Samuel took his foot away as he was going to shoot. The gangly Ivorian striker appeared to be waiting for contact but it was a clear penalty.
Salomon did get his name on the score sheet just after half-time. Ivanovic ran across the box and Kalou lashed the ball in from 20 yards. 1-1. The lead did not last, just as many were imploring Chelsea not to drop too deep Cambiasso was allowed to shoot, his first effort rebounded to him from Ivanovic but he buried the second from the edge of the box. 2-1.
It was a few moments later that Cech collected a simple high ball and immediately indicated that he needed to be replaced. Initial ITV scare stories about a cruciate proved wide of the mark but he will not play in the second-leg.
Frank Lampard was having a subdued evening, he had a virus this week, but he nearly poked us level, the ball breaking from Drogba hit a sprawling ’keeper.
All the chances that came after were too difficult, oh, and someone tell Mikel to stop trying his luck from distance, but the level of play in both attacking and defending was breathtaking. At one point Ivanovic slid in to take the ball off Cambiasso’s toe; it was one of the best bits of defending you’ll ever see.
However well we played the defensive laurels have to go to Lucio. He stood head and shoulders above his colleagues and was the rock on which everything we tried foundered.

West Ham United reserves 2:1 Chelsea reserves
A good portion of the reserve side was in Milan getting valuable experience of the atmosphere of a big European night, meanwhile their colleagues were struggling against an experienced West Ham side. Marking his full reserve debut, Marco Mitrovic equalised for us after some twenty-minutes but their age and experience told. Oliver Lee (Robert’s lad) poked them in front with 25 minutes left but they promptly had a man sent off and had to hang on Alamo style to the last.

Thursday 25 February
Petr Cech will be out for the next month with a torn calf muscle. He will miss probably the busiest part of the season, with either Hilario or Turnbull playing nervous ninny between the sticks for the games up until our visit to Old Trafford at the start of April.
Wayne Bridge announced that he does not want to go to the World Cup, ostensibly because of the John Terry affair but he had earlier indicated that he didn’t want to go if Ashley Cole was fit. He didn’t want to sit around and watch someone else play his position.

Friday 26 January
Lots of stories about Chelsea in all the papers today but absolutely no news. Wayne Bridge is, apparently, not going to shake John Terry’s hand on Saturday, er, that is all.
Portsmouth, as widely predicted, become the first Premiership club to enter administration and, therefore, the first to be relegated before the clocks go forward.

Saturday 27 February
Chelsea 2:4 Manchester City
This was a shambles, not all of our own making, Mike Dean was the defeat’s true architect but we helped along the way, Hilario’s performance was so poor we should let him go and rely on Ross Turnbull.
Our first-half dominance betrayed nothing of the story round the corner. Frank Lampard turned in Joe Cole’s astute pass, 1-0, and that should have been that. Instead the whole Chelsea defence allowed Tevez in to score the lamest excuse for a goal ever seen on a football pitch. Obi John decided to head backwards to Tevez, Terry got turned inside out before the Argentinean’s shot bobbled across the goalkeeper and trickled over the line. Hilario should have been substituted then. 1-1
Mike Dean stepped in to help Manchester City after the break perhaps he is an old fashioned moralist who believes in stoning as a punishment for adultery. Chelsea had clearly upset the ref because every challenge was suddenly a free-kick and he was dishing out cards Terry and Ivanovic were both booked in the ten minute after the break none of the cards made any sense there were no dangerous or cynical tackles.
Then Hilario allows a narrow shot from Bellamy to squirm in for 1-2. He should have been substituted after the first one. Leaving him on after those two goals amounts to neglect.
Drogba then controlled a difficult high ball and played it off Given for what should have been a corner. Chelsea were feeling the strain and starting to realise that all of the referee’s decisions were going one way but when Ballack protested Dean ignored the fact of the corner and seized his opportunity to book another Chelsea player.
Sadly, Dean was really warming to his theme. He had to wait until the 75th minute to really punish Chelsea but his chance came when Gareth Barry barged Belletti off the ball and ran into the box with Belletti behind him. Barry fell over but on repeated viewing there simply is no meaningful contact between Belletti and Barry and the referee had a very good view of it and chose to punish Chelsea. He gifted them a third and sent off Belletti.
Dean’s afternoon was complete when an ungainly Ballack tackle gave him the opportunity to reduce Chelsea to nine. The tackle was clumsy and warranted a card but not a sending off, Dean had allowed plenty of similar tackles to go un punished but suddenly he saw a Chelsea player and the Germany captain and decided he was going to control the spectacle. Bellamy made it 1-4 on the break.
The time has come when referees should have to explain themselves in public this is not the first time Mike Dean has taken a game by the scruff of the neck and dictated which way it will go. This is the officious prat who made Frank Lampard take a penalty three times at Upton Park you have to ask how many more shambles will he be in charge of before the thick United bloke in the pub stops rattling on about what a good referee he is. That would take a penalty and sending off at Old Trafford and we don’t need to remind you that Dean, and many of his colleagues, would never do that.
The nine men of Chelsea fought hard, managed no to fall any further behind and picked up a penalty of their own which actually involved contact between two players as Barry tripped Anelka but Lampard’s conversion merely helped the goal difference. 2-4.

Chelsea youth 1:0 Fulham youth
Marco Mitrovic was one of few Chelsea players with reason to cheer this week; he netted on his first full reserve start and came on to find a flicked winner for the youth team on Saturday morning.

Wednesday 17 February
Watford youth 0:4 Chelsea youth
The goals came from Kaby, Marko Mitrovic, Jeffrey Bruma and Josh McEachran. The pick was from centre back Bruma, returning from injury, who ran onto and controlled Billy Clifford’s lofted pass before reversing the ball past the goalkeeper.
Everton or Blackburn over a two-legged semi coming soon. They play on March 1st. Blackburn have already defeated Manchester United 3-0 in this season’s cup.
Meanwhile in aviation news: couple fly home from holiday in Dubai. Both look relaxed and happy. Message boards across the net light up with informed and measured comment.

Friday 19 February
Chelsea youth 2:1 Norwich City youth
Results and confidence seems to be growing in the youth team. Bobby Devyne scored our goal and while they rallied to equalise a late, late cross saw one of their lads smash into his own net. Freezing weather for it as well, bring long johns next week.
In a meeting held on Wednesday all the players have been given a stern talking to by Ron Gourlay about their conduct, past and future, with threats that nobody is above the law when it comes to protecting the name of Chelsea football club. Roman Abramovich’s tolerance has worn out and the next offender can expect heavy fines or transfer listing.
Which sounds fine in a draw a line under it, firm but fair manner but this is poor mistake for the club to make and an open goal for anyone in Fleet Street. By announcing publicly that the next tabloid victim at the club will be further punished, the press will simply redouble their efforts and pay more for any gossip or scandal. Kudos going to the journalist who is first to get a Chelsea player fined or transfer listed. The management only have themselves to blame.
The first transfer in an age and a half: Swedish midfield dynamo-kid Amin Affane, 16, has signed a deal which means he will join in July. Small and technically accomplished by all accounts.
Aldi Haxhia has left the club. The young academy goalkeeper has found opportunities hard to come by at youth level this season with the fine form of Sam Walker keeping him in the shade. We wish his well.

Saturday 20 February
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0:2 Chelsea
Buoyed by the news that Everton had already thrashed Manchester United, we finally accept the chance to move clear at the top but it was anything but a convincing performance.
John Terry was back in defence after his holiday; Frank Lampard has a virus but is expected back for Inter; Carvalho had a rest so Ivanovic partnered JT in the middle with Ferreira coming in on the right.
Wolves started brightly, have recently beaten Spurs at home they applied the same tactics of smothering and hoping to hit on the counter. Kevin Doyle had an early run at the defence to draw the first save but little was happening at either end. Ballack did volley one over but we seemed to carry no threat and neither did the hosts, Cech had to turn one round for a corner but it was straightforward.
That was until five minutes before the break Obi John broke out of defence fed on to Zhirkov who played a neat one-two with Ballack and calmly squared for Drogba’s 18th goal in the league. 0-1.
Wolves began the second-half with greater vigour but it took them ten minutes to chip a ball over for Adlene Guedioura to volley fiercely at Cech. Worryingly, it was again John Terry watching the ball over his head without reacting.
He didn’t cover himself in glory from the next meaningful attack he shaped to clear a bouncing ball and kicked air, the ball bounced through to Kevin Foley but Cech again smothered and Terry recovered to kick the next effort off the line.
Ancelotti pushed Anelka alongside Drogba in attack in the second period giving Joe Cole more freedom in the middle just behind them. Joe seemed to relish the fight a bit more as a result.
Jeffrey Bruma came on in place of the injured Zhirkov, with Bruma playing right and Ferreira switching to left. Mourinho will have noticed.
There quickly followed a second goal as Cech cleared the length of the field Drogba was too quick and too strong for the Wolves defence and rounded the ’keeper for 0-2.
There was still half and hour but Wolves lost their bite. Anelka could have put us three up but it would have flattered, as it was the defence for once reacted quickest and the ball was off Nicolas’s toe a twinkling after he’d realised it had arrived.

Sunday 21 February
News of the World 1:0 Chelsea
Ashley Cole is at the centre of another Sunday of fun and the opening created by meeting last week has been converted with ease but then on matters of the football flesh, the News of the World is an experienced fox in the box.
In happier news, Jack Cork, currently on loan at Burnley, played the entire 90-minutes at Villa Park and had a hand in both goals, one a late surge and cross. The 5-2 scoreline will have dampened his mood a little.

Wednesday 10 February
Everton 2:1 Chelsea
As the ball flew over John Terry’s head came the realisation that however much we might want to win the league, our away form will probably rob us of the prize. We don’t seem to have the concentration necessary when, as so often before this season, all the pride and application of the weekend disappeared for nothing tonight.
A few weeks ago we sat down to write an article on how last season differs from this despite the eerie parallels: new manager each time and new tactics, both requiring the full-backs to bomb on and magnificent starts to the season. Even the wobbles when they came, came at the same times. The difference was that Scolari’s Chelsea seemed to be directionless while Ancelotti’s was still striving, still creating chances. Not tonight.
After a bright start Everton out-muscled us across the park. Florent Malouda poked us in front from a long free kick, and flick on he seemed to run around the back of a static defence. 0-1.
After that it was all Saha: with JT trailing in his wake, he had a free header for the equaliser. 1-1. Then he missed a penalty after an off balance Carvalho tripped Donovan.
In the second-half Everton simply wanted it more than Chelsea. First to every ball the Merseysiders murdered us. Terry was wobbling as he missed one ball over his head from which Saha should have had a corner, only to repeat the mistake to let the big French lunk score. 2-1.
It was pathetic how easily we wilted against a good but limited Everton side. Perhaps Chelsea should appoint managers until February and have Hiddink come in for the closing stages just as the Americans have closing pitchers in baseball.
Didier Drogba did hit the bar with a late header and Frank Lampard had an effort tipped round the post but it was little and it was too late.
Ashley Cole hobbled off and will have scans tomorrow; they are concerned about a broken ankle.

Chelsea XI 0:2 Charlton Athletic XI
The reserves played a loosener after a week and a half off since their last against Villa. They always say results don’t matter at this level but they do get repetitive.

Thursday 11 February
Ashley Cole will miss the next three months with a broken ankle. The news is a massive boost for journalists who had feared that the John Terry story was losing its legs, now they can match Terry and Bridge in the same England squad for a fresh round of hysteria.
Meanwhile, John Terry satisfied the media camped around the place by going to the airport and getting on an aeroplane. The incident was reported in breathless fashion by all sources but the upshot is that he will miss Cardiff and be back for Wolves.
Across the pond the draw has been made for the 30th Dallas Cup. The what? The 30th Dallas Cup. Chelsea youth teams have been travelling for some March sunshine to the Lone Star state for the last few years and this season we have been drawn against the hosts FC Dallas as well as LD Alajuelense from Costa Rica and Mexican side CF Monterrey. Our opening fixture on Sunday 28 March in the Pizza Hut Park stadium (a moniker that will send shivers down the spine of all but ardent fans of selling the naming rights) will be against Dallas in front of some 21,000.

Friday 12 February
Charlton Athletic youth 2:2 Chelsea youth
Daniel Philliskirk scored a brace to haul us back from a two-goal deficit. Josh McEachran ran the show from midfield and might have grabbed a winner with a late free-kick.
With John Terry on compassionate and Ashley Cole joining Jose Bosingwa on the long term, Carlo Ancelotti named his starting line-up: “Tomorrow we’ll play Hilario in goal, Paulo Ferreira, Alex, Ricardo Carvalho and Yuri Zhirkov; Frank Lampard, John Obi Mikel, Michael Ballack; Daniel Sturridge, Joe Cole and Didier Drogba up front”.
So you have been told. It is a strong team and something of a compliment to Cardiff City. Although, some of the youngsters will be disappointed, Kakuta and Borini could have expected better although Fabio is on the bench with Jeffrey Bruma and Nemanja Matic. Cech and Anelka have been given the weekend off.
Ashley Cole had his surgery today. The prognosis is three months at least but Ancelotti has been making more positive noises about a return before the end of the season.

Saturday 13 February
Chelsea 4:1 Cardiff City
A comfortable victory somehow carved from a defensive shambles, after every Cardiff corner and set piece led to free headers. The only surprise was that their goal came from open play.
Didier Drogba got out of the blocks early as Obi John played a sumptuous ball over the top of a square defence and the Ivorian netted about 90 seconds into the game. 1-0.
The first-half was downhill from there; Alec had to hack the ball off the line from a corner and Hilario pulled off a showy save this time from a free header from a free-kick.
Their goal seemed preventable. Zhirkov didn’t move to stop Burke’s cross and Michael Chopra ran in unopposed with Alex simply watching. 1-1.
If you listened hard at half-time you could just make out a string of expletives in Italian.
Something was ringing in the players’ ears as they came out. Joe Cole had his first-half performance rewarded with substitution as Salomon Kalou came on. Within five minutes Kalou fed Drogba who played a superb ball over for Ballack to lift a finish over the ’keeper, 2-1, and when Sturridge scored his customary FA Cup goal, again from Drogba’s menace, we were comfortable. 3-1.
Salomon Kalou’s lively display was rewarded toward the end when he somehow contorted himself to bend a header in over the keeper from Paulo Ferreira’s cross. 4-1.

Peter Borota (1952-2010) leaves us after a long illness aged just 57. Peter was not the greatest Chelsea custodian but he did inject a bit of eastern block glamour to a tired Chelsea side during my first season with a season ticket. Peter joined in March 1979, signed by Danny Blanchflower (ask your grandfather) and rapidly became a television favourite for rushing headlong out of his area to sweep up behind a defence that was frequently caught square. Peter was the first player I ever saw kick the ball out when an opponent was injured. He was a great character who left us for Brentford on his way to Boavista in 1982. It all seems so long ago.

Sunday 14 February
Stoke in the next round of the Cup, oh, sorry yeah, or Man City at the Bridge. The only two really challenging sides left in the competition. And, yes, the draw is rigged to suit the telly.
Elsewhere, Fulham v Bolton Wanderers or Tottenham Hotspur, Reading or West Bromwich Albion v Crystal Palace or Aston Villa and, if they are still in business, Portsmouth play Birmingham City.
The Newcastle Chronicle thinks we will take Patrick Van Aanholt back from his loan on the dot. The young Dutch man has massively impressed walking straight into the Newcastle team that leads the Championship. Ashley Cole’s break means we need cover at left-back and, if Zhirkov picks up an injury, it could be a huge opportunity for the 20-year old who has already been talked about in the Netherlands for their World Cup squad.

Tuesday 2 February
Hull City 1:1 Chelsea
Another big missed opportunity, if we had taken the chances we have been offered to extend leads over Manchester United we would be over the hills and far away by this stage, as it is they will go back above us on Saturday when they beat Portsmouth.
No sooner had January, with its dire warnings of poor results, finished and everyone back from Angola than we slip on our way to a four point gap and finish only two ahead. Complacency played its part as did a fussy referee who blew up whenever the game looked to be developing some flow.
Lampard had an early shot palmed away by Myhill which brought back memories of his astonishing chip here last season. Nicolas’s follow up was, um, not so good.
The defence was a bit static at a corner to concede the opener there was a lot of climbing going on but it is a physical game.1-0. Didier stepped in to score from a free-kick. The ball seemed to travel through the wall and Myhill was deceived by the bounce. 1-1.
Bounce however, was generally lacking in Chelsea’s play and while we put effort into the game the few efforts we had went straight at the ’keeper. Substitute Daniel Sturridge had a late shot turned round.
The result will please a certain red nosed gentleman of Manchester who dresses in red as well as the Hull manager who prefers orange.

Wednesday 3 February
“I think every game is different but … very good counter-attack is the right way to play against Arsenal on Sunday,” Carlo has been watching teams beat Arsenal by playing on the break so Sunday should be a goal fest.

Thursday 4 February
The Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) overturned FC Chelsea’s transfer ban for inducing Gaël Kakuta to break his contract because all sides agreed that we’d done, er, no such thing. Kakuta was too young to sign a professional contract with Racing Club de Lens, instead he had a “training contract” which now appears not to be worth the paper it was printed on.
It seems odd that two parties in a court case can sit down and agree that the case be wound up but as CAS said in their statement:

The two clubs and the player have recognised that the contract between the player and RC Lens was not valid. Accordingly, the player could not have terminated it prematurely and without just cause and FC Chelsea cannot therefore be liable for inducing a breach of contract.

FC Chelsea obviously expected the decision. Carlo Ancelotti’s streaking forfeit if we signed anyone in January now looks a good bet by the old Italian. RC Lens will receive the full cash amount awarded by Fifa. Fifa’s fines totalled €910,000 but the amount we are rumoured to be paying is £2.6m. This is, according to the club, an; “act of good faith and with a view to the possibility of future collaboration with RC Lens, and without recognising any liability, Chelsea has agreed to pay compensation costs for the training given to the player while at Lens”. Without sounding cynical, it seems Lens shut up when the money was offered and we can expect collaboration with Lens, loan signings and the like, over the next few years. Ken Bates untwisted his knickers back in naught six when we paid £5m for Michael Woods and Tom Taiwo after his blustering threats of an official complaint.
That is not to suggest that Chelsea did anything wrong and the original punishment was, as the club said at the time, totally disproportionate, but there remains the feeling that Fifa are now as angry with us as Uefa were over Anders Frisk.
With the JT saga running and running and both governing bodies fixated by Chelsea it would be a good thing for the club, the players and the fans to keep a low profile for a bit.
Deco will retire from international football after his Portugal side slump out of the group stag… ahem, after the World Cup in the summer. He actually said: “I will close my cycle after the World Cup”. He already has 71 caps and will receive at least three more.

Friday 6 February
Sacked. Fabio Capello actually sacked John Terry. It makes no sense. Rio Ferdinand takes over ensuring that England will be the only country represented by someone who has served a drugs ban.
Hopefully, Capello’s inexplicable decision will kill the fevered publicity and we can get back to talking about football and wait for Rio’s injury problems to reinstate England’s rightful leader.

Saturday 7 February
Chelsea youth 0:0 Arsenal youth
A tight game of few clear cut chances and a surprising 0-0 considering the calibre of the sides. Josh McEachran and Gokhan Tore were again mentioned in dispatches, McEachran scored two late on but both from offside positions.
Manchester United scraped their game against Portsmouth 5-0 to move ahead on points and goal difference.

Sunday 8 February
Chelsea 2:0 Arsenal
This was all done and dusted inside twenty minutes whereupon it became a grand attack verses defence exercise and Chelsea won that quite emphatically too.
Arsenal, as they do, had plenty of possession but conceded to the first corner kick as they ran about headless chicken style, John Terry headed across and Didier Drogba side footed home. 1-0. Sheffield Wednesday Martin in the pub had Drogba first goal scorer and 2-0, couldn’t be, could it.
That was on seven minutes and we didn’t have long to wait for a reply as Arshavin fired Fábregas’s chipped pass straight at Cech.
When Arshavin again lost possession on the edge of our box we broke, as Ancelotti said on Wednesday the way to beat Arsenal is to counter-attack, Lampard fed Drogba coming in from the right and the big Ivorian beat the hapless defence to score with his left. 2-0. Surely there would be another goal in the next 68-minutes, Martin couldn’t walk way with £180?
But he could. Arsenal hogged the ball but didn’t get through on goal until late on when Nasri chose not to shoot. Fábregas did have a free-kick brilliantly saved by Cech but for the most part our defence restricted their opportunities, demonstrating our considerable defensive organisation and craft. Mostly in snuffing moves out in the centre as Arsenal failed to get wide or play over the top. Didier had a thunderous free-kick come back from the under side of the bar but that would have spoiled the bet.
John Terry’s performance was under close watch by the press for any signs of stress, but he was imperious, at one stage just before half time running forward playing one-twos he broke into the Arsenal half and set Anelka away. Anelka then found Carvalho backing him up. A minute before the break and Chelsea’s centre-backs are marauding forward. Mourinho would have had a heart attack.
After the game JT applauded the crowd and threw his shirt and armband to fans. Oddly, it was Arsène Wenger who put his finger one the reason for JT’s form: “I had some players who, when they had private problems, were even stronger on the pitch because it is the place where they get out of it, get away from it.”
Earlier in the day the draw for Euro 2012 was made in Poland. England were drawn against Switzerland, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Wales. In the other groups Portugal must face both Denmark and Norway and Petr Cech’s Czech’s must play Spain and Scotland.

Wednesday 27 January
Chelsea 3:0 Birmingham City
On a night when all eyes were on Old Trafford awaiting the fireworks Chelsea romped back to the top of the league with a game in hand on our nearest challengers. We made a bit of a mockery of the absence of our four African players as well. Obi John might be preparing for his country’s semi-final and Essien hops the Eurostar tomorrow for a spot of knee surgery in Paris but with Drogba and Kalou already back we have dashed Sir Alex’s hopes that we might struggle in their absence.
Somehow Birmingham City’s decision to dress up in an Ajax kit didn’t bode well for them.
One of the most notable traits of Ancelotti’s sides has been their ability to start matches with goals and it took four minutes for Joe Cole to skip a couple of challenges and deliver a chipped cross for Malouda to head past the stranded Joe Hart. 0-1.
After the 0-0 in Brum at Christmas many feared another heroic performance from the young England goalkeeper but the header was so emphatic that the exposed Hart had no chance.
The much-maligned Deco was the creator in chief tonight but he was occasionally clumsy, letting in Brum players for the odd half chance.
We continued to slice them open with Joe Cole responding to calls for a bigger contribution with devilish runs and crosses.
This was, if anything, a better performance than that at the weekend but chances were not going in as easily. Terry’s header thumped the post from a Malouda corner before Joe Cole lashed one wide.
The second goal came out of nothing. Ballack played a square ball to Lampard who teed himself up and blasted into the bottom corner from twenty-five yards out. 2-0.
Ballack had a golden opportunity to head us three in front and Malouda and Cole both had scuffed efforts as Birmingham looked to press forward. On one sloppy moment Carvalho was lax and they contrived a chance on target but Cech was alert and furious with his colleagues.
Lampard put the thing to bed with his second consummate strike of the night as he ran onto Malouda’s ball took a touch and buried the ball. 3-0.
They were Frank’s twelfth and thirteenth goals of a season.
Meanwhile, the FA Cup tie with Cardiff is going to be streamed by the FA website from 12 noon on Saturday 13 February. So, no going down the pub with your mates if you haven’t got a ticket, they’ll all be sitting round your kitchen moaning that the screen isn’t big enough.
Tom Hayden announced his departure tonight to continue his studies. It has been clear to youth watchers that he is struggling to mix full-time studies with training. After 27 youth team games Tom hopes to study Sports Sciences and we wish him well.

Thursday 28 January
Chelsea youth 1:0 Portsmouth youth
A rainy old evening at the Bridge but a good crowd and a couple of outstanding performances from Conor Clifford and Josh McEachran made it all worthwhile.
Oddly Portsmouth brought only their home kit so Chelsea played in their white away shirts.
Clifford scored the goal early in the first-half after interplaying passes with McEachran, Sala and Marko Mitrovic while running half the length of the pitch and falling over while shooting a class goal in off the underside of the bar. Chances were at a premium but both sides played entertaining football. Ultimately it was comfortable for Chelsea as the second-half wore on we dominated possession and hit the post with a couple of efforts.
Meanwhile in Angola, Michael Essienless Ghana at least gave the Chelsea man something to smile about by beating Obi John’s Nigeria to reach Sunday’s final.

Friday 29 January
Patrick Van Aanholt has joined Newcastle United on loan until the end of February. The young Dutch defender has impressed immeasurably since joining from PSV Eindhoven and made 20 appearances for Coventry City in the season until the New Year.
The High Court has lifted an injunction John Terry had won last week to prevent disclosure of his private life. The details are unnecessary and fall broadly under what interests the public rather than what is in the public interest but then that is the raison d’etre of the News of the World. Level-headed pundits have already called for Terry to be stripped of the England captaincy, this from a newspaper that claims to want us to win the World Cup in the summer.
Ashley Cole’s brush with the law today was lower key: he was banned from driving for four months and fined a thousand pounds for driving at twice the legal speed limit. Let’s hope that is it for legal stories for a while.
Finally, it was jeans day for Haiti at Cobham and Carlo Ancelotti demonstrated his effortless cool by wearing a pair with dignity, well more dignity than Clarkson ever managed but that is not saying much.

Saturday 30 January
Burnley 1:2 Chelsea
Only just and only just that John Terry show his mettle by ignoring the massed booing to head us into the lead with eight minutes to go. Burnley, having beaten Manchester United here and drawn with Arsenal had the scent of blood in their nostrils in the second-half after Steve Fletcher turned a rusty looking Alex to rifle their leveller.
Biting northern humour came from the Burnley fans: “Chelsea, wherever you may be, don’t leave your wife with John Terry”.
It had all started so well; after fencing at each other for ten-minutes we started to come forward with purpose. Retaining the midfield shape with Cole and Malouda providing the width gave Ancelotti’s side penetration but openings were few and far between until we had a chance to counter – Joe Cole picked up Cech’s throw chipped a perfect ball over the defender’s head and Malouda squared for Anelka. 0-1.
You’d be furious at the defending if you were a Burnley fan; Anelka’s run went completely unnoticed and unmolested. It is the Frenchman’s sixth goal in six games and his twelfth for the season.
That was on 26 minutes and the rest of the half passed with little incident; we dominated possession but appeared content with a single goal lead.
Steve Fletcher made a mockery of the complacency four minutes into the second-half. Latching onto a punt he turned Alex and fired home from the edge of the box. Yes, it looked like he handled it at least twice while fighting off Alex but if there was contact it was invisible to the referee. 1-1.
Joe Cole had the ball in the net five minutes later but the linesman spotted that the very back of Joe’s shorts were in an offside position when the ball was played.
We pressed with more urgency and controlled the ball and our build up with some spirit. Alex, Ashley Cole and Lampard all had efforts thwarted before the headline writer’s dream as Sturridge won a corner and John Terry headed a powerful winner. 1-2. Terry scores away from home.
The post match press melee was more about John Terry than the game. Ancelotti was clearly a little bemused and annoyed: “John is a fantastic professional player. Anyone can have a problem and it’s important to stay focused on his job … he is the captain of this team and I am honoured and very proud to manage John Terry. Not only the players, the management and everyone at the club support him and his family.

What is all the fuss about? Football Focus sat in judgement of John Terry this morning and agreed that there would need to be a new England captain. Mark Lawrenson (49 caps for the Republic of Ireland, 59 brain cells) said that the England captain has to be “squeaky clean”, Martin Keown added depth to this earnest ethical discussion by saying: “you have to feel for Wayne Bridge in this situation.”
Chicken Little (23 caps for Nursery Albion, 0 goals) added a note of mature perspective when she said: “the sky is falling, the sky is falling”.
Someone needs to bash some heads together at the BBC and in the media as a whole. England captains do not need to be squeaky clean. They need to be good footballers and better leaders and John Terry is both. Who he sleeps with should have no effect on his position, he is not a Tory cabinet minister spouting about the central importance of the family while banging his secretary; there is no hypocrisy involved.
Martin; the person you need to feel sorry for is Toni, seeing her husband’s behaviour paraded in the papers and commented on by idiots.
The basic principle is that who and what you do in the bedroom is the business of nobody but you. Any betrayal of that privacy is regrettable but should not have an impact on your job. Thankfully Fabio Capello is a grown up who will keep his mouth shut until the tabloid moral typhoon has blown itself out and quietly announce that John has done nothing to affect his confidence in his captain.

Crystal Palace youth 1:1 Chelsea youth
Anton Rodgers smashed in a 30-yard thunderbolt to spare our blushes as Palace grabbed the lead but Chelsea hogged possession and hit the post twice through Bobby Devyne and Marko Mitrovic.
This was a much changed youth team from the FA Youth Cup side that played at the Bridge on Thursday and we welcome a new blue as schoolboy Todd Kane made his debut at right-back; Nathaniel Chalobah and John Swift were the other two schoolboys on show.

Finally, on a busy day John Obi Mikel’s Nigeria beat Algeria 1-0 to record their seventh bronze medal performance of the championships stretching back to 1976.

Sunday 31 January
Ghana 0:1 Egypt
Sadly Michael Essien did not have anything to cheer as Egypt made it three in a row. It was the usual stuff, crap pitch chaotic defending, erratic refereeing and a sumptuous goal from Mohamed Gedo who has scored five goals all of them as a substitute.
Manchester United demolished Arsenal at the Emirates 1-3. Alex Ferguson said afterwards that Arsenal should shrug off the defeat and “better” Chelsea next Sunday, as if Arsenal are going to be in the mood to do United any favours.
Manchester City players wore Team Bridge tee-shirts in support of their colleague during their 2-0 home win over Portsmouth. Wayne has kept a dignified silence during this whole mess but his plea for his privacy to be respected, probably won’t be observed by our slavering press.

Possibly the strongest reserve line-up in a while with first team fringers Nemanja Matic, Fabio Borini, Gael Kakuta and Daniel Sturridge joined by loan returnees Rhys Taylor, Patrick van Aanholt and Jack Cork. Billy Clifford made his first start for the reserves at right-back.
Goals came from Sturridge’s first-half volley and Kakuta’s 25-yard shot that curled into the top corner.
Meanwhile, the FA youth cup against Portsmouth has been confirmed as Thursday 28 January at the Bridge, no entrance fee.
Last night Frank Lampard picked up the Football Writers Association tribute award in recognition of his achievements throughout his career. A bit like being given a gold watch five years before you retire but Frank was graceful nevertheless.

Tuesday 19 January
Dastardly Arsenal sneaked above us by beating Bolton Wanderers at home but they required a sinful tackle from William Gallas to create the chance to equalise from 0-2 down and really should have been trailing 1-2 with ten-men.

Wednesday 20 January
Nigeria 3:0 Mozambique
John Obi Mikel rather un-super eagles struggled into the quarter-finals in a dreadful game for the neutral, Nigeria were never threatened and only needed a draw. The Chelsea player is likely to be second back, Michael Essien is due tomorrow, and the first knocked out although by whom is still up in the air.

Friday 22 January
Michael Essien will be out for up to six weeks with his knee injury. Carlo Ancelotti confirmed Michael’s injury: “he had a tear in the meniscus, and he has to stay out for four to six weeks, I hope four.” Carlo said that contract negotiations are always tricky but he wants Cole to stay: “I’m 100% clear. The club want to keep him and he has told me he wants to stay. He’s a very important player. It’s normal … the club wants to save and the player wants to earn more money. That’s normal.”
He went on to say that he would play a strong side against Preston and took the unusual decision to name the team. So if you don’t want to know the line-up before Saturday, look away now: Hilario, Paulo Ferreira, Alex, John Terry, Yury Zhirkov, Juliano Belletti, Michael Ballack, Frank Lampard, Deco, Nicolas Anelka, Daniel Sturridge. Ashley Cole is nursing a hamstring while Joe Cole and Malouda are rested.
Preston will enjoy all the benefits of their manager’s dad’s experience. North End are of course now managed by Alex Ferguson’s son Darren (the odd looking but talented one, not palm grease player peddler).

Saturday 23 January
Preston North End 0:2 Chelsea
Routine does not get any more regulation than this. For twelve years now, with the odd blip, we have been carving apart the lower division teams in the cups, especially the FA Cup, teams it had been our habit to trip over for the two decades before. The conventional way to achieve the feat is for your strikers to score either side of half-time and that is exactly how things panned out on this cold and foggy Saturday morning.
We had a few chances before Nicolas Anelka (who, after this and recent displays, deserves a “he’s here, he’s there” song all of his own) fired us into the lead. We did have the ball in the net earlier when Zhirkov picked up Lampard’s pass and Malouda bundled in the cross but the referee had already blown for a foul on Lampard.
Play was too congested, Chelsea had complete domination of both ball and field but they were too well organised to break down. What we needed was a Preston attack to leave space in behind the defence.
That is just what we got after a rare Preston move foundered at the edge of our area, Zhirkov fed Deco, on to Ballack who found Anelka who finished between both defender and goalkeeper’s legs. 0-1.
They had their best chance shortly after when the ball wouldn’t come down for Darren Carter who contrived to thump his effort over from a foot out.
Daniel Sturridge sealed the tie immediately after the half-time oranges. John Terry got a meaty head to a corner and while that effort was blocked Daniel was on hand to smash in the rebound. Could the youngster go on to score in every round?
Thereafter the game dwindled to a close. North End had more possession but Chelsea were clearly looking to conserve energy with five games coming up back to back. The only shade on the whole affair was an apparent injury to Juliano Belletti, who lasted only 20 minutes. 6,000 hardy blue souls made the trip.

Chelsea youth 4:3 West Ham United youth
West Ham turned up late for this one and Marko Mitrovic punished their tardiness by smashing a first-half hat-trick, they did briefly equalise at 1-1 but a minute after the break Milan Lalkovic made it 4-1 and all seemed in order. Only for the cussed Hammers to chip away at the total and nearly equalise at the death. Chelsea held on but will be hoping for fewer scares when they entertain Portsmouth at the Bridge on Wednesday.

Sunday 24 January
Cotê d’Ivoire 2:3 Algeria
England fans who rubbed their hands together in glee when the World Cup draw was made at the start of December might want to reassess how comfortable they feel. Algeria sprang a surprise by equalising with seconds to go after a thunderous shot from 30 yards that crashed in off the underside of the crossbar had given Cotê d’Ivoire the lead with only a minute or so left. That effort eclipsed the first Algerian goal, that one merely came from the edge of the area and equalised Salomon Kalou’s forth-minute opener. Kalou actually played very well throughout but was substituted in extra time.
Ultimately it was poor defending that cost the Ivorians but the officials did their best to get them eliminated: first Drogba was hacked down in the box but no penalty and then they equalised at the end of extra-time only to be erroneously given offside.
In the other semi, Essienless Ghana decided to be successful rather than popular and knocked out the hosts Angola.
Nigeria play tomorrow.
Chelsea drew Cardiff City at home in the FA Cup fifth round, the tastiest tie is Scummers at home to Skates: a time-honoured reminder of the violence of the 1970s. Arsenal were not in the hat having surrendered to Stoke City.

It all looked very different in the first-half with the Ivorians slicing through the Burkinabé defence time and again but shots went wide or at the ’keeper and time simply slipped through their fingers until the game finished 0-0. Everyone starts a major tournament with a stinker.
Michael Essien will now try to join Ghana on Wednesday after his flight was delayed because of snow.
Meanwhile, Joe Cole’s contract negotiations are stalled, Ancelotti has been speaking about the England forward’s deal and said that he wanted him to stay but that finance was for the club to work out. Joe is now free to sign a pre-contract agreement with another club and Chelsea seem to have dragged their feet to this point. Perhaps they see him as surplus to requirements and a way of trimming off the wage bill. A strong second half to the season and World Cup should disabuse them of any such notion.
Meanwhile Frank “he’s here, he’s there etc” Leboeuf is to star in a French play as a desperate killer who takes a hostage wile on the run. Frank’s new career as an actor has been fitful since his retirement from playing in 2005, he has appeared in one minor film role and a couple of television episodes. It is hardly a steady job. Frank has dropped so far off the radar that we had to teach the spell check his name again. There is something sad in losing touch so easily with and old friend.

Tuesday 12 January
Nottingham Forest youth 0:4 Chelsea youth
After what feels like an age Chelsea football gets going again, this time with a thumping youth cup victory. Danny Mills Pappoe got us off to a good start, heading in a corner, but the pick of the goals came in the second-half. Just as in the last round the boys enjoyed almost complete control of the whole match but had to wait until the 74th minute for Marco Mitrovic to score the second and, after that, they just kept coming. Connor Clifford shot from 35 yards (which is all over YouTube already) before Mitrovic added his second. Gokhan Tore should be mentioned in dispatches for excellent crosses and endless trickery from the wing. Portsmouth at home in the next round if you fancy a midweek treat.
Nigeria and Obi John lost their opening game to Egypt 3-1. Despite taking the lead, Nigeria looked naïve and the current champions were too strong from them.

Wednesday 13 January
Full of surprises as ever Chelsea appointed a supporter liaison officer. Unsurprisingly it is Graham Smith from the ticket office. Given Liverpool’s recent troublesome email farrago Graham will have to remember to mind his manners while dealing with the two complaints he will get everyday. Why two? Ticket pricing and availability are the only topics anyone ever talks about.
Deco trained with the rest of the squad today as the boys came back from a few day’s rest after the postponement of the Hull trip.

Thursday 14 January
Daniel Sturridge will cost £3.5m after an arbitration panel decided that Manchester City’s valuation of £9m was a bit steep. Because the 20-year old who declined a new City contract and joined us in the summer is under 24 his original club is due a development fee. His cost will rise as his appearances clock up at £500,000 after each ten games until he reaches 40. An extra £1m is due should he impress Fabio Capello, so expect Mancini to be on the phone to the England boss about the friendly against Egypt in March. If he clocks up all of that (£6.5m) City will be entitled to 15% of his next transfer fee, so, in effect, the FA are giving everyone what they wanted.
Jose Mourinho will be celebrating the news from his president that he will not be sacked whatever the outcome against us. That is just the kind of ringing endorsement you need before a big game.
Jose might like to consider QPR for a bit of job security. Yes, our near neighbours have parted company with their second manager in a month after Paul Hart walked away and their eighth manager (six full-time, two caretakers) since honest Flavio Briatore took over in ’07. Hart was only in charge for five matches and, oddly, three of those were against Sheffield United.

Friday 15 January
Sunderland manager, Steve Bruce said today that he tried to sign John Terry 10 years ago for Huddersfield Town. John was on loan at Forest at the time and Bruce saw him there while taking his coaching badges he bid £750,000 and Ken Bates said yes but thankfully John Terry said no. Perhaps he understood, even then, something of his destiny.

Côte d’Ivoire 3:1 Ghana
Kalou and Drogba go through the truncated group, Michael Essien was on the bench and played some of the second-half. Salomon was at the centre of the Ivorian’s first goal, squaring the ball for Gervinho.
Emmanuel Eboué looked like he was trying to get sent home rather than off, his tackles were late and dangerous and eventually he went for clattering through the back of a Ghanaian winger. The Arsenal man looked out of his depth.
The ten-men extended their lead when Siaka Tiene curled in the most outrageous free-kick from fully 35-yards out toward the right touchline.
Kalou’s next contribution was to collect a booking for being kicked in the groin.
Michael Essien hobbled off with twenty minutes to go and will be on the plane home early next week if they don’t beat Burkina Faso.
Didier Drogba, who had a frustrating first-half and wasn’t at his best, then woke up to nod in a great cross from the player that replaced Kalou: Abdul Kieta.
That was two minutes from time and there was still time for a late Ghanaian penalty .

Deco has trained this week but is unlikely to be included tomorrow and Jose Bosingwa has been running but is still weeks away from a return.

Saturday 16 January
Chelsea 7:2 Sunderland
Where to start, in Angola perhaps and save the feast for later: John Obi Mikel’s Nigeria sneaked a 1-0 win over Benin at the same time we were playing Sunderland so he’ll have been happy to hear that his club side found an irresistible gear where everything they tried came off. Well, nearly everything.
We started like a train with two presentable chances fluffed inside five minutes: first, Joe Cole stood on the ball; then Ashley headed back across goal but wide.
Nicolas Anelka showed them how it is done with seven minutes on the clock by running round behind a defender to stay onside before rounding their ’keeper and finishing in an empty net. 1-0. “Deft, delightful football” said the man on the commentary in the evening and you have to agree.
That Sunderland had a makeshift back four was evident but they appeared makeshift all over the pitch slow to close and obligingly tackle free. Afternoons will seldom be this comfortable.
We then had to wait ten minutes before Malouda powered to the edge of the box, shimmied and lashed home from just inside. 2-0. Oddly then Florent held up seven fingers but it was not an eerie prediction but support for a Haitian earthquake charity
Goal of the season followed as Ashley Cole scored a sumptuous goal: Terry clipped an inch perfect ball in behind the defence; Cole tamed with one touch, switched feet to avoid the sliding block and curled it in with a chip from the outside of his left boot. 3-0 and if Ashley Aloysius Cole ever scores a better goal it had better be in the World Cup final.
The first three were rattled in within 22 minutes Frank added a fourth before half-time when he slid in to meet Ashley Cole’s cross. 4-0.
Both Anelka and Michael Ballack had chances to make the half-time scoreline respectable but both were narrowly wide.
Zhirkov replaced Ashley Cole at half-time as a precaution and Alex came on for John Terry. From the other bench appeared Boudewijn Zenden to muted disdain.
Anelka started the half with a fierce shot that Martin Fulop tipped onto both bar and then post before it bounced clear.
Belletti broke up a rare Sunderland move, fed Joe Cole who landed the ball perfectly on Michael Ballack’s head. 5-0. Sunderland wanted to go home.
But to be fair they put up more fight than many others would in their situation with Zenden making himself more popular by pulling one back. 5-1.
Six came from Fulop’s flap at Yuri Zhirkov’s fine cross from the left giving Anelka an open goal. 6-1 with 25 minutes still to play. Ancelotti will have been annoyed that Sunderland drew the remaining period 1-1 although it was no for want of trying.
Anelka had a point blank hat trick chance turned round before an Alex pile driver was blocked and Joe Cole headed against the post from the melee.
Lampard finally got the seventh right on 90-minutes after a good run by Ivanovic and driven cross from Anelka the England midfielder only had to direct the ball on target to take himself to 11 for the term and we had been moaning that he is out of sorts so far this season.
Ancelotti said afterwards: “I said at half-time to play the whole 90 minutes and not to sit back. Why would we do that? The people pay the money for their tickets to see the game for 90 minutes, not just for 45.” Mourinho would have disagreed with that sentiment but few at the Bridge would have on Saturday. This was imperiously football from a side that had looked tired and demoralised just four weeks ago. The linking and movement of the entire ensemble has, for the last two games, been irresistible and while we know that sterner tests than Watford and Sunderland await, you can’t help but lick your lips at the promise.
We cannot remember the last time we scored seven. Last time in the top flight was 50-tears ago against West Brom when Jimmy Greaves scored five but that was before almost everyone’s time.
Oh, yeah Sunderland had just enough time for a corner and Darren Bent’s stab home. 7-2. Some people actually complained that we were still weak at the back.
Aloysius is not really Ashley Cole’s middle name.

Sunday 17 December
Michael Essien has suffered a fresh knee injury and will probably not play any further part on the African Cup of Nations. He was training normally when he went down after a loud click. Doesn’t sound good for him or Chelsea. Ghana will hope to have a few of their established stars back before the World Cup because Michael’s injury they are missing six regulars.
Arsenal’s win at the Reebok against Bolton means they can overtake us at the top if they win their midweek fixture against, er, Bolton.

Monday 4 January
Didier Drogba scored the only goal as Côte d’Ivoire beat Tanzania in warm-up match. Drogba and Kalou only played the first-half.
Malouda has been trying to set the record straight about his supposed unhappiness. He was, he says, misquoted and that he hadn’t said anything nasty about Frank.
Meanwhile in legal news: Ashley Cole has been found guilty of driving at twice the speed limit, he said he was trying to out run paparazzi but the beak didn’t swallow it and he will be sentenced later in the month.

Wednesday 6 January
Tom Taiwo has sighed full-time for Carlisle United. The 19-year old who caused a big twist in Ken Bates’ knickers when he signed with Michael Woods from Leeds in the summer of 2006 has a two-and-a-half-year contract at Brunson Park and we wish him well.
Michael Essien trained today for the first time since his hamstring tear against Apoel last month. It is good news for, er, Ghana as he will fly out to join the African Cup of Nations squad at the weekend in the company of a club doctor. Michael will not play in the Black Star’s first match on Monday against Togo but is itching to play Côte d’Ivoire on Friday, for obvious reasons.
It being the new year Jack Cork, Patrick van Aanholt, Jacob Mellis, Liam Bridcutt and Rhys Taylor are all back from their loans. The logic behind Mellis and van Aanholt’s return is apparently qualification for the Champion’s League. They have to be trained by us for a certain length of time to be categorised as home-grown players.
Sad news today as well, Neil Clement, formerly with West Bromwich Albion, has been forced to retire on medical advice. Neil is 31and has been struggling with injury for eighteen-months. Neil was a very promising youth and reserve for Chelsea in the 90s and his brother Paul has been a coach with Chelsea since summer 2007.

Friday 8 January
Armed gunmen strafed the Togo team bus as it drove into Angola from the Congo, killing one of the drivers and leaving eight squad members injured. Emmanuel Adebayor is the biggest name in the squad and said afterwards that many were unharmed but badly shaken.
The attack happened in the Cabinda region where Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire are also scheduled to play. Planning games in an area where the Home Office advises “against all but essential travel to the interior of Cabinda province” would seem risky in the first place, especially when you realise that the area has its own separatist army: The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda, it sounds snappier in Portuguese.
The Togo players will ask to come home and the incident threatens the whole tournament with Premier League clubs lining up to ask for their players safety to be guaranteed or for their return,
Hull City have been making bullish noises all week about getting our game on but fresh snow fall today lead to the inevitable announcement; for safety reasons our match is not going ahead. Phil Brown will be delighted that the game will now be played after Didier and the boys are back from Angola.
Meanwhile, Didier had won the BBC African footballer of the year award.

Saturday 9 January
Togo have pulled out of the African Cup of Nations and you cannot blame them. Emmanuel Adebayor said: “you cannot sleep after what we have seen – one of your team-mates with bullets in his body in front of you, crying and losing consciousness.”
With our game off because of the weather many spent the afternoon twiddling their thumbs and listening out for other results, both of our closest rivals were playing; Arsenal, making up their game in hand, struggled to a home draw with Everton (sound familiar); while Manchester United scraped a draw away at Birmingham (also sounds familiar). There is an unusual symmetry that two of the sides who have denied us point recently have just deprived our nearest rivals of points on the same day. Chelsea remain top of the league a point ahead of United with a game in hand and three ahead of Arsenal who have now played the same number as us.

Sunday 10 January
Togo have pulled out of the tournament after all. There has been a lot of confusion and contradictory comments, Adebayor’s website said he was coming home while officials were saying the team would stay. Thomas Dossevi, the Nantes striker said: “We are all heartbroken, it is no longer a party, but we want to show our national colours, our values and that we are men”. Finally, the Togoan government weighed in and demanded their return and they flew home as the first match was starting.
The first match was remarkable enough. The home side Angola fought to get themselves a 4-0 lead only to blow it all in the last ten minutes to draw 4-4 with Mali.