Judging by their performances so far this season, that’s by no means beyond the realms of possibility, but it would be a bold Blues fan – not to say a tad arrogant as well – to expect this kind of result.

Wolves may be propping up the Premiership at the moment but this is just the kind of fixture that Chelsea are notoriously good at messing up.

Wolves have been poor both home and away and struggling to score while Chelsea are undefeated with a 100 per cent away record and goals aplenty – to many Blues fans, all the signs indicate a Wolves win! And the fact we’re coming back from a European game in Prague doesn’t exactly help matters.

But in theory, it has to be said, Chelsea should win the game, but it will not be easy as Wolves will be desperate to record their first win in the Premier League and claim a major scalp in the process.

Predicting Chelsea’s starting XI is proving extremely difficult following Roman Abramovich’s £110 million summer spending spree with few players guaranteed a starting spot.

Carlo Cudicini, in goal, is a certainty. As for the rest, well I would expect to see Terry recalled to defence, and wouldn’t be too surprised if Melchiot gets a recall as well. Hopefully Duff and Lampard will start as I expect Ranieri will opt for a relatively attacking line-up to claim the three points that the fans, and most neutral observers expect us to take.

Hernan Crespo may well make his first Premiership start as Mutu will probably be rested to allow him time to recover from the knock he picked up against Prague. Hopefully the Argentinean will rediscover his shooting boots after missing several good chances in Prague. For all our world class players and talent at Ranieri’s disposal I still expect it to be a relatively tight game with talent prevailing in the end.

Scoreline prediction: Wolves 0 Chelsea 2

The glut of new signings since Roman Abramovich sensationally bought the club in July, have a long way to go before the team can settle down and start playing consistently attractive, attacking football. On paper, Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers should have been comfortable home victories but instead we only beat the Foxes by one goal and could only muster a draw against Rovers.

Failure to secure all three points tomorrow would be seen as something of a setback for us as a £100 million summer spending spree inevitably leads to a huge rise in expectations, among the fans and the media.

There’s no doubting the talent of new signings Adrian Mutu, Hernan Crespo, Juan Veron, Damien Duff and Claude Makelele as well as the ‘old’ guard such as Petit, Lampard, Hasselbaink and Gallas so we should be capable of putting in solid performances every week. Last season we struggled with a lack of squad depth but this time round that should not be a problem for us, such is the quality of the cover on the subs’ bench and in the squad generally.

Tottenham do appear to have more potential up front this season, with Postiga, Zamora and Kanoute but our defence should be able to cope with whatever combination Hoddle selects.

There are few Tottenham players I believe we have to fear but Jamie Redknapp, when he’s fit and on form, is still one to keep an eye on. Cudicini may well have to be alert to keep out his free-kicks and long range shots.

London derby’s are always fiercely competitive, hard fought games but I believe we have just the kind of players who can mix it physically but who also have the talent to play quality football.

On their day Tottenham can be a match for most teams in the Premiership but at Stamford Bridge, despite the need for our players to gel, we will simply be too strong.

Predicted scoreline: Chelsea 4 Tottenham 1.

Judging by their performances so far this season, that’s by no means beyond the realms of possibility, but it would be a bold Blues fan – not to say a tad arrogant as well – to expect this kind of result.

Wolves may be propping up the Premiership at the moment but this is just the kind of fixture that Chelsea are notoriously good at messing up.

Wolves have been poor both home and away and struggling to score while Chelsea are undefeated with a 100 per cent away record and goals aplenty – to many Blues fans, all the signs indicate a Wolves win! And the fact we’re coming back from a European game in Prague doesn’t exactly help matters.

But in theory, it has to be said, Chelsea should win the game, but it will not be easy as Wolves will be desperate to record their first win in the Premier League and claim a major scalp in the process.

Predicting Chelsea’s starting XI is proving extremely difficult following Roman Abramovich’s £110 million summer spending spree with few players guaranteed a starting spot.

Carlo Cudicini, in goal, is a certainty. As for the rest, well I would expect to see Terry recalled to defence, and wouldn’t be too surprised if Melchiot gets a recall as well. Hopefully Duff and Lampard will start as I expect Ranieri will opt for a relatively attacking line-up to claim the three points that the fans, and most neutral observers expect us to take.

Hernan Crespo may well make his first Premiership start as Mutu will probably be rested to allow him time to recover from the knock he picked up against Prague. Hopefully the Argentinean will rediscover his shooting boots after missing several good chances in Prague. For all our world class players and talent at Ranieri’s disposal I still expect it to be a relatively tight game with talent prevailing in the end.

Scoreline prediction: Wolves 0 Chelsea 2.

There had been hopes the veteran 36-year-old would agree to a new one year contract offered by the club but it seems not even new ownership of Chelsea and the promise of millions of pounds in investment could persuade Zola to stay.

Chelsea chief executive Trevor Birch said: “We tried hard to find a solution, and when the new investors came in it was the very first issue on the agenda.

“As a result of additional resources being made available we were able to offer terms which satisfied him.

“But being the man he is he felt that having given his word to his home island club he would have to leave us and join them.”

Chelsea chairman Ken Bates paid tribute to Zola, who joined the club in November 1996 for just £4.6 million and was an instant hit, being named Football Writers’ Player of the Year and helping the club win the FA Cup in 1997, scoring the winning goal in the European Cup Winners’ Cup final in 1998, and picking up the League Cup, European Super Cup, the FA Cup again in 2000 and the Charity Shield.

“Zola was undoubtedly one of Chelsea’s greatest players ever,” said Ken.

“He’s been a joy to watch and a great influence both on and off the field, particularly because of his great interest with young fans.

“We owe him one hell of a lot of thanks. On behalf of every Chelsea fan I wish him and his family all the very best of good fortune in the future.”

Fans will hopefully have a chance to say goodbye to Zola as negotiations are under way between Chelsea and Cagliari for a friendly sometime in the future.

Zola’s departure marks the end of an era but together with yesterday’s Russian takeover signals the start of another.

Many fans will no doubt be disappointed by Zola’s news but there’s no doubt these are very exciting times to be a Chelsea fan and in thanking the little man for his immense contribution to the club we can look to the future with a great deal of optimism.

* Enrique de Lucas is also no longer a Chelsea player. There had long been confusion over whether the Spaniard was a permanent free signing or a loan player but confirmation finally came this week when the midfielder left Stamford Bridge and joined Spanish second division outfit Alaves.

Since breaking into the first team just over three years ago John has been one of our most consistent performers and a key part of one of the meanest defences in the Premiership.

He is a big, strong, uncompromising defender and although he hasn’t got a lot of pace he makes up for it with his excellent reading of the game and robust challenges.

Learning from the likes of Marcel Desailly, one of the best defenders in the world, John has emerged as a true leader, a fact recognised by Ranieri by awarding him the captain’s armband in the absence of the aforementioned Frenchman.

He also weighs in with his fair share of goals, having scored five so far this season, with his aerial presence a danger in the opposition’s penalty area as much as is it reassuring in our own.

So why has it taken Sven so long to pick him? It’s been several months now since he was cleared of all charges relating to an incident outside a London nightclub and while hampered by injury at the beginning of the season, he recovered quickly and impressed on his return to the first team.

Bizarrely the previous England squad saw Ledley King and Matthew Upson picked ahead of him – and this despite his previous excellent performances with the U21s, who he even captained on several occasions.

But with Sol Campbell likely to be injured it seems Sven has finally seen the light and John will hopefully be given his chance in the Euro 2004 qualifier against Liechtenstein. It’s a big step up from club football to the international stage but the 22-year-old has impressed at every level so this will hopefully be the first of many appearances for England.

John has formed impressive partnerships with both Desailly and William Gallas and, without wanting to place too much expectation on him, I fully expect him do the same with either Rio Ferdinand, Campbell or Jonathan Woodgate.

John will hopefully be a big part of Chelsea’s future – let’s hope the same destiny awaits him with England.

From a Chelsea fan’s perspective it was also nice to see Carlton Cole called up to the England U21s, Carlton first team opportunities have been limited this season but the youngster has impressed when he has come on and has shown he has plenty of skill to trouble the best defences.

The experience in the England U21 set up will be good for him to hone his raw talent and while there’s plenty of room for improvement he could also offer Chelsea, and England, something a bit different up front.