Andre Villas Boas, Manchester United

Amidst the drama of the morning, where the English FA announced the removal of John Terry as captain, there’s still a match to be played on Sunday at Stamford Bridge. Ironically, the opposition goes by the name “United,” which is exactly what the players must be thinking at the moment.

Terry, himself, will play no part in the Manchester United match, as manager Andre-Villas Boas has ruled him out due to a knee injury. Also out are Ramires, due to a knee injury and John Mikel Obi, due to a hamstring problem. Ashley Cole is set to miss out because of suspension from the red card he received at Swansea on Tuesday.

For United, they will be boosted by the returns of Wayne Rooney and Nani, who are both fit again after injury, while Tom Cleverley and Ashley Young will both travel, but are doubtful for the match.

This preview will take a different tone than my previous ones, as I’m introducing Five Things I Think about the upcoming match.

1. I think that the loss of Ashley Cole is quite a problem for this upcoming match. I’ve said it for a while now, but the illusion of attacking in wide areas is sometimes more powerful than actually doing it. By that, I mean the fullbacks can be used to pin the oppositions’ wide men back. Against United, something that Sir Alex Ferguson has been able to do comfortably, is ignore the fullback threat. His wide men have been permitted to play more inside and outnumber the midfield at every turn. Ash’s loss hurts that idea.

2. I firmly believe that Rooney comes back into the side, and I also think that his goals won’t hurt us, but his ability to shift between striker and midfield will be a key. Something that we used to do to United repeatedly was take advantage of the 3 v 2 that we enjoyed in the midfield playing 4-3-3 vs. 4-4-2. What Ferguson has done brilliantly is find players to sink into the midfield in transition to combat the effects. Rooney has been key to that because he can come from a forward position and drop deep, making him harder to pick up unless you mark him with the holding player, again negating the 3 v 2 advantage.

3. If Gary Cahill is to ever get his debut, this is the perfect time. Terry has already been declared out, and the one player that’s given David Luiz headaches over the last few years is Javier Hernandez. “Chicharito” has been able to play in the spaces and exploit the fact that Terry and Luiz both like to attack the ball, with neither really being great at covering for a defensive partner. That’s why Ricardo Carvalho was the perfect partner for Terrry, and even with his absence, Luiz has a lot of the same skills. Cahill’s a more natural covering option at center back and might aid in stopping the Little Pea from breaking the back line.

4. Daniel Sturridge must have a much better game than he did at Old Trafford in the fall. That day, Sturridge seemed overawed by the moment and never seemed to really settle and play his game. He must settle on Sunday because there are no ways of changing the side if he doesn’t. At the moment, we have no cover for the right-sided attacker with Salomon Kalou still at the African Cup of Nations. Sturridge must create some level of danger push Patrice Evra back, otherwise, United will attack that flank with no fear.

5. I don’t think United are unbeatable. I think the way to beat United is to force Sir Alex to have to attempt to change the course of the match without making a substitution to his starting 11. The sides that have given United problems have been teams that have forced the 11 men of United to do things that they’re not accustomed to doing. While Ferguson gets all sorts of tactical plaudits, his system is quite well defined with specific jobs assigned to specific players. When you force those players to have to think outside those jobs, they have trouble adapting. It’s why Ferguson’s subs are also usually effective. He swaps in players with different job assignments that change the match. We have the potential to do that under Villas-Boas, but it requires the players to work as a unit and think as a unit, something that we haven’t done to great effect this season.

The last thing is that I think this will be just as cagey as every other Chelsea/United meeting over the last few years. However, we must be careful because with certain personnel absent for this match, United could exploit those absences and overrun us very quickly.

Ramires, Swansea

For the first time in the Premier League era Chelsea travel to a different country to play a league fixture, heading west to south Wales to take on Swansea City. Much has been made of the Welsh side’s excellent home record this season and rightly so; they have only lost once at the Liberty Stadium, to champions Manchester United, and boast the accolade of having conceded the fewest goals on their own turf, a measly six. Considering Chelsea’s last three games have produced only two goals, both in favour of the Blues and including a very harsh penalty, it seems unlikely those in blue venturing down the M4 will be rewarded with a feast of goals. Indeed just a performance with a bit more energy and quality than Saturday’s dire effort at Loftus Road will suffice.

Issues off the pitch will once again cloud tomorrow’s fixture. A little over an hour after the final whistle will mark Fernando Torres’s first year at Stamford Bridge. The £50 million spent in the very last hour of the 2011 January transfer window has yielded a return of five goals from the Spaniard which, if my maths is correct, have come at a price of £10 million a hit. But hey, while we’re here, let’s celebrate each and every one of them again – first up, the wonderful turn and shot in the pouring rain in a 3-0 home win against West Ham (remember them?) in April. Then came the delightful chipped finish past David de Gea in our 1-3 reverse at Old Trafford in September; sadly this goal was blighted by a miss later in the game of quite epic proportions. The following Saturday marked the height of Torres’s Chelsea career when he notched for the second successive game, against tomorrow’s opponents Swansea, with a neat finish. This zenith was also short-lived, however, as he saw red barely ten minutes later for a reckless lunge on Mark Gower. Two more goals followed in October in a 5-0 rout against Belgian no-hopers Genk. And there we have them, all five – West Ham, Manchester United, Swansea City and Genk, the victims of Torres’s quality. It is now sixteen games in the blue of Chelsea since he last scored in a time of just under fifteen hours. Interestingly, this run of impotence in front of goal is now longer than the one he endured having signed for the club in January.

He has, of course, been the victim of some bad luck – the miss at Old Trafford stands out, especially following such a piece of brilliant skill to get himself in front of the goal with nobody to beat, as do seemingly endless strikes against the woodwork. That the team have also found it so hard to play to his strengths hasn’t helped, nor have the occasional flashes of brilliance from Didier Drogba which have made it impossible for first Carlo Ancelotti, and now Andre Villas-Boas, to appoint Torres as the club’s main striker and figurehead up front. Only with Drogba in Africa can Torres feel like the position is his. His work-rate has been mostly faultless and he has produced some performances of the very highest quality which haven’t been rewarded, but unless something changes, and fast, one fears for the future of the fourth most expensive player in the history of the game.

Elsewhere in the all-too-predictable soap opera that defines Abramovich-led Chelsea, Wednesday morning sees club captain John Terry in court facing charges of racial abuse. Returning to the scene of the alleged crime on Saturday Terry performed excellently against a side even blunter going forward than our own. Whether he will be able to put his neck on the line in typically dramatic fashion in a West London courtroom remains to be seen. It is ten years to the month since JT was last in court and all those in blue will be hoping that the (eventual) verdict is the same as the one given in January 2002.

Anyway, back to matters on the pitch. With Player of the Season-contender Ramires ruled out for three to four works with a knee injury sustained at Loftus Road a place in Chelsea’s midfield three opens up, with Frank Lampard (who has around a 50% chance of returning for this game), Michael Essien and Oriol Romeu all vying for a place in the starting eleven. Chelsea’s front three is unlikely to change, not because of their sparkling form but simply because there is nobody to replace them, and it would be churlish to drop David Luiz now he’s hit a run of very good form. What the Blues have lacked in creativity in recent weeks they have made up for in defensive solidarity and Luiz deserves much credit for the four consecutive clean sheets Chelsea have kept.

Swansea’s game is built around keeping possession in the middle third then inviting wingers Nathan Dyer and Scott Sinclair to wreak havoc closer to the goal where predatory forward Danny Graham continues to impress. Leon Britton has won the hearts and minds of football pundits and journalists up and down the country with his remarkable ball possession statistics (better than Xavi, in case you hadn’t heard), although the contrarian in me would point out that the Welsh wizard has yet to score a goal or record an assist this campaign. Instead, it is left to Mark Gower to provide the attacking ingenuity to unlock defences – he has six assists to his name. The defence hasn’t changed from the one that won promotion through the play-offs last season and is all the better for it, whilst new custodian Michel Vorm has proven a revelation in the Swans’ goal. Dorus de Who?

Ex-Blue Scott Sinclair will be excited to show his former employers that they were foolish to let him go, but in truth he has endeared himself to Chelsea fans more so in recent weeks, with crucial goals against Tottenham and Arsenal, than he ever did whilst playing at Stamford Bridge. That victory against Arsenal in their last outing at the Liberty Stadium was impressive, but defensive flaws were evident too – a more clinical Arsenal, perhaps like the one we witnessed at Stamford Bridge in October, might well have scored four or five. This will hopefully give the visitors some confidence as they seek to end a dry spell in front of goal. Indeed the Swans come into this game on the back of two defeats, at Sunderland and Bolton, whilst Chelsea’s last five games point to four wins and a draw, and they are unbeaten on the road since October. Whether this record remains intact as they return from foreign lands remains to be seen, but perhaps it will be Fernando who brings some symmetry to proceedings with a winning goal against the team he last scored against in the league exactly a year to the day since he signed for the club? Ok, perhaps not, but forgive me for dreaming.

In the summer an away trip to Swansea may have seemed an easy three points but looking at the league table it is certainly unlikely to prove that, Swansea may sit in thirteenth place, fifteen points behind Chelsea, but they have been outstanding at home this season. Only Man Utd have won at the Liberty Stadium and even that game ended up 1-0. No team has conceded fewer home goals than Swansea (six goals from eleven games) and it is worth noting that they are only two points behind Chelsea’s home record this season.

This is why you can get pretty generous odds on a Chelsea win in this match, at the time of writing the best odds available on Chelsea are 17/20 giving Chelsea fans the opportunity to almost double their money if Chelsea win the match. Swansea have won five and drawn five at home this season, another home win for Swansea is priced up at 4/1 with most bookies whilst the draw is available at 11/4. Chelsea have only lost two away matches this season so a home win looks doubtful but worryingly the draw looks quite a realistic option with Chelsea tough to beat on the road and Swansea very tough to beat at home, Chelsea have drawn four of their eleven away matches and if looking for a value bet in this match the draw isn’t a bad option at 11.4. It would also cover the disappointment of dropping two points in this match.

If Chelsea are to win then it looks extremely likely it would be a narrow win, Swansea haven’t lost by more than one goal at home all season whilst Chelsea haven’t won a league match by more than one goal in two months. If you fancy Chelsea to win this match than why not boost the odds of a Chelsea win at 17/20 to 11/4 by backing them to win by exactly one goal. Whatever the superiority a low scoring game looks likely here, Chelsea have not conceded a goal in four matches and have scored only two goals in the last three matches, clearly the loss of Didier Drogba to the African Cup of Nations is having an adverse effect on the team’s goalscoring capabilities. Meanwhile Swansea have a great defence at home but haven’t been prolific in front of goal, scoring just 15 goals in 11 home matches. Under 2.5 goals looks a great option here at 5/6 with most bookies.

A low scoring game narrows down the correct score possibilities, if Chelsea are to win by a one goal margin and the game ends with under 2.5 goals than the only possible winning scoreline would be 1-0 and that outcome is 6/1 generally. If you fancy the draw in this match then 0-0 and 1-1 are the selections to concentrate on, a goalless draw is 10/1 whilst a 1-1 draw is available at 13/2. If you are a major pessimist and think Chelsea will lose then back 1-0 to Swansea at 12/1!

Before placing any bets for tonight’s match, be sure to visit the Free Bets page of OLBG.com for a large list of generous free bets.

When the draw for the FA Cup fourth round was made, QPR V Chelsea was accompanied by a sharp intake of breath and the realisation that we all have to start talking about ‘that incident’ again. Therefore, the column inches are inadvertently devoted to an argument which will be played out in the courts, rather than the sport which will be played on Loftus Road.

One of the key men who will be suited and booted at various times over the next month, John Terry, is expected to play on Saturday, no doubt amidst a cacophony of boos from the home faithful. Anton Ferdinand should play a part in the match too, regardless of whether he decides to shake Terry’s hand or show him how he really feels at some point during the ninety minutes.

Remarkably, there will also be twenty other players on the pitch at the start of the game, but Chelsea will be without Frank Lampard – the prolific midfielder misses out with a calf tear. Salomon Kalou and Didier Drogba are on African Cup of Nations duty, with the two combining well as the former scored in the Elephants’ 2-0 win over Burkina Faso on Thursday.

QPR have a new manager in place after the sacking of Neil Warnock – a decision which was met with absolute shock and dismay from Warnock himself, and pure unadulterated joy from everyone else in the entire world who will no longer have to tolerate his weekly displays of incompetence. Mark Hughes is now at the helm, but he could be without five key players on Saturday; Danny Gabiddon, Matthew Connolly, DJ Campbell, Jay Bothroyd and Akos Buzsaky are all doubtful.

While Terry was busy allegedly disgracing himself back in October during the first league meeting between the two sides since 1996, Chelsea were struggling to contend with some awful refereeing and a spirited QPR side, eventually going down 1-0 after an early Heidar Helguson goal. Drogba and Jose Bosingwa were both sent off in the first-half. The two sides also met in the Carling Cup in 2009, with Kalou scoring the only goal of the game, and in the FA Cup in January 2008, with Chelsea again winning 1-0 – QPR goalkeeper Lee Camp scoring an own goal. The last time there were more than three goals scored in a match between the two London rivals was back in a 2-2 draw in September 1991.

Everyone’s favourite Wirral-based referee, Mike Dean, will be the man in the middle at Loftus Road. He has reffed three Chelsea games – all of them wins – this season, including the 4-1 victory over Swansea in which Fernando Torres – or, ‘The Hapless’ Fernando Torres to give him his full name – was shown a straight red for an erratic two-footed challenge on Mark Gower. It is Dean’s only red card of the season so far. Dean is yet to officiate QPR in the top-flight, but he is fresh off the back of the meeting between Arsenal and Manchester United, in which he brandished seven yellow cards.

Discipline will be a major issue in this match too, but who will make a worse impression: the players or the fans? We can hope that Sunday’s headlines are about a Torres masterclass, a resounding Chelsea win, or even a narrow 1-0 win from a scruffy finish, but we all know they won’t be. Let’s instead hope that we are able to rise above the hate below, and enjoy the football. Anyone care to guess on the odds of that happening?

With the Champions League knockout stages (Champions League Betting) just under a month away, AVB’s focus is on Saturday’s Premier League early kick-off that sees Chelsea travel to East Anglia to face a prickly Norwich side which has exceeded expectation this season.

The last time these two sides met in a league fixture at Carrow Road was in March 2005. Chelsea won comfortably and went on to win their first title in 50 years; Norwich were relegated on the last day of the season. The Canaries finished with 33 points; the Blues with 95. The home side, this season, already have 28 points and look likely to survive, whilst the away side have just 40 – even if Andre Villas-Boas’ side win all of their remaining games, they still would still only achieve 91 points. The gulf in class between these sides has clearly shrunken, and that adds to the excitement of the Premier League.

Only West Brom (currently 15th in the Premier League), Bolton (19th) and Wigan (20th) spent less money than Norwich in the summer, and this tells you something about what a great job Paul Lambert is doing at Carrow Road. Over their past eight games, stretching back to 10 December, his side have won four, drawn three and lost only one – an identical record to Chelsea’s – and have scored 15 goals – two more than the Blues.

The Canaries will quite rightly feel they have a chance of getting something from this game. It’s worth pointing out, though, that they haven’t managed to come away with anything in previous encounters with the big sides this season (a 1-1 draw at Anfield is hardly a scalp these days).

However impressive the hosts have been this season, the onus will undoubtedly be with the Blues. A four-game winless run in late December has masked a great improvement in the side since their November defeat at home to Liverpool, and AVB will expect to collect his fourth win in four in 2012.

Despite losing Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou to the Africa Cup of Nations, the squad is looking in excellent shape. Saturday’s victory over Sunderland was narrow, but the overall performance was very impressive. Fernando Torres gave his best performance in a Chelsea shirt, while Michael Essien, introduced late on, looked like a new signing. Add to that the transfer of Gary Cahill and the returns from injury of Daniel Sturridge, Branislav Ivanovic and, possibly, John Obi Mikel, and things are looking very bright for the Blues.

Ramires, Sunderland

Saturday sees Martin O’Neills revitalised Sunderland visit the Bridge for another ‘must win’ game for AVB’s Chelsea. Since the arrival of O’Neill Sunderland’s no hopers have suddenly turned in performances only dreamed of under the hapless Steve Bruce. Looking at Sunderland’s team of Fergie’s cast offs and journeymen footballers its hard to comprehend why they were unable to perform under the previous manager. The fact that Anton Ferdinand left Sunderland for QPR thinking that the ‘Ha Ha Has’ were a bigger team showed how low Sunderland’s stock had sunk (or that Ferdinand was clueless).  However the win against Man City proved that they have big game performances in them and therefore should not be taken lightly.

For the Blues it looks likely that Sturridge and Rammy will be back so there will be a couple of changes in the starting X1. Who is benched remains to be seen with the daily rags trying hard to stir up the AVB and Lamps story. Look out for some Sunday’ Red Top’ specials if Frank is dropped to the bench. AVB has been in most of this week sporting a new look of short hair and shaved face. In his interviews he has stated that he will not pick players that are just popular with the fans but he will pick those who are on form. Frank is the fifth most used player in the squad this season so he is hardly being under used, however the story of Frank joining Man Utd (a real non starter) or West Ham (with all the abuse they give him?) has given the press the chance to make up more rubbish about cracks in the dressing room.

AVB is an easy target because of his tender years but do you hear the hacks making up stories about Man Utd because Fergie is now an old codger or Mancini because nobody can understand a word he says? The answer is no. The problem is that the London based sports reporters cannot be bothered to get off their fat backsides and poke around up North for a story. Its far easier to pop on a Tube and go to Chelsea and then stop for an expenses paid lunch down the Kings Road.

As for the transfer window? Well the normal rubbish and porkies adorn the back pages at the moment. Cahill looks like a good buy and will hopefully be completed this weekend. Josh looks like he’s off to Brendan’s boyos down in Swansea and Alex may go and join Sparky at the R’s revolution at Shepherds Bush (although I cant see him playing in the Championship next season). So back to this weeks match, my feeling is a 3-1 win for our blue boys with a sweet little double from Nando, please, and a third from Sturridge. Sunderland will be a tough test but I don’t think we will be seeing O’Neill jigging down the touchline this week.

Chelsea are the hot favourites to win this match, as you’d expect, they can be backed at just 4/11 to win this one which looks a fair price but not one you’d want to have the mortgage on for a team who have won just twice in their last six league games. Talking of recent form, no team has gained more points in the Premiership than Sunderland since O’Neill’s arrival at the Stadium of Light and that is why some will be predicting an upset in this fixture, Sunderland are available at 9/1 to win this match at the time of writing if you shop around whilst a draw, which has been Chelsea’s most common result in their last six league games, is priced up at 4/1 with most bookies.

Previous meetings between the two teams at Stamford Bridge point to a clear winner either way, the last ten games have all been won by at least two goals and if you fancy Chelsea to win by two goals or more you can odds of evens whilst Sunderland are 14/1 to win by the same margin. The latter would have been a winning bet last season when Sunderland won 3-0 but the season before Chelsea won by a massive scoreline of 7-2 and that was Chelsea’s sixth consecutive win against Sunderland at home, five of those wins came with a clean sheet and if you fancy Chelsea to win to nil you can get odds of 11/8.

Ramires continues to score more goals than would have been expected at the start of the season, the midfielder has four league goals and also chipped in with two in the FA Cup last weekend so he could be a bit of value to score first at 14/1 and anytime at 4/1. Didier Drogba is now away at the African Cup of Nations so Daniel Sturridge could be the main goal threat, he is 5/1 to score first and 11/10 to score at anytime but Andre Villas-Boas would really love Fernando Torres to find his scoring form whilst Drogba is away and Torres is also 5/1 to score the first goal against Sunderland and 11/10 to net at any point in the match.

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Nathaniel Chalobah, Portsmouth

The fact that there is no midweek game, our next game after this one being Sunderland at home on Saturday and the fact that a big win could significantly boost morale, may prey on his mind however and may lead him to play a stronger side than expected. Ross Turnbull, Ryan Bertrand, Sam Hutchinson after miraculously recovering and taking his place on the bench in recent games having at one time be told he would never play football at a high standard again, Nat Chalobah, Josh McEacran and Romelu Lukaku, will all be hoping otherwise. Fellow youngster and loan returnee Kakuta is unlikely to play as he looks to finalise a loan move to French side Dijon, however recent fringe players Mikel, Kalou and Malouda, all of whom have been linked with a move away, will also hope to be given some game time. Torres will hope to continue his impressive showing at Wolves and start this game, with Drogba’s trip to the African Cup of Nations looming.

We of course have recent FA Cup history with Portsmouth, having beaten them 1-0 in the final in 2010, a hard-fought victory in a game in which both teams missed a penalty. The memories of that game, the day in which we sealed the double and our third FA Cup triumph in four years at the new Wembley will live long in the memory. We also beat them 1-0 this summer in a friendly at Fratton Park, Chelsea old boy Tal Ben Haim with the only goal on that occasion. Our last Premier League encounters with them in the season of their relegation, our double winning season, ended with a 2-1 home and a 5-0 away win for the Londoners. Pompey’s last draw against us came in February 2008 and their last victory way back in 1960, in the league cup. We beat them 4-1 at Fratton Park in our last FA Cup clash against them in 1997 on route to winning the trophy.

Portsmouth currently sit 17^th in the Championship and are now managed by Michael Appleton, having recently lost previous manger Steve Cotterrill to Nottingham Forest, a few weeks ago. Their last three results have been a 2-0 win at home to Watford, a 1-1 draw at Leicester and a 1-0 defeat at Millwall. There danger men are Norris and Varney, who are joint top scorers with five goals.

The officials are referee Anthony Taylor, assisted by Sian Massey and Jake Hillier, with fourth official Mark Clattenburg. The game has now sold out, with Portsmouth’s away fans occupying the whole of the shed end.

Other notable third round clashes to keep an eye on include the Manchester derby at the Etihad stadium, Arsenal taking on Leeds in a repeat of last season’s third round clash and a midlands derby between Birmingham and Wolves.

The games come thick and fast at this time of year and with the fixtures being fairly kind to Chelsea fans will be hopeful of keeping a decent run of form going into the new year. Just over a month ago Chelsea were easy winners over Wolves at Stamford Bridge and it is expected that it will be more of the same at Molineux on Monday.

Chelsea won that last meeting against Wolves 3-0 and Chelsea also have a decent record of comfortable wins away at Wolves, the teams have only met three times in the Premiership at Molineux and Chelsea have won two of those, 2-0 and 5-0, but there was a shock 1-0 win for Wolves in this fixture last season. That means either way it could be a win to nil for whoever take three points from this fixture and Chelsea can be backed at 11/8 to win to nil whilst Wolves are a massive 11/1 to pull of last year’s shock and not only beat Chelsea but to win with a clean sheet too.

Just in terms of winning this match, Chelsea are pretty warm favourites as you’d expect but they still seem to be a pretty decent price to win this match, Chelsea fans can back their team at 1/2 at the time of writing. The draw is the next best option according to the bookies who are going 10/3 that the game ends all square whilst a home win is available at 13/2. Wolves have been fairly decent at home this season, they have the fourteenth best home record in the league currently with three wins, two draws and four losses from their nine home matches. Chelsea’s away record fits in with their general profile this season, Chelsea have four wins, three draws and two losses on the road this season. This suggests the 1/2 on Chelsea is probably the right price for this fixture.

Ahead of Chelsea’s game against Aston Villa, Chelsea had conceded precisely one goal in four straight matches so if you don’t think this will be like previous games between the sides then both teams scoring could be a good bet, you can back both teams to score at 10/11. Correct scorelines that appeal if that happens are 2-1 and 3-1, the 2-1 scoreline can be backed at 15/2 whilst 3-1 is available at 11/1. A 4-1 win for Chelsea is also possible but looks much less likely at 22/1 although it would represent a three goal winning margin just like the game between the sides a month ago.

Chelsea’s most likely scorer remains the highly talented Daniel Sturridge, he is the club’s top scorer in the league this season and can be backed at 4/1 to score first and 10/11 to score at anytime. Sturridge has scored Chelsea’s last three away goals and both of those sets of odds look good due to that record.

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Frank Lampard, Wolverhampton Wanderers

After a poor run of form and horrific result against Aston Villa, Chelsea’s second game in 3 days sees them travel to a dogged Wolves side looking to pile more misery upon the blues.

Last season’s trip to Molineux saw Chelsea travel in similar circumstances, title hopes had begun to fade and we were sitting fifth in the league. A Boswinga own goal was the difference that night and was part of a dire spell that saw us win just 2 in 10. Let’s hope Wolves aren’t again part of another run like that.
There needs to be changes for Chelsea after the Villa game and Torres, Lampard and Boswinga would all be welcome additions to the starting 11. Performances have been awful and something needs to be done with urgency. Ivanovic and Mikel are both out with muscle strains but Boswinga is expected to be fully fit and available for the starting line up which should hopefully see Ferreria drop back to the bench. It’s going to be a tough, gritty game and all Chelsea players need to be prepared for a battle.

Having drawn their last 3, Wolves will surely be looking to last year’s performance for inspiration. After being played off the park at the Bridge, they will surely fancy themselves on a weeknight at home against a stuttering Chelsea side. Zubar, Craddock, Edwards and Foley are all in contention for a starting place after returning from injury. Influential midfielder Jamie O’Hara will still be missing through injury but Stephen *unt will be available after missing the November fixture through suspension. I’m sure the travelling Chelsea fans will no doubt give him a warm reception.

Recent results predict a narrow scoreline. Wolves will play with a pestering, aggressive mentality and if we’re not going to match that side of the game, we will lose without doubt. The midfield will be a key and Romeu, Lampard and Ramires all know how to win this type of game, be tough in the tackle and move the ball quickly. Being optimistic I’d put the score 1-0 Chelsea with a Drogba goal but Being realistically I’d say 0-0. Let’s just hope we start the year in winning ways.