Here at our pick of the fixtures for the weekend coming...

Sheffield United vs Sheffield United Friday Night
The famous steel city derby is sure to be a tense and exciting affair. Wednesday did the double over United last year for the first time in ninety-something years and Kevin Blackwell's boys will be looking to avenge that.

Chelsea sits at the top of the Premier League after yesterday's 3-0 victory over Tottenham at Stamford Bridge yesterday. Ancelotti have set a new club record of 11 straight wins.Overall, Chelsea were moving at third gear for most of the game, yet won reasonably comfortably in the end.

Chelsea have won quite a few titles during Roman Abramovich's reign but Champions League title remains just a dream, at least for the time being. The famous penalty miss by John Terry denied them the coveted title two years back but the Blues are now looking really well under new boss Carlo Ancelotti, who admitted the Champions League title was the main objective this season.

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El ‘Big Four' no revienta el mercadoHasta ahora los cuatro mejores equipos de la competencia han sido bastante austeros en cuanto a fichajes. Las cifras van desde los casi 10 millones de euros invertidos por el Arsenal únicamente en Thomas Vermalen hasta los 36 kilos que invirtió el Liverpool en sólo dos jugadores.

Rijkaard Tam Saha'ya verdiği röportaj'da Türk Futbolu'nun temel eksikliklerinden, futbol mantalitesinden, çalışma stiline kadar pek çok şeyden bahsetmiş. Röportaj'ı okurken dikkatimi çeken ilk şey konuştuklarını İngilizce'yi gerçekten bilen birisi çevirince Rijkaard'ın içindeki futbol filozofunu görmek oldu.

Big Story

Chelsea FC have announced chief executive Peter Kenyon will be stepping down October 31st while staying on as a non-executive director and liaison to both UEFA and the European Clubs' Association committees. As it stands this morning, the most likely explanation for Kenyon's resignation will be the Gael Kakuta affair—the Lens youngster whom Chelsea encouraged to break contract with the French club, leading to a two transfer window ban for CFC—although there were likely more important factors which led to today's announcement.

Liverpool, Chelsea and United all won fairly uninspiring 1-0 games in the first round of the CL group stage. None of the teams were any great shakes. So let's compare the ledes in the BBC's and ESPN's match reports. I mean, they're probably similar, right?
BBC:
• Liverpool opened their Champions League campaign in unconvincing fashion with a narrow win over Hungarian champions Debrecen.

After leaving a horrible season with AC Milan, Coach Carlos Ancelotti is now with Chelsea and is at the top of the English Premier League. But according to him they wont last unbeaten for a long time. He said, "I know we are doing great, but there are just too many great teams in this [...]

(video gol, 0-1. Anelka)

Everyone I know has already written us off in this one. Chelsea are looking strong at the moment, really strong. As Harry said, they've got players in their squad that can bully us and as far as I'm concerned, I can see it coming down to how we marshal Drogba and Anelka.
If we let them out-power us, then it could be a rout.

Fantastic display on the weekend at home to Tottenham sans the Drogba scare, of course.

Now that we know the terrifying Ivorian is going to be just fine, we can get on with the business at hand. Namely this Carling Cup third-round tie at Stamford Bridge against Championship side Queens Park Rangers.

For years now Milan's name has been synonymous for spectacle. Just like Juventus' always win without leaving their hearts on the pitch for attractive football, rossoneri were a symbol of a different approach to football, perhaps not so attractive but with a certain Brazilian charm.

I've been quietly impressed with Carlo Ancelotti since he began managing Chelsea. He has a quiet, unassuming way about him which suggests he takes his football seriously, while avoiding the pretentious nonsense of many other top managers ('mind-games' etc.).

This presentiment was confirmed a little today, after Chelsea's first loss of the season away at Wigan, 3-1.

How sad to see our record breaking reign at home tumble to Preston.
It sounds as if we had our chances but didn't take them.
Good to hear that we carried on trying until the end though so at least managed a consolation goal.
And even the mightiest have the occasional fall.

After leaving a horrible season with AC Milan, Coach Carlos Ancelotti is now with Chelsea and is at the top of the English Premier League. But according to him they wont last unbeaten for a long time. He said, "I know we are doing great, but there are just too many great teams in this [...] Related posts:

1. Chelsea And The Champions
2. "Big Phil" Scolari New Chelsea Manager
3. Kean linked to Chelsea coach role

After leaving a horrible season with AC Milan, Coach Carlos Ancelotti is now with Chelsea and is at the top of the English Premier League. But according to him they wont last unbeaten for a long time. He said, "I know we are doing great, but there are just too many great teams in this [...] Related posts:

1. Chelsea And The Champions
2. "Big Phil" Scolari New Chelsea Manager
3. Kean linked to Chelsea coach role

Premier League champions Manchester United climbed to the top of the table for the first time this season at a stunned Chelsea's expense as Carlos Ancelotti suffered his first defeat in charge of the Blues.

Elsewhere, England's top flight went goalscoring bananas, with 33 strikes on show from nine fixtures as the defending coaching manual was flung out of the window and into the autumn sky, allowing forwards to up the ante in their early fight for the Golden Boot.