Taken by me at M&T Bank Stadium. Jealous?

Alright people. Back from what felt like the longest international break in....well, ever, Chelsea will take on Wolves at the Bridge tomorrow, and will do so with what would have to be called a diminished lineup.

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Here is a look at the new France shirt for the 2010 World Cup. Les Bleus ( the likes of Anelka, Henry, Gourcuff and co.) will wear this jersey at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. France finished runners up at the 2006 World Cup, and qualified for the 2010 event in somewhat [...] Related posts:

1. Republic of Ireland vs France highlights goals- World Cup 2010 playoff This is the post for the first leg.

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First thing: If you're catching the game on delay on Setanta, DON'T read the comments. I broke down and forked over my $19.99 to Setanta to watch the game live, so I will be leaving updates there.

And if you have a working illicit stream, please leave that in the comments as well. It looks like there will be multiple options.

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I wish Arteta was fit so I could replace Lampard with an absolute on the ball genius
This international break has not been meaningless by any means- in fact, it's been quite exciting as Nic Anelka gave France a 1-0 lead over Ireland, and former Fantasy Premier League stars Obafemi Martins (Nigeria) and Amr Zaki (Egypt) got their countries one step closer to South Africa as well. Click to continue reading...

Off a defender, off a post, in the net. Mr. Anelka took care of business away for France, making their trip to South Africa look pretty likely. As Jack posted earlier this week, Nico likes being the supporting striker, but that doesn't mean he doesn't like to let it rip on occasion.

Also in action today, Deco, Ricardo Carvalho, and Paulo Ferreira all played as Portugal won 1-0 against Bosnia, as Hilario, who won his first callup for Portugal, didn't make the bench.

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So President Nicolas Sarkozy went on Facebook to wish les Bleus good luck.

Pretty sure that will be all it takes to push them over the top.

GFC over at The Beantown Frog is cautiously optimistic about this leg of the match, predicting a 1-0 win.

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In the first showdown between the two teams most likely to be challenging for major honours at the start of the season, Chelsea took one step closer to the Premiership title on Sunday after beating Manchester United 1-0 in a match many felt that United had to win. Chelsea are now 5 points clear of their rivals, and although there is a long way to go have taken the early lead in the title race.

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Frank Lampard today hailed Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba as the best in the world!. Lampard said: "Nico has been fantastic all season. Along with Didier they are a great partnership," Lampard said. "He (Anelka) has tremendous pace and balance, particularly when he runs at defenders. "He is so cool, so we have two players who for me are the best at what they do in the world. Click to continue reading...

The Times: They [United] had been the more assertive team throughout, defending diligently and attacking with purpose when the opportunity arose, and would surely have claimed something from the game, quite possibly a victory, had not the two big refereeing decisions gone in Chelsea's favour.

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I've made it clear in recent weeks that Chelsea's November fixtures against Man Utd and Arsenal will give the clearest indication so far of the strength of Chelsea's challenge this season. As it was, Chelsea came through the first of those tests yesterday – but without flying colours.
To have expected flying colours would have been wishful thinking however.

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I've made it clear in recent weeks that Chelsea's November fixtures against Man Utd and Arsenal will give the clearest indication so far of the strength of Chelsea's challenge this season. As it was, Chelsea came through the first of those tests yesterday – but without flying colours.
To have expected flying colours would have been wishful thinking however.

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I said in my preview post posted earlier today that it was a big game and a chance for us to establish a 5-point gap at the top of the table, and after a scrappy, hard fought and closer than expected game, we managed it through a great Barcelona at home header from JT.
Chelsea lined up as expected with Ivanovic at right back, JT, Carvalho and Ashley Cole at the back, Cech in goal of course. Click to continue reading...

Last week, I asked you to vote for you favourite 20 players of the decade, here in this very post, are the Top 100 players of the last 10 years, voted for by you, the readers and bloggers of the offside. First thing I want to say is thank you, everyone for the absolutely amazing response [...] Click to continue reading...

Forget Haye v Valuev, this is the big one Chelsea v Manchester United. This year's favourites take on the Premier League champions. But while Chelsea and Drogba are in top form, United's injury problems mount.

And it is Didier Drogba who pundits alike are talking about. He is in the best form of his life, and if there was a better time to face United for the Ivory Coast forward, it would have to be now as he will be up against a rather depleted looking back line.

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Jamie Carragher admits Liverpool are paying the price for letting Nicolas Anelka leave the club.
The Chelsea striker enjoyed a productive loan spell at Anfield under Gerard Houllier in 2001-02, but chose not to sign the Frenchman permanently, instead signing El Hadji Diouf was signed for £12 million. Click to continue reading...

Tonight Chelsea travel to Madrid for the reverse fixture in our Champions League group stage against Atletico Madrid. In our first game we totally outplayed Madrid and kept Forlan and Aguero quiet. Expect it to be alot different as they are unbeaten at home this season.
It will be interesting to see if Ancelotti rotates the squad from our last game. Click to continue reading...

Frank Lampard today hailed Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba as the best in the world!. Lampard said: "Nico has been fantastic all season. Along with Didier they are a great partnership," Lampard said. "He (Anelka) has tremendous pace and balance, particularly when he runs at defenders. "He is so cool, so we have two players who for me are the best at what they do in the world" Nico gives

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Frank Lampard today hailed Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba as the best in the world!.
Lampard said:
"Nico has been fantastic all season. Along with Didier they are a great partnership," Lampard said. "He (Anelka) has tremendous pace and balance, particularly when he runs at defenders. Click to continue reading...

Chelsea rattled in another four goals yesterday as we beat Bolton 4-0 at the Reebok stadium and let's face it, it could of been so much more. After the display in midweek I predicted that the game yesterday would be a much more difficult game and to Bolton's credit for 43 minutes of the first half it was. Click to continue reading...

We travel to the Reebok today looking to get our away form back on track as Chelsea take on Bolton for the second time in 4 days. Chelsea ran riot at the Bridge on Wednesday in the League Cup but today is going to be alot different with key players back for both sides so expect a much different kind of game. Click to continue reading...

Joe Cole - breathing out of mouth and wearing short shorts, as usual
Joe Cole is fit again - which means that not only are his extra short shorts back on the playing field, but his brilliant creativity and Benayoun-like awareness in close spaces is on display as well in the Chelsea attack. Click to continue reading...

Joe Cole is back. In his first Premier League start since January following cruciate knee ligament injury, the pint-sized midfielder produced a mesmerizing attacking display brimming with pace and invention. At the heart of Chelsea's attacking play from the get go, Cole seamlessly linked midfield and attack from the ‘hole' behind Anelka and Drogba inspiring the Blues to a resounding five-nil drubbing of Blackburn.

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Despite a woeful recent record away from home, you might have expected Allardyce's Blackburn to have put up more of a fight against Chelsea yesterday. But this was a masterclass performance from the Ancelotti's men who unleashed a second half blue-coloured blitzkrieg to put five past a hapless Blackburn Rovers.

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Despite a woeful recent record away from home, you might have expected Allardyce's Blackburn to have put up more of a fight against Chelsea yesterday. But this was a masterclass performance from the Ancelotti's men who unleashed a second half blue-coloured blitzkrieg to put five past a hapless Blackburn Rovers.

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London Derby number two is up next when we play West Ham and as usual the media are building it up in their own typical manner.

Couple of them focused on Wenger's thoughts on Upson. As we know, Upson never quite fulfilled his potential at Arsenal. If I'm wrong about this do correct me but his last ever game in an Arsenal shirt was against Aston Villa in 2001 where he was absolutely shocking in the first half.

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No Drogba, no problem. Chelsea did what three other British teams couldn't do this week in the Champions League - comfortably beat clearly inferior opposition.
While Liverpool lost to Lyon, Arsenal could only draw with AZ Alkmaar, and Manchester United could only scrape by Juande Ramos' CSKA Moscow 1-0, Chelsea had absolutely no problem disposing of Atletico Madrid at Stamford Bridge. Click to continue reading...

Chelsea vs Atletico Madrid:

Chelsea will look to bounce back from their second loss of their domestic campaign. The Blues lost to Aston Villa at the weekend because of two lapses on set pieces but Ballack says that they are looking to eradicate those mistakes.

"John's (Terry) reaction on the pitch showed that he takes a big responsibility not just for himself but for the team," said Ballack.

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Time to be brutally honest.

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Last night David Ngog was picked to start up front against Lyon in a crucial, let me repeat crucial, Champions League tie. One we could ill afford to lose, hell a draw would have been something, but to lose puts us in a whole heap of trouble.

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It must be a long time since a trip to Sunderland was being described as part of a ‘massive' week for Liverpool FC, but that's how Jamie Carragher has portrayed the upcoming threesome against the Black Cats, Lyon and the boys from down the other end of the East Lancs Road.
Notwithstanding the tendency of footballers to attach great importance to a friendly against a Blue Square Conference side, such is their fear of being seen to drift off-message by their manager, you can see where Jamie's coming from. Click to continue reading...

A can of worms has been opened with this list, time for you all to feast on it!

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Four Four Two completed their annual top 100 players in the world list and here are the top 30 ranking Premier League players, the number stated is where each player figures in the entire list.

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Passados 115 milhões de euros, doze anos e sete clubes, Nicolas Anelka é aos 30 anos um pontas-de-lança mais eficazes da actualidade. O melhor marcador do campeonato inglês da época passada foi formado no PSG e já representou Arsenal, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester City, Fenerbahçe, Bolton até chegar ao Chelsea, protagonizando sempre transferências que envolveram verbas avultadas. Click to continue reading...

LES ÉQUIPES PROBABLES

FRANCE: Mandanda - Sagna, Gallas, Abidal, Evra - Govou, L. Diarra, Toulalan, Henry (cap.) - Anelka, Gignac
ILES FÉROÉ: Mikkelsen - Danielsen, Gregersen, Eliasen, Davidsen - A. Olsen, S. Olsen, Benjaminsen, Loekin - Jakobsen - Hansen

I was willing to bet my house yesterday that we'd be playing two DMs, and guess what?

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All the stuff being covered outside the unfriendly confines of the award winning Dirty Tackle...

New Order bassist Peter Hook tells the tale of how Davey Becks almost became a rapper (and how all other rappers almost subsequently committed suicide out of embarrassment and shame).

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Chelsea's 2-0 thrashing of Liverpool on Sunday at Stamford Bridge sent them past Manchester United to the top of the English Premiership League. Once again the amazing strike partnership of Drogba and Anelka was evident .

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The blues are the team to beat this season that is for sure.

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That was hard to take.
Matching Chelsea stride for stride all throughout the match, never second best in the game. Yet we end up losing 2-0.
We looked comfortable all the way through this game until Didier Drogba whipped in a ball for Anelka to score and it was 1-0.
Still we never panicked, kept our shape and composure, without really threatening a strong Chelsea defence. Click to continue reading...