The recent squad of 19 (plus Under-21s) submitted by Chelsea to the Premier League as mandated by the new home grown mandate was discussed in detail yesterday. Consensus so far has been that, while the squad is incredibly strong, it is grossly thin. Well, maybe not grossly but thin nonetheless.

Among the 19 are two reserve goalkeepers who have yet to prove they are anything other than **** this season and a pair of new additions, one of which is also new to the league.

The recent squad of 19 (plus Under-21s) submitted by Chelsea to the Premier League as mandated by the new home grown mandate was discussed in detail yesterday. Consensus so far has been that, while the squad is incredibly strong, it is grossly thin. Well, maybe not grossly but thin nonetheless.

Among the 19 are two reserve goalkeepers who have yet to prove they are anything other than **** this season and a pair of new additions, one of which is also new to the league.

Chelsea have a special player on their hands in Josh McEachran. This kid has plenty of skill and knows how to finish plays in the middle, on the wing or in front of goal.

The London Evening Standard says manager Carlo Ancelotti is a confirmed admirer and handed McEachran, who joined the club as an eight-year-old, a squad number last January (51) and invited him to travel with the first team for last season's Carling Cup tie at Blackburn.

After the international break, Chelsea resume their Premier League campaign at West Ham on Saturday and its another chance for Chelsea to grab another early three points. With United away in a tricky game at Everton we simply have to win and I have to say, the way we are playing right now, West Ham's dismal start to their season and pressure mounting already on Avram Grant, I can only see a Chelsea win.

With the International Break finally over and regular domestic football set to return to its rightful place in the media, chances are you're going to have to make some changes to your side thanks to injuries. Managers bemoan the international interruptions and this past break will be no different.

Despite their excellent start to their campaign the pressure is on Chelsea ahead of their Champions League opener tonight. Carlo Ancelotti's men travel to MSK Zilina and the general consensus amongst the footballing world is that they need to succeed to in Europe this season.

While last year saw Chelsea return to the domestic heights of the Jose Mourinho days, their capitulation against Mourinho's Inter Milan would have no doubt infuriated owner Roman Abramovich in his quest to complete a clean sweep of trophies.

Tomorrow Chelsea make the trip to Eastlands to take on Manchester City in the biggest game both sides have had to face so far this season. We have had the build up and people have had their say, now it's time to focus on the game itself. With City's defensive problems and Chelsea welcoming back the big guns in our strongest eleven (minus Frank Lampard) the sign's before the game look good for Chelsea.

In the build-up to their early afternoon clash, Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini conceded the Premier League title to the visiting Chelsea.

Although a lot of Mancini's frustration was directed towards the injuries, particularly to his defensive unit, his comments also expressed a legitimate respect for the way Carlo Ancelotti's Blues entered the fixture in incredibly dominant form.

In the sixth round of fixtures in this Barclays Premier League season, things took quite a shocking turn. Saturday's theme appeared to be upsets as the underdogs hit back at the expense of their significantly more fancied counterparts.

The day's action began at Eastlands where Carlos Tevez inspired Manchester City to pick up a 1-0 win over defending champions Chelsea.

For archival purposes. Deep into the archives for this one.

>> Click Here To Watch Chelsea Vs Marseille Live Now <<

Chelsea Vs Marseille Live Streaming & Match Preview
Champions League – Chelsea Vs Marseille Live Online Click Here
Tuesday, 28th September 2010
Kick Off : 19:45 BST
Venue : Stamford Bridge, London

The Champions League fixture between Chelsea and Marseille will be played at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday 28th September 2010, kick-off is set for 7:45 PM.

It is obvious that a team that scores 14 goals without response en route to three consecutive Premier League wins has a strong squad at its disposal.

However, what earns Chelsea additional distinction for a thoroughly dominant start to their title defense is the fact that they have lost far more notable players than they have brought in this summer.

Chelsea star Michael Essien has laid the marker down to his club's opponents, cautioning that Carlo Ancelotti and his men are eyeing Champions League success. UEFA's highest club honor has eluded the Blues to this point, but with what appears to be their best squad ever, Essien believes they can win any competition they enter.

Manchester United winger Park Ji-Sung is confident that his side can compete with Chelsea over the course of a long Premier League season despite the dominant manner in which the Blues have started their title defense.

Carlo Ancelotti's men are the only ones in the English top flight to have picked up all nine points from the opening three fixtures and having scored 14 times without even conceding, they look well on track to retain the Premier League crown successfully.

Frank Lampard will be fit for West Ham on Saturday as per Carlo Ancelotti, reported in the Daily Star this morning. Carlo is quoted in response to Lampard's news and the accusations that he has put club before country by missing out on England on Friday night and Tuesday. He said:

"For sure, Frank will be fit for the West Ham game.

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti believes that midfielder Frank Lampard will be completely ready to for the club's trip to Upton Park on Saturday.

The 32-year old, who has enjoyed a productive start to the new Premier League season, has been missing from England's Euro 2012 qualifiers this week and reports have casted suspicion that the timing of his hernia operation was planned ahead of time in order to prevent him from missing games for the defending champions.

Does anyone read Caught Offside? Yeah, me neither. Still, when I came across this little nugget, which popped up on my NewsNow feed earlier today, I just couldn't overlook it.

Should Chelsea Pair Be Punished for their ‘Injury' Inspired England Absence?

Questioning my commitment?

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has today claimed that he wants to emulate the success of Sir Alex Ferguson and have a prolonged stay in the English game. The Chelsea boss has also suggested he may even wish to manage England some time down the line. But could the Italian really fuflill his claims?

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has today claimed that he wants to emulate the success of Sir Alex Ferguson and have a prolonged stay in the English game. The Chelsea boss has also suggested he may even wish to manage England some time down the line. But could the Italian really fuflill his claims?

The Chelsea Daily Drivel is a daily update of all the stories concerning our club, the rumours, the opinions and more....
So here are the Chelsea news updates on Tuesday 7th September 2010 including: A Carlo Ancelotti special today with plenty of quotes from our manager.
First this morning to Carlo Ancelotti's stance on Fabio Capello's decision to include Wayne Rooney for England tonight against Switzerland.

From the sounds of this brief excerpt, it sounds like Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti's recently released autobiography might be worth reading:
Quote: "There are times when I stand up in front of a full-length mirror and act like a contortionist. I twist my neck and I stare at my ass.

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has spoken out about his relationship with former Blues manager Jose Mourinho. While the Special One is now employed by Real Madrid, the two have crossed paths in more ways than one over the past few years, and Ancelotti has now revealed that while they'll never be friends they do have a special professional relationship.

WEST Ham will suffer more woes when they face Chelsea at Upton Park in the Premier League, that's according to former Hammers manager Alan Curbishley.
Avram Grant's side have experienced an awful start to their campaign and Curbishley, now an expert pundit with soccermillionaire.com, says Carlo Ancelotti's side will be too strong for them this time of asking with the Blues recording a 3-1 win.

The Chelsea Daily Drivel is a daily update of all the stories concerning our club, the rumours, the opinions and more....
So here are the Chelsea news updates on Wednesday 8th September 2010 including: Carlo Ancelotti wants to manage Chelsea for 25 years, Yuri Zhirkov issues the club with an ultimatum and Brian Laudrup reveals he is battling Cancer.

After the international break, Chelsea resume their Premier League campaign at West Ham on Saturday and its another chance for Chelsea to grab another early three points. With United away in a tricky game at Everton we simply have to win and I have to say, the way we are playing right now, West Ham's dismal start to their season and pressure mounting already on Avram Grant, I can only see a Chelsea win.

Although Chelsea will take on a West Ham side that are rock-bottom of the Premier League on Saturday, the trip to Upton Park represents Ancelotti's toughest task so far this season, and Chelsea will have to up their game to continue their stunning start to the season.

Chelsea have had nothing short of seamless start.

The what: Premier League, Round 4 – West Ham v. Chelsea
The where: Upton Park (35,303)
The when: September 11, 3pm local time (10am EST)
The how: ESPN2 (DirecTV 209, Dish Network 144)
The why: Because Super Frank is unable to play, and, well, a win against West Ham is always always satisfying.

Eww.

So in three hours time Chelsea travel to West Ham. I have already written my match preview the other day on the game and that has slightly changed with the news that JT has made it for the game but Frank Lampard misses the game through injury.
The news of Lampard leaves Ancelotti with a decision to make.

New series here at the Chelsea Offside.

Vote for your man of the match. Discuss the result before the match recap is posted. Enjoy the rest of your day following a perfect 12 points out of 12 to start the season.

Uses his head.

Voice your opinion, people.

Of the eight matches in the day's Premier League action, only one ended with a side earing a clean sheet. Chelsea conceded their first goal in four matches, while West Ham United allowed a fourth consecutive three-goals against. Blackpool surprised, again, while Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur continue to underwhelm.

Bobby Zamora's new four-year contract at Fulham is worth £50,000 a week as the Cottagers moved to fend off interest from the striker's former boss at Craven Cottage Roy Hodgson, who is now manager of Liverpool.
Full story: Daily Mirror

Meanwhile, the Merseysiders have given winger Ryan Babel until Christmas to prove his worth, with Hodgson prepared to offload the Netherlands international in January if he does not convince him otherwise.

(Summary is not available.)

We're not against rap. We're not against rappers. But we are against those thugs.

Chelsea survived all types of thuggery in East London to keep their perfect start to the Premier League season intact. A sometimes edgy, mostly comfortable, 3-1 win over West Ham made it four wins out of four for the reigning champions of England.

Chris Hughton and the Newcastle club's priority this season just has to be Premier League survival that's the only thing that matters. Carlo Ancelotti Newcastle meet this manager's team in 10 days time So it will be interesting to see what team Chris picks for the Carling Cup tie in 10 days time [.

I had said previously that I would take any kind of win away to West Ham in my match preview. Added to that the news that Frank Lampard would not make the trip to East London and I would have been been delighted to nick a 1-0 win.
Looking back now I didn't really have reason to worry as despite Carlo naming only a 19-man squad for the Premier League, the players who came into the starting 11 played really well and Chelsea maintained their attacking fluidity scoring three more goals in the process with Michael Essien scoring two and a lucky goal from Kalou.

Alex Ferguson's decision to drop Wayne Rooney from his Manchester United squad for the game against Everton this past weekend did my Soccerlens Fantasy Football team no favours. Like many people, I'd picked Rooney expecting the former Everton player to teach booing Toffees fans a lesson by scoring at least a couple at Goodison Park.

The Chelsea Daily Drivel is a daily update of all the stories concerning our club, the rumours, the opinions and more....
So here are the Chelsea news updates on Tuesday 14th September 2010 including: Essien warns Chelsea, Ancelotti expects Chelsea to be beaten and tit bits of the build up to our first Champions League game against MSK Zilina tomorrow.

Chelsea will be favourites for this Group but the other three contenders will be fighting it out to confirm second spot and there will be little between the three in Group F. Below are some interesting facts you might want to know about the Group F contenders.

Full Name: Chelsea

Nickname: The Blues

Founded: 1905

Ground: Stamford Bridge

Capacity: 41,841

Manager: Carlo Ancelotti

Nation: England

Home Colours: Blue

Dangerman: Didier Drogba

Winners: Never

Full Name: Olympique Marseille

Nickname: Marseille

Founded: 1899

Ground: Stade Velodrome

Capacity: 60,031

Manager:Didier Deschamps

Nation: France

Home Colours: White and Blue trim

Dangerman: Loic Remy

Winners: 1992/93

Full Name: Spartak Moscow

Nickname: The Peoples Team

Founded: 1922

Ground: Luzhniki Stadium

Capacity: 78,360

Manager: Valery Karpin

Nation: Russia

Home Colours: Red and White

Dangerman: Aiden McGeady

Winners: Never

Full Name: MSK Zilina

Nickname:Sosoni

Founded: 1908

Ground: Stadio Pod Dubnom

Capacity: 11,181

Manager:Pavel Hapal

Nation: Slovakia

Home Colours: Yellow

Dangerman: Babatounde Bello

Winners: Never

The what: Champions League, group stage M K Žilina v. Chelsea
The where: Stadium Pod Dubňom (11,181)
The when: September 15, 7:45pm local time (2:45pm EST)
The how: Fox Soccer Channel (DirecTV 619, Dish Network 149)
The why: Because an excellent start is a must, particularly in the doldrums of Slovakia.