Hey, at least this guy isn't going to torment us today.

Team news and the like from 2:30pm EST.

Team sheets
Everton
Howard; Neville, Heitinga, Distin, Baines; Donovan, Gibson, Fellaini, Pienaar; Cahill; Stracqualursi.

Nicks' note: This is a guest post. Like Ramires powering through the middle, straight-talking Sahil Dumir holds no prisoners and says it like it is. Small bio? He's a smug-smiling, hard-working, all-round good egg. He's also a Chelsea fan, which offsets all of the above.

Tonight Chelsea travel to the Liberty Stadium to take on the impressive Swansea side under Brendan Rogers. We all saw how well they played when they beat Arsenal the other week and once again for Chelsea, this is no easy game.
Imagine a Chelsea side without three of the four players that have been part of the core of our side for the last five or six years.

One thing I have noticed on my blog and amongst Chelsea fans in general is a difference of opinion about our formation and who should be starting games. Of course we all know that for now AVB prefers the 4-3-3 formation as per managers before him here, but I just wonder what you the Chelsea fan reading this believes to be our better option(s).

By Chris Wright

In which the entire Ghana squad amass in a corridor at their team hotel for a morale-boosting jam last night, i.e, the night before their African Cup of Nations 2012 opener against Botswana today (a game currently in progress)...

As our pals over at The FCF have pointed out; could you imagine Messrs Lampard, Gerrard, Terry et al taking up thy tambourines for an impromptu corridor-based boogaloo before a game?

It's a simple question but with a difficult answer. With a chance to close the gap on City, United and Spurs, Chelsea travel to Carrow Road in Saturday's lunchtime kick off.
With three players added to the fold and in contention to start the question is who do you think should start this game for Chelsea?

Josh McEachran has signed for Swansea on loan until the end of the season in what appears to be a cracking move for all parties concerned.
We all know the situation with getting first team football here at Chelsea and with Raul Meireles, Lampard and Ramires playing well and Michael Essien back, it's harder than ever for Josh to break into the side these days.

Alex Oxlade Chamberlain

Alex made his big move to Arsenal in the summer for a massive £15million. The England U21 international has been outstanding when he has featured this season and will have a big part to play in the second half of the season. At the start of December Wenger tipped Chamberlain to make the England 2012 squad for the summer tournament which could him play more and more in the second half of the season.

Alex Oxlade Chamberlain

Alex made his big move to Arsenal in the summer for a massive £15million. The England U21 international has been outstanding when he has featured this season and will have a big part to play in the second half of the season. At the start of December Wenger tipped Chamberlain to make the England 2012 squad for the summer tournament which could him play more and more in the second half of the season.

Frank Lampard speaking to Chelsea TV after the Sunderland game was keen to point out that although the win was important, we should be finishing off games rather than allow the nerves to kick in. It's been something that has been our achilles heel this season without question.
Lampard said:

"We have to fight our way through that [the nerves at the end of the game].

Es buena la hornada de centrocampistas que se están formando en las categorías inferiores del fútbol inglés y que en unos años podría coger el testigo de los Gerrard, Lampard o Barry en una selección inglesa que no tardará en renovarse. Jack Wilshere, quien lleva bastante tiempo lesionado en el Arsenal pero de un indudable potencial es la mayor de estas promesas, seguida seguramente por Josh McEachran, el joven de 18 años del Chelsea que es pretendido por media Europa ya que parecen que desde los "blues" buscan una cesión para que tenga los minutos que no logra tener en el primer equipo.

The result last night has really put the cat amongst the pigeons with Chelsea now sitting eight points behind Tottenham in the Premier League. The remit for Saturday's game now is simple, we have to win and get the three points and the performance doesn't matter. We have to get on a run of results and keep picking up three points week in, week out and anything else will be a disaster!

The January transfer window is open and the rumors are swirling, but one player who will not be moving in the upcoming weeks, is Chelsea's Frank Lampard. The legend has scored 9 goals for the Blues this term but is ... Continue reading →

Surely the media have something else better to do than to make up total rubbish to put to print to attract readers to their articles. I admit, from time to time the right headline grabs attention but in doing that, you have to have a basis and substance to engage the person reading your article to remain interested in it, not to dis-regard it within the first couple of lines.

Frank Lampard has once again reiterated that he needs games to find his best form, the team spirit is OK at the club and also an interesting point, he believes that it's the established core of the Chelsea side that has seen us through in the last seven years and that same core is important to us this season.

Consider this a 'half season review', but with one game added on. After a terrible start, followed by an excellent run, followed by a topsy turvy Christmas period, I feel we now have a good idea of how the season is going to go.

When we beat QPR and Chelsea lost at home to Villa, we leapfrogged them into 4th place.

This shot of Andre Villas-Boas subtly reminds us of a similar pose Dunga held two years ago when Brazil were losing to the Netherlands en route to the World Cup semi-finals! It's one that screams "Estou desesperada!" (I'm desperate!) .

With the New Year come and gone, it's time to start looking forward to the 2012 season. Soon the training camp will open and all of the Timbers players will once again resume training ahead of the 2012 season. More than that, though, there are still more than a few open positions available on the Timbers roster so it will be interesting to see who comes in and who goes (if anybody).

Chelsea midfielder Ramires gives Chelsea the lead a Molineaux' incidently Chelsea's foreign players celebrated with the bench while Terry, Lampard and Cole just got on with it. Maybe there is a mutiny at Chelsea?

By Chris Wright

"Well hello there young lady"

I watched the Tottenham-Chelsea game in the boozer last night so, praise be to Allah, there's another drunken and completely verbatim match report heading your way...

â—Š John Terry wearing WHITE boots.

Most people looking at England euro 2012 betting odds will tell you that Frank Lampard is one of football's gentlemen. Rarely does he speak out of turn, yet he knows how to get his message across in the most devastating of fashions.

To use an old cliché, he does his talking on the football pitch, and when he slammed in that penalty against Manchester City last week, it was quite apparent that he is not prepared to hang up his boots just yet.

Tomorrow in the later kick off Chelsea take on Wigan in our next Premier League fixture buzzing off the back of another win on the spin against Manchester City last Monday night. Chelsea have David Luiz back after suspension and no new injury concerns so it makes for an interesting team selection by AVB.

After Frank Lampard came on and scored the winner against Manchester City in the week, he was asked after the game about being on the bench the last couple of games. His response made headlines in the media and was spoken about on here. Lampard's response was of surprise as he said straight after the game:

"I want to play, simple as that, I'm as fit as I've ever been.

Se dice que los dias del niño Torres en el Chelsea estan contados y que Lampard esta relegado al puesto de super sustituto, por eso en Inglaterra llama la atención que pongan a estas dos figuras del Chelsea a entretener a la estrella pop adolescente Justin Bieber.
En Abril este chamaco ya se habia puesto la camiseta del Barcelona y jugo una cascarita, ahora lo hace con parte del equipo de la Premier League.

We at In The Stands almost spilled our coffees upon seeing Canadian singing sensation Justin Bieber at Stamford Bridge showing off his football skills and mingling with Chelsea stars Fank Lampard and Fernando Torres! The video itself has gone viral and we could not resist a chuckle as Justin Bieber proved amongst other things, he [.

Photos of trademark goal celebrations: Balotelli, Suarez, Nani, Bale, Lampard and more

Click the arrow on the right of the photo to scroll through the Premier League's most famous goal celebrations

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-14 09:00:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

• Kop That: Punter wins £38k by betting on wrong game http://t.co/UTu37Ytj 23:30:12, 2011-12-12
• Kop That: Downing: Liverpool must shoot to kill http://t.co/L7ozImT1 22:59:26, 2011-12-12
• Kop That: Tweet My Goal: City's unbeaten record goes the way of Lampard's uneaten record http://t.

Frank Lampard makes alot of the headlines in the press last night for two reasons. For coming off of the bench and scoring the winner from the penalty spot last night and also for his comments about being dropped to the bench for the last few games.
Speaking after the game last night and asked of his situation at the moment he said:

"I want to play, simple as that, I'm as fit as I've ever been.

Tweet My Goal: City's unbeaten record goes the way of Lampard's uneaten record

Manchester City are no longer unbeaten after a thrilling night at the Bridge. Chelsea 2-1 Man City: Leaders get Lamped Here's how it unfolded on our @MirrorFootball feed :

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-12-12 22:13:26 from: The Mirror

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

My prediction was right! No Lampard or Torres again as Bosingwa comes in for Luiz:
TEAM:
Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole, Romeu, Ramires, Meireles, Sturridge, Drogba, Mata.
Your thoughts?
KTBFFH
Check out my blog posts on the Official Chelsea Website - http://bit.

Monday night can't come soon enough for me as we take on high flyers Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea have picked up their form in the last couple of games and will see this one as a big opportunity to close the gap and to get their first win over our main rivals this season.
Both sides come into the game suffering mixed emotions this week with Chelsea topping their group and qualifying for the next round of the Champions League and City, despite having 10 points which would normally easily be enough to qualify, find themselves in the Europa League alongside "neighbours" Man United.

Chelsea's confirmed line up to take on Valencia tonight is as follows:
Chelsea Team: Cech, Ivanovic, Cole, David Luiz, Romeu, Ramires, Mata, Drogba, Meireles, Sturridge, Terry.
Chelsea subs: Turnbull, Lampard, Torres, Mikel, Malouda, Ferreira, Kalou
Your thoughts?
KTBFFH
Check out my blog posts on the Official Chelsea Website - http://bit.

Well I have to say it's rubbish if you ask me. I know Frank Lampard was taken off during the game yesterday at Newcastle, and didn't look happy about it but I believe it was with Valencia in mind on Tuesday.
All of a sudden now, we are hearing ridiculous reports that Lampard will be offered to Spurs as part of deal of Luka Modric!

Newcastle finally falls. And falls hard at that, 3-0 to Chelsea. Despite balanced stats, Chelsea were on form (despite a Lampard missed PK), as Drogba's 38' goal lead the way, with Kalou and Sturridge putting the dagger in with goals a minute apart just before the final whistle.Video: Rutube
[[ This is a content summary only.

Cole, Terry, Ferdinand, Lampard and Rooney on FIFA world XI shortlist

Another 12 players from the Premier League also made the list, which was dominated by La Liga

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-12-01 11:36:11 from: The Mirror

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

The confirmed Chelsea line up to face Liverpool tonight is:
Turnbull, Bosingwa, Alex, D Luiz, Bertrand; McEachran, Romeu, Lampard (c); Lukaku, Torres, Malouda. - subs: Hilario, Ferreira, Ivanovic, Ramires, Kalou, Mata, Anelka.
Liverpool XI vs Chelsea: Reina, Kelly, Carragher, Coates, Enrique, Henderson, Spearing, Lucas, Maxi, Bellamy, Carroll.

It should probably come as no surprise that the Galaxy have traded Donovan Ricketts to the Montreal Impact in exchange for allocation funds. Ricketts has statistically been the best keeper in the league. But when he went out with injury this season, Saunders took the starting role. Ricketts is older and costs more, so it isn't such a stretch to understand why Arena would part with him rather than Saunders.

2:45pm ET, live in the US only on FoxSoccer.tv, so most of us will have to make do with streams again. There is a delayed showing on Fox Soccer Plus at 5pm ET.
Last four head-to-head:
2-1 Liverpool (a) 11.20.11
1-0 Liverpool (a) 02.06.11
2-0 Liverpool (h) 11.07.10
0-2 Chelsea (h) 05.

A couple of weeks Back David wrote in our sister site Soccerticketsonline.com about his recent trip to London and his tour of London clubs Arsenal and Chelsea. You can have a look at the article here .

In the article he mentioned one thing that really struck me. He talked in detail about the stadium, the press room where all the important information concerning the club is made public and also about the dressing rooms where both the home and away sides freshen up and strategise on their plays.

Daniel Sturridge scored yet again in front of AVB at The Bridge against Liverpool last weekend. What more does he HAVE to do to earn a permanent place in Chelsea frontline? AVB has so far persisted with both Torres and Drogba while only allowing Sturridge to shine as an impact substitute or on the right of a front three.