Saturday is going to be a hard game, it always is at Goodison. Everton boosted by the signings of Donovan, Gibson and possibly Jelavic making his debut will be up for this one after we beat them earlier in the season at Stamford Bridge.
The big questions will be over AVB's team selection.

Inigo Lopez grabbed a late winner for Granada to give their La Liga survival hopes a big boost as they beat local rivals Malaga on Monday.

Malaga had the better early exchanges as the game started at a fast and furious pace with first Enzo Maresca then Rondon shooting high and wide from good positions in the opening minutes.

04.02.2012 - Con goles de Robin Van Persie (´2, ´38 y ´62), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (´40 y ´54), Mikel Arteta (´51) y Thierry Henry (´90), Arsenal venció (7-1) al Blackburn Rovers (Pedersen ´31) en el Emirates Stadium por la 24º jornada de la Premier League.

For many people the low point of this season was the 8-2 at Old Trafford. And I get that completely. It was embarrassing but, you know, it was a freak. A one off. Something that's never likely to happen again and entirely down to the fact that the manager took off the Coq. Without him we had no penetration, no balls and as a team we went flaccid without him to keep us stiff in the middle of the park.

The Ox in the box will be quick as a fox to knock of Villa's socks

Jack Wilshere was set for a return mid February setting the medical world abuzz with his miraculous return. Then he suffered a stress fracture in the same ankle during training and now the story is he's lost for the rest of the season or at least a good portion of it.

Football at the moment is about money isn't it. All we are reading and hearing about at the moment is either player salaries or the size of transfer fee's. Chelsea are now a club that is constantly linked with big money moves in EVERY transfer window as AVB looks to rejuvenate our club out of the shadows of the Mourinho era.

The buzz is Didier Drogba will be joining his Chelsea compatriot Nicholas Anelka in the Chinese Super League this summer for a whopping £270,000 a week. That kind of money for three years will amount to a nice retirement nest egg. Drogba has become an after thought with Roman Abramovich rooting for Fernando Torres to succeed so he can justify spending an £50m giveaway, the largest in sporting history.

So here we go with the madness that happens every year around the Christmas and New Year period with games coming thick and fast. After a good point at White Hart Lane, Chelsea have a chance to grab six points in the next few days against Villa on Saturday and Fulham today.
This afternoon is our second London derby in the space of four days and will be just as difficult as Spurs was.

I asked you people earlier today who you think should play tomorrow. In the side I selected (Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Cole, Romeu, Meireles, Ramires, Mata, Torres and Sturridge) you will see I indicated that Luiz would play and Ivanovic would move to right back.
Well, this afternoon AVB has confirmed that David Luiz will miss the game through injury which leaves us with a problem!

With Luka Modric and Juan Mata taking most of the attention ahead of this one tomorrow night it's important that we do not forget the other midfield battle that will take place around them. Last week against Sunderland, Sandro and Scott Parker patrolled Spurs' midfield while Meireles, Frank Lampard and Oriol Romeu patrolled Chelsea's.

Subdued Song turned the game

We came, we fought and we came away with zero. Yet there's still much to admire about this Arsenal side. We did not get thrashed by the team supposedly to be champions elect. Neither were we outplayed and hung on by the skin of our teeth.

Arsene Wenger fielded the same line-up as the one that took to the field on our 125th anniversary celebrations.

I think if I was John Obi Mikel I would be worried. The fact that Oriol Romeu has come to the club, worked hard and has impressed so much to cement a regular start in the Chelsea side week in, week out - it's no wonder really.
Chelsea fans have a divided opinion of Mikel. For me the defensive instincts and qualities he has shouldn't be forgotten.

The bums they are a squeaking.

Frank Lampard and Fernando Torres are on the bench for the defining match of Andre Villas-Boas' tenure at Chelsea thus far. Bold and correct decisions, will they pay off?

Architects

Team sheets
Chelsea
Cech, Ivanovic, Cole, Luiz, EBJT (c), Romeu, Ramires, Meireles, Mata, Drogba, Sturridge.

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.

Tonight Andre Villas-Boas faces a date with Champions League destiny, as his side face Valencia needing a win or a 0-0 draw in order to progress in the lucrative competition. Winning the Champions League has long been a priority for Chelsea and their owner Roman Abramovich, demonstrated by Sir Alex Ferguson's claim that success in the competition had become "an obsession" for Chelsea.

Ducky's Note: Long-time Blues fan Ratna Prashanth evaluates the reason for Andres Villas-Boas' apparent failure to adapt Chelsea to his method. Or adapt himself to Chelsea's method!

I think we can (win the title). We have most of the same players (who have won the title before)

- Andres Villas-Boas

Confidence is appreciable, but we need to get the right results if we are to compete for three titles (now that the milk cup is gone) and for this, December is the key.

OK, so we won an important three points on Saturday against Wolves with a much better performance after the defeats at Leverkusen and against Liverpool a week ago.
Against Wolves we saw the introduction of Oriol Romeu who for me, has to start every game now ahead of the likes of Mikel and Meireles in the holding role, whether or not he will start tomorrow is another thing but alongside Ramires and Lampard, Chelsea had energy in midfield.

Following on from my earlier post stating that AVB needs to decide on our best eleven and stick with them week in, week out for a while, I am posting this question about Juan Mata. It's a question that is on our minds at the moment as I can't help but feel that we would get so much more out of Juan Mata if he played inside.

Absolutely pathetic.

Dothraki Ballack

Miserable stuff. Just terrible across the board. It seems to go from bad to worse every day around these parts, and if you're looking for excuses I'm fresh out. There really isn't any excuse that would work though, it's just a damn fact that our squad are playing like a pub team.

Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Bosingwa, Ramires, Meireles, Lampard, Mata, Sturridge, Drogba.
Only six subs named: Turnbull, Alex, Mikel, Malouda, McEachran, Torres. Presumably Ashley Cole was taken injured/ill late on.
Your thought's?
KTBFFH
I'm taking part in Movember this month, please donate!

Join in for a rant or two on all things Chelsea. Or just some witty banter. We're good at that.

Relive this moment, six times please

Team news forthcoming. And, if the Liverpool match wasn't a 'must win', then this surely has to be? For a ton of reasons.

Sidenote: Anelka has been told by the club that he can leave in January.

I think we are all agreed on that fact that this is a must win game for Chelsea. Not only so that we can take a step into the next round but for the confidence of the team. AVB has stated that the players need to keep believing and working hard to get back to winning ways and if we can get the right result tonight, it will give us confidence heading into the three big games in the Premier League.

Liverpool moved level on points with Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham in fourth place with this 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge with goals from Rodriguez and Johnson. Daniel Sturridge had equalised for the Blues just 10 minutes after replacing Mikel at half-time only for former Chelsea defender Glenn Johnson to grab a late winner for the Reds.

Chelsea v Liverpool: five things we learned | Dominic Fifield

André Villas-Boas is under increasing pressure, while big money signings are still struggling to settle at both clubs 1 André Villas-Boas is already a manager under pressure It was arguable that, given the summer transfer outlay, Kenny Dalglish should actually have edged into this fixture as the manager under greater scrutiny, though in ensuring he has now gone 12 matches unbeaten against Chelsea while in charge of Liverpool, he left the focus fixed on André Villas-Boas.

By Alan Duffy

Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool Premier League 20th November 2011

Andre Villas-Boas' Chelsea side suffered their third defeat in four league games on Sunday afternoon, this time courtesy of a 2-1 loss to Liverpool.

Chelsea's team this afternoon against Liverpool has been confirmed and it is as follows:
Cech; Ivanovic, D Luiz, JT (c), Cole; Ramires, Mikel, Lampard; Mata, Drogba, Malouda - subs: Turnbull, Bosingwa, Romeu, Meireles, Sturridge, Anelka, Torres.
Your thoughts?
KTBFFH
I'm taking part in Movember this month, please donate!

Squad sheets: Chelsea v Liverpool

It is hardly a crisis for a club to be fourth in the table when there are still another 27 fixtures to come, but the demands are always great at Chelsea. Even if the manager André Villas-Boas can only be concerned by the goals conceded so regularly, there is comfort in both the firepower and some very good days that have ensued.

Chelsea's team has been confirmed for Blackburn this afternoon with TWO BIG changes. Alex comes in next to JT and Sturridge starts through the middle!.
STARTING ELEVEN
Cech, Ivanovic, Alex, Terry, Cole, Ramires, Mikel, Lampard, Malouda, Sturridge, Mata
SUBS:
Turn, Bos, Romeu, Meirel, Kal, Lukaku, Torres
Your thoughts?

There is no getting away from the fact that we need to sort out our defensive problems. There is no point in sugar coating the weaknesses we currently have at the back that are being exploited each week. For me conceding three was bad enough at Old Trafford but to ship FIVE at home last weekend was a real shock.

There is no getting away from the fact that we need to sort out our defensive problems. There is no point in sugar coating the weaknesses we currently have at the back that are being exploited each week. For me conceding three was bad enough at Old Trafford but to ship FIVE at home last weekend was a real shock.

Sevilla vs Granada 1-2 Highlights Video 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Sevilla vs Granada 1-2 Highlights Video 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Sevilla vs Granada 2011 Final score and result:- Sevilla vs Granada 1-2 Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, 30th October, 2011- Monday Mikel Rico's late goal earns Granada a shock 2-1 victory over Sevilla at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan [.

Luckily enough for Chelsea we have our next Champions League game on match day four against Genk in the return game that took place a couple of weeks ago. Genk weren't anything special at the Bridge if we are being honest and this should be another three points for Chelsea tomorrow.
However, playing sides in the Champions League on their own turf at their own ground can turn out to be a very different story.

Earlier we covered Arsenal's 5-3 win at Stamford Bridge from an Arsenal perspective.

Here is the Chelsea viewpoint of the match from our Chelsea site:

I cannot remember a worse defensive performance by Chelsea than what we saw today. Almost from the opening whistle, it seemed like both teams said lets forget about defence and see who can score more goals than the other.

AVB has rang the changes and introduced three youngsters tonight starting against Everton with some big guns on the bench. JT didn't travel along with the suspended Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba and Jose Bosingwa. Ramires isn't ready to play.
The starting Chelsea team is as follows:
Turnbull, Ivanovic, Alex, Luiz, Bertrand, Romeu, McEachran, Malouda, Lukaku, Kalou, Anelka.

Chelsea have offered Frank Lampard a new contract that will keep him with the Blues until 2015. Lampard has been with Chelsea since 2001 making 351 appearances for them and scoring 119 goals in the process.

It comes as no surprise that Chelsea has offered Lampard a new contract as he has established himself as a regular with all coaches and after a shaky start to the season, it appears that new coach Andre Villas-Boas is also warming up to the midfielder.

Tomorrow night at Stamford Bridge, AVB has to make some decisions on who his Chelsea team will be with a massive game coming up against QPR away on Sunday.
He has reiterated just how important this game is to the group with three points a must as Valencia and Bayer Leverkusen facing each other.

Thank god the break for the internationals is over and we have our Premier League football back!. Boring isn't it when you have to wait for two weeks for Chelsea's next game, especially after we gave our performance of the season away at Bolton in our last game!.
So with that in mind and with a very difficult game ahead of us on Saturday I just wondered who would AVB decide to start with on Saturday?

Nigeria is apparently shit. Thank the sweet lord.

Hanging out in January

Apologies for not getting this up early. Most of us were doing the full-time job thing when the news broke. Me, I was doing some low-rent promotion at a local mixed martial arts event with a good friend.

Cruise-control mode. Danny and Frank made sure of that. More after the jump.

Vindicated

Well that was sweet now wasn't it? This was a display a long time in the making, and at last the Blues put together their most complete performance under Andre Villas-Boas.

Here we go again, up next in the Premier League is Bolton away on Sunday at the lunchtime kick off. We know Michael Essien is out injured and Fernando Torres serves the first of his three game ban so he is also out. With more or less the rest of our squad available to play I just wonder how AVB will approach this one.