We've had a week to digest what happened against Manchester United. Plenty has been said and written about last week but now is the time to look forward and focus on Goodison.
Roman Abramovich has been at the training ground this week and it will be interesting to see the level of performance from Chelsea today, to see if his presence has given the players a kick up the arse to refocus their efforts on climbing up the table.

Philadelphia Union

The Goalkeeper has a transcript of Wednesday's press conference with Peter Nowak. Among the highlights:

On Pajoy: "He's a guy who brings not only character but also a mentality to the game. He's very physical, and very fast as well. He can change the game, because he's a different option.

By Chris Wright

I think I may have an idea why Chelsea are stuttering a bit this season; if this video is anything to go by, their training sessions are utter chaos!

Firstly we see some assorted slapping from everyone present, then Fernando Torres exacts revenge on John Terry for an earlier buffeting by wrestling him to the ground.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

But if you see me walking by,
And the tears are in my eyes,
Look away, baby, look away.
If we meet on the streets someday,
And I don't know what to say,
Look away, baby, look away.
Don't look at me;
I don't want you to see me this way.

What to do when your squad is underperforming? You take them on vacation to Spain, naturally.

'What do you mean Gary got lost at baggage claim??'

So yeah, apparently this trip is actually happening. AVB did his best to downplay expectations prior to departure, insisting that trips of this variety are normal for English teams.

Espanyol extended their unbeaten run to five league games and moved into fifth place in La Liga thanks to a comfortable 3-0 win over Granada. The hosts started brightly and took the lead when Raul Baena headed in from Thievy Bifouma's flick-on after 26 minutes.

Espanyol doubled their advantage just before half-time as Allan Nyom was harshly penalised for a trip on Vladimir Weiss and Joan Verdu slotted home the penalty.

Raul → Draxler → Raul → Huntelaar → Draxler → Goal.

This is one of the better team goals you'll see this season. And what makes it even more remarkable, is the small fact, that it was scored by a team coached by all things defense expert Huub Stevens.

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.

Now we've all established the fact that Bavarian giants Bayern Munich absolutely love their basketball games..."natürlich!!" So they turned up at full force to watch last weekend's showdown between Bayern Munich and EWE Baskets Oldenburg at the Audi Dome with their families.

Raul, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and their Schalke 04 team-mates spent the day today visiting the Auguste-Victoria coal mine in Marl, Germany to build team spirit and to show the solidarity with their supporters. Image: Reuters.

It has indeed happened. We have reached the magical plateau of 40 points, and are thus unlikely to be relegated. Three cheers. As for this fixture, it was a right odd one, with the Chels looking equal parts sterling and benumb, particularly in defense. Chances, there were a fair few for both sides.

By Chris Wright

This is quite sweet. While making his way into the club's training ground, Raul is handed a CD by a group of Schalke fans. The CD contains a version of the 'theme tune' - a chant titled 'Señor Raul' - they had recorded themselves.

Raul then proceeds to play the CD on the short drive through to the pitches, singing along and waving his fingers merrily, before cranking up the volume just before the final turn and cruising into the car park with his own theme song blaring from his car.

Schalke we sing a song for you? Raul got an unusual treat earlier this week when he was flagged down by Schalke fans who passed him a CD of a special recording they had made of his chant 'Senor Raul'. The fans who went to the effort of making the CD know that the gesture [...]

Schalke we sing a song for you? Raul got an unusual treat earlier this week when he was flagged down by Schalke fans who passed him a CD of a special recording they had made of his chant 'Senor Raul'. The fans who went to the effort of making the CD know that the gesture [...]

Raúl, Superstar! Und wieso er so ein Star zum Anfassen ist, den die Fans nicht nur in Spanien oder auf Schalke verehren, zeigt sich immer mehr. Natürlich tut er auch einiges dafür wie zum Beispiel ein zufällig aufgenommenes Video von ihm, als er gerade sein persönliches Lied mitsingt. Getextet hat die Hymne ein Schalker Fan [.

I think right now as a Chelsea fan we want two things from today. First and foremost we want and desperately need three points and secondly, a performance would be nice!.
No one would have imagined that we would find ourselves in the position we are in at the moment and no one would have predicted the result on Saturday against Aston Villa.

I have said it's no surprise that we drew 1-1 in this one really based on our performances of late. We pick ourselves up for the big games like Newcastle, City and Spurs in the league but for some reason our performances suffer against the likes of Wigan and now Fulham!. In saying that I mean no disrespect to both those sides and to Fulham especially as I don't think Fulham fans thought they would come away with anything after being stuffed 5-0 at home to United.

From fears of relegation to hopes for a top four finish, and from passive defensive football to pass and move thrills, the 2010-11 season almost ended perfectly for Liverpool after the rockiest of starts. But almost isn't the same as getting there, and the world rarely conspires to provide the ideal, storybook ending that might be hoped for.

Liverpool look poised to open talks with FC Porto for the transfer of defensive midfielder Fernando.
The Reds recently lost Lucas to injury, depriving boss Kenny Dalglish of his favoured holding midfielder.
But Dalglish is looking beyond Lucas' spell on the sidelines – Fernando's potential presence at Anfield would allow the Scot to play two midfield enforcers when required, but at other times the option to play Lucas in a more advanced role would be explored.

Liverpool Face Latics At DW

Will Carroll get a start?... Liverpool make the short trip to the DW Stadium on Wednesday to face a rejuvenated Wigan side. Martinez's team are still hovering around the bottom of the table but some inspired performances of late have given them some much needed confidence.

Will Carroll get a start?...
Liverpool make the short trip to the DW Stadium on Wednesday to face a rejuvenated Wigan side. Martinez's team are still hovering around the bottom of the table but some inspired performances of late have given them some much needed confidence.

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.

Ich kenne meine Schalker, die haben alle ein großes Herz. Damals wollten wir Hannes Bongartz unbedingt von Wattenscheid kaufen. Die Ablösesumme betrug 700.000 Mark Geld, das wir nicht hatten. Die Fans haben 600.000 Mark beigesteuert. Das war etwas Herrliches.

Günther Siebert, ehemaliger Präsident von Schalke 04 erklärt im Interview mit dem Sportsender Sky Sport News HD, wie er die Verlängerung von Raul durchziehen würde und vor allem wo das Geld dazu herkommen würde.

Long before Sara Carbonero... there was Mamen Sanz! She's the equivalent of Victoria Beckham when it comes to the Spanish Mega Wag status (eye-rolls all across the town again, we see) but there's a lot more to her than meets the eye. Raul has been linked to a high money-making move to Qatar next season, and the worried German press who want him to stay at Schalke, it seems has declared that his wife has the final say it all of this.

Some would call it robbery, a late Jordi Gomez goal denying Chelsea a fourth consecutive victory on Saturday at the DW Stadium. However, robbery would imply that the visitors actually deserved to win. That, my friends, was hardly the case.

Dejection

What is it with this team?

Why Frank Lampard needs to get used to sitting on the Chelsea bench and why Owen Coyle isn't under more pressure at Bolton

Frank Lampard is now going to have to show what a professional he is by dealing with his relegation to the Chelsea bench. That's difficult for a proud player, but you can't argue with the logic of what Andre Villas-Boas is trying to do.

Raul Meireles has taken time out to speak of Didier Drogba this week and believes that he is key to Chelsea's challenge this season. The thing is I'm not 100% certain.
He said:

"Drogba is the key to this team, We need Didier and his goals. He scored twice against Valencia last week and another against Newcastle and both times he demonstrated his quality at the decisive moment.

What a result that was just when we needed it. I had said a week or so ago that the next three games could make or break our season just as everyone was writing Chelsea off, stating we were in a slump and a shadow of the side we used to be.
Three wins out of three against Newcastle, Valencia and last night against Manchester City has firmly put our season back on track!

Chelsea vs Man City 2-1 Highlights Goals 2011 Video Balotelli Meireles Lampard Clichy Red card is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Chelsea vs Man City 2-1 Highlights Goals 2011 Video Balotelli Meireles Lampard Clichy Red card is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Chelsea vs Man City 2011 ( Chelsea vs Manchester City video below) Final score and result:- Chelsea vs Man City 2-1 ( Raul Meireles, Frank Lampard penalty/ Mario Balotelli) [.

Raul Meirelers grabs an equaliser for Chelsea against Manchester City after wonderful foot work from Daniel Sturridge leave Gael Clichy for dead.

In the summer, Chelsea were heavily linked with a potential transfer move for Luca Modric and Gary Cahill and with the winter transfer window set to open, rumors obviously spreads again regarding that possibilities.

However, the club's new manager, Andre Villas-Boas, immediately squashed the rumors as the young tactician noted that those players are not in his mind again this season, since he is pretty much satisfied with what he has at the moment.

Come on then people, this is the second of our three massive games that will define our season. We got the win against Newcastle and started looking like a good side again, we have Valencia tomorrow night and then Manchester City next Monday.
So with an all important three points on Saturday in the bag, we now desperately need the win tomorrow night.

This is not entirely a post about Lucas. You'll find Lucas in the video, but that's mostly a result of the fact that he was healthy when Liverpool headed to Fulham in the spring, and I couldn't find a highlights package where he's been blurred out. But he does want you to know how much your support means to him.

Former Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti has come to the defense of his successor Andres Villas-Boas. Ancelotti who believes Villas-Boas needs to be given more time, identified Chelsea's current run of poor form is due to the oldness of the players.

The truth of the matter is that though most players might be past their prime, Chelsea were a bit too ambitious when they signed the 34 year old Porto FC coach.

Raul Meireles is aware of the challenges confronting Chelsea after the West Londoners lost their second match at home to his former club Liverpool in a span of nine days but the Portuguese international is happy to be in the English capital.

Meireles followed in the footsteps of Fernando Torres to swap Anfield for Stamford Bridge and even though the departure of both men drew an almost equally severe wrath from the Reds' supporters, they have had different reactions to life in London.

If someone asked you about Carlo Ancelotti and his managerial style you would think of his time here in his first season winning the double, his time at AC Milan and the relationships he built with "his players".
Renowned for getting the maximum out of ageing players, Ancelotti was always one to stand up for the old guard and defend them to the hilt especially when he was here for two seasons.

So some people say the League Cup isn't important, it's the lesser of the four trophies we are in the hunt for this season and has the least priority. This is Chelsea v Liverpool at the Bridge and to be honest, it doesn't matter what competition we face each other, it's ALWAYS a big game.
Just a few weeks ago I was looking forward to Chelsea putting in a good performance and beating them but we all know what happened.

Mais um jogo das eliminatórias da Copa do Mundo de 2014, foi realizado no dia 02/09/2011, na cidade de Roseau-DMA, onde jogaram as seleções de Dominica (136º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção da Nicaragua (176º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções nunca haviam jogado.

Well that was better wasn't it. The game was over at half time and it was much more like the Chelsea performance we should be seeing week in, week out. Whether or not other sides would be as generous as Wolves were is another thing, but for once Chelsea took full advantage.
AVB had said prior to the game that there would be no dramatic changes to the side from Leverkusen and he made just two changes.

Glen Johnson says he is nearly back to full fitness after grabbing an 87th minute winner for Liverpool away to Chelsea on Sunday.
With the build-up to the game focusing on ex-Liverpool players who now ply their trade at Chelsea, in the form of Fernando Torres and Raul Meireles, it was the former Blues man who grabbed a dramatic winner for his side.