What was a dream at 3-0 quickly morphed into a nightmare near full time for the Chels, as Manchester United with a helping hand from good friend Howard Webb clawed back to secure a 3-3 draw in a breathless encounter at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Yeah, that's a difficult result to accept.

There will be some very tense nerves in West London this weekend ahead of Chelsea's super clash with rivals Manchester United at Stamford Bridge this Sunday. A couple of years back, this would have been just another day in the office for the Blues, however, things have changed drastically.

In fact, things are so bad for the Blues that a 3rd place finish for them would be amazing.

Chelsea have completed the signing of 20 year old Kevin De Bruyne from Belgian side FC Genk. A 5 year, £6.7 million deal has been agreed by both parties after which Bruyne will be loaned back to Genk for the rest of the season.

De Bruyne who underwent a medical yesterday at Chelsea's training grounds becomes Chelsea's second signing in this transfer window after Gary Cahill completed his move from Bolton earlier this month.

To the Liberty Stadium! Huzzah!

What could have been

By all accounts, this is going to be a difficult fixture. Face facts, we're playing poorly at the moment, and unfortunately hung up on numbers. Despite our medical staff's best efforts, we're shorthanded and facing the very real prospect of losing another face or two come Tuesday night?

We've got to post a quick recap of what we watched this past weekend but first, very briefly, here are two games today that you could tune in for, in case you're looking for something to watch this afternoon/evening (depending on your timezone):

African Cup of Nations, Côte d'Ivoire vs Angola (1pmET, Al-Jazeera Sports / Eurosport International): The group stage of AfCON2012 wraps up over the next couple days.

Ivory Coast vs Burkina Faso 2-0 Highlights Video CAN 2012 Goals Kalou Kone Cote d'Ivoire is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Ivory Coast vs Burkina Faso 2-0 Highlights Video CAN 2012 Goals Kalou Kone Cote d'Ivoire is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Ivory Coast vs Burkina Faso 2012 ( Cote d'Ivoire Burkina Faso video below) Final score and result:- Ivory Coast vs Burkina Faso 2-0 ( Salomon Kalou, Kone own goal) [.

Some good and some bad news for Salomon Kalou today at the Africa Cup of Nations.

We'll start with the good, the real good. Kalou opened the scoring for Côte d'Ivoire in their 2-0 win against Burkina Faso tonight. Peep Sal's excellent volley in visual form below.

The volley was the cherry on the top of what was another fine performance from the rarely used Chelsea vet.

Some good and some bad news for Salomon Kalou today at the Africa Cup of Nations.

We'll start with the good, the real good. Kalou opened the scoring for Côte d'Ivoire in their 2-0 win against Burkina Faso tonight. Peep Sal's excellent volley in visual form below.

The volley was the cherry on the top of what was another fine performance from the rarely used Chelsea vet.

By FRANCO PANIZO

The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations got underway this past weekend, and co-hosts Equatorial Guinea opened the tournament in dramatic fashion.

Former Real Madrid player Javier Balboa scored three minutes before the death to give Equatorial Guinea a 1-0 win over Libya.

Two Chelsea team mates conspire for Cote D'Ivoire's winning start to their 2012 ACN campaign. Salomon Kalou floats the ball from the left as Didier Drobga soars up to power his header. Looks like 34 year old Drobga still has plenty of oomph - is he really leaving for the Chinese Super League?

The Ivory Coast won their first match of the 2012 African Cup of Nations today, a 1-0 defeat of Sudan with Didier Drogba scoring the lone goal.

Curious as to their current FIFA ranking and who else might likely put up a fight against the Elephants, I looked it up. Learning that they rank 18th internationally didn't surprise, but the fact that only 5 other African countries make up the top 50 did.

The Ivory Coast won their first match of the 2012 African Cup of Nations today, a 1-0 defeat of Sudan with Didier Drogba scoring the lone goal.

Curious as to their current FIFA ranking and who else might likely put up a fight against the Elephants, I looked it up. Learning that they rank 18th internationally didn't surprise, but the fact that only 5 other African countries make up the top 50 did.

Losing key players at any stage of the season is far from ideal, so when clubs lose in-form star men during the Africa Cup of Nations it must be particularly frustrating for Premier League managers.
The turn of the year is notoriously difficult for clubs – with injuries, suspensions and fatigue playing a part after a busy festive period.

Tunisia vs Ivory Coast Highlights 0-2 2012 Friendly Goals Drogba Kalou Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Tunisia vs Ivory Coast Highlights 0-2 2012 Friendly Goals Drogba Kalou Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Tunisia vs Ivory Coast 2012 ( Tunisia Cote D'Ivoire video below) Final score and result:- Tunisia vs Ivory Coast 0-2 ( Salomon Kalou, Didier Drogba) Friendly- 13 January, 2012- Abu Dhabi- Mohammed [.

AVB has spoken to the press ahead of this weeks game coming up against Sunderland. Putting the game to one side, there are important transfer dealings that were addressed by AVB putting the record straight regarding the situation with a number of players, and this is what I want to focus on right now.

Guardian: Football transfer rumours: Andy Carroll back to Newcastle?

Today's fluff is covered in a deep layer of cinder The Mill bought a toaster last winter. At the time it seemed like the bees knees, all shining dials and levers, promising crisp, crunchy slices of breakfast goodness and boasting the capacity to adequately service a thick teacake or hefty muffin.

It seems that the recent Arsenal transfer news linking the Gunners with a move for the 26 year-old Chelsea striker/winger Salomon Kalou were completely accurate. According to many sources this morning, but originally in the Daily Mail i believe, the Ivorian international has been given special permission to return to London by his national team [.

Twitter (Follow me on @_Wrighty7) and the interweb is buzzing like a bumble bee today that Chelsea man Salomon Kalou could be on the move to Arsenal.
Now I believe this is the sort of deal that will be like Marmite to Gooners. Some will like it, and some will hate it.
I happen to think that Kalou would be a very good signing for the club.

Kolo and his brother will soon meet up with fellow academy-ites Kalou, Eboue and Gervinho at the African Cup of Nations in .

When Gervinho, Salomon Kalou, Emmanuel Eboué and the brothers Touré convene in for the African Cup of Nations tournament to play for the Ivory Coast, it's a high school reunion of sorts.

By Alan Duffy

With so many gifted African players now plying their trade in the Premier League, the African Cup of Nations has become something of an issue for managers in the top division, particularly as it is held slap bang in the middle of the season.

Didier Drogba, Gary Cahill, Andrei Arshavin and Andy Johnson headline the list of Premier League stars who are out of contract at the end of the season according to Goal.com, and could be available on a free transfer this summer.

You could put together a pretty competitive side from this list.

The transfer window is upon us and with a number of players set to move now and in the summer, we would like to take you through a list of the players who could potential leave their clubs when their contracts expire at the end of the season.

At look at the heavyweights making the list across the big clubs reveals that they are set to lose very influential players in the summer.

The 2012 African Cup Of Nations is set to begin on the 21st of January until the 12th of February, so we thought with not long to go it may be worthwhile figuring out which teams are going to be most affected by players departing for this competition.

Players Involved In The African Cup Of Nations

Starting with the teams at the top end of the Premier League, Biram Diouf of Senegal appears to be the only Manchester United player affected which isn't likely to affect the club much at all as he is probably their 6th choice striker.

Trouble is brewing for Andres Villas-Boas and Chelsea after a number of poor performances have left them out of the title race and raised concerns from players who are willing to quit the club if their pleas are not addressed.

Truth be said, the longer Villas-Boas stays in charge the worse it gets for Chelsea and as a matter of fact, he should be replaced as quickly as possible (however unlikely this may be).

I simply cannot believe the fact that we have let two important points slip away for two reasons. First of all the calamitous error from Petr Cech to simply gift Wigan their equaliser and secondly the use of our substitutions during the game.
We came into this one on a high after three real important wins against Newcastle, Valencia and City and being honest should have really taken the game to Wigan and got this won early doors.

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?

Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou's imminent January departure for the African Cup of Nations, along with the sale of Nicolas Anelka to Chinese Super League Club Shanghai Shenhua has left manager André Villas-Boas facing a possibly head-scratching dilemma.

The loss of these three household names could force goal-shy Fernando Torres back in to the equation at Stamford Bridge, a move which some would consider a risk.

Chelsea's versatile winger/striker Salomon Kalou is being linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge as the January transfer window approaches. According to most newspapers in France, the Ivorian could end up at Paris St. Germain as the club continues to purchase stars from across Europe.

Kalou has previously been linked with a move to Marseille, but with PSG now cash-rich the former French giants could land the Ivory Coast star.

Mais um jogo das eliminatórias da Copa Africana de Nações de 2012, foi realizado no dia 03/09/2011, na cidade de Kigali-RWA, onde jogaram as seleções de Ruanda (138º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção da Costa do Marfim (15º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram:
Eliminatórias Copa do Mundo
2002Abidjan 23/04/2000 CIV2:0 (1:0)RWA First stage2002Kigali 09/04/2000 RWA2:2 (0:1)CIV First stage
Eliminatórias Continentais
Abidjan 04/09/2010 CIV3:0 (3:0)RWA Group matches
O árbitro desse jogo, foi: Gehad Gresha-EGY
O primeiro gol foi de Salomon Kalou, aos 29 minutos do primeiro tempo, sendo seu 10º gol pela seleção nacional.

It has been reported, and especially after AVB has reportedly told six of our first team squad that they are free to leave the club, that Paris St Germain are more than interested in Salomon Kalou.
Kalou as we all know has failed to hold down a regular first team spot ever since he has been at Chelsea really if you think about it.

To all the guys reading this, here's our advice on shirt buttons: one open, you're fine, two open, you're cutting it close, three or more and you look like you belong on Tool Academy. Peter Crouch's party ensemble is Kickette (and probably Abbey) approved.

In order of preference, the Club Christmas party season ranks pretty high for us, right behind 'Ballers on Breaks (1) and the End of Season 'Ballers & Bubbas parades (2).

Over the weekend we heard AVB confirm that Alex and Nico Anelka have both submitted transfer requests to the club that have been accepted and they are now training away from the first team squad until a move has been completed.
Yesterday however, news broke all over the media that Chelsea and AVB are also willing to listen to offers for a further FOUR more players in January!

Manchester City remain five points clear at the top of the Premier League, while the three big London clubs; Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, all got important wins.

Man City have a massive Champions League match against Bayern Munich this coming week, and they warmed up for that encounter with a 5-1 thrashing of Norwich City.

Manchester City remain five points clear at the top of the Premier League, while the three big London clubs; Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, all got important wins.

Man City have a massive Champions League match against Bayern Munich this coming week, and they warmed up for that encounter with a 5-1 thrashing of Norwich City.

Goals from Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and Daniel Sturridge saw Chelsea beat Newcastle 3-0 today at St James Park, however the scoreline was flattering to say the least with goals in the 89th and 90th minute securing the points for the Blue's.

Grab your Premier League Kits at Bizrate

Chelsea score a vital three points away to Newcastle in a match that was, well, fucking insane. I mean, Salomon Kalou played clearly at the suggestion of Devin and even contrived to score the pivotal second. Yes, it was that bizarre of a day.

Old Man Winter

Um, yeah.

Following the release of the team's new home kit three weeks ago, the Ivory Coast (or Côte d'Ivoire) PUMA 2012/13 away jersey has hit online retailers. It will be worn by Didier Drogba, Yaya Touré, Salomon Kalou, Gervinho and company when they kick off their 2012 African Cup of Nations campaign in January and is [.

Big match today. Get this kid some more pitch time, Andre. Josh and Romelu, too, while you're at it. How about a Salomon Kalou sighting? Maybe not.

Team news and the like from 2:45pm EST.

Team sheets
Chelsea
TBA
Liverpool
TBA

Streaming:
My P2P
FirstRow Sports
Sport Lemon

Image: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images Europe.

There are two kinds of women who like football. There are the ones who sit about on their backsides all day leching at players and arguing over who broke the communal nail file, and the ones who do something constructive with it.

Being the ones who have got the former completely and utterly covered, we have time to turn our attention to the other kind.

Ivory Coast are the heavy favourites going into the African Cup of Nations in 2012 in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea next year.
The Elephants will be able to call upon on the service of a number of high profile European players such as the Toure brothers, Salomon Kalou, Gervinho and Didier Drogba.