At last a week together for the Chelsea players to gel on the training pitch. Hopefully this will transpire to a more confident and consistent performance from the Blues


Jose Mourinho has called on Chelsea players to treat this weekends game like a world cup final. He saw what local rivals Everton did against Liverpool and does not want Chelsea to fall for the same trap. Last year Chelsea lost 1-0 at a crucial time in the season, which gave chasing Man Utd a ray of false hope. The Fulham players acted like they had won world war three.


Fulham after a woeful loss to Man Utd in their first game this season have played some gutsy football and their last two results, an away win at Newcastle and a scoreless draw at Tottenham, have seen them rise to the top half of the table.


The punters and myself included certainly had Fulham down as borderline relegation material this year and they have so far bucked their lowly expectations.


Blues Clues


However even though this is as close a local derby you can get outside of Liverpool (just one mile separates Fulham and Chelsea) and the fact that for the Fulham team this is their world cup final and the fact that these games were very close last season - I pick Chelsea to win this one handsomely by two or three goals - lets stick my neck out and go for 3-1 victory.


The extra time to prepare for this one and the wealth at Mourinho's disposal added to the fact that Chelsea will probably play with at least one wide player with Ballack suspended and Robben fit again will show the championship winning side that we've only seen in spurts this season. This performance will send a shock wave out to the other pretenders.

It was the Drogs Ballacks once again as Drogba scored a serious contender for goal of the season and Ballack sees Red as 10 man Chelsea gain a hard fought victory over arch rivals Liverpool


This game was full of contentious incidents and close calls which could have totally changed the outcome of the game - the "what if's" that make football such a great subject for debate over a few pints of beer. What if Kuyt had not hit the bar - what if Sissoko had been sent off - what if Chelsea had been awarded a penalty for the sandwich on Robben in the second half - what if Gerrard had been a bit sharper on his close range shot - "what if". Any number of different permutations.


At the end of the day Chelsea got the three points after a glorious goal from Drogba - who I still claim is benefitting from the extra attention given to Shevchenko. Essien, "The Bison", was again a tower of strength and his forward surges were excellent. Robben after his introduction caused general mayhem and Petr Cech was the man mountain of calm at the heart of the defensive wall.

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Impresive start to the European campaign with a fairly comfortable 2-0 victory over Werder Bremen


No long review here - but it has to be noted that Essien and Ballack were magnificent and Lampard while not at his world beating best still caused a lot of problems for the Germans.
Essien was everywhere enjoying the free role on the right side of midfield with Makalele resuming the defensive midfield role and Essien got his reward with the 24th minute opener. Ballack's touch and vision in passing was magnificent and whetted the appetite for the rest of the season. The penalty was thunderous and showed why the Germans never lose a penalty shoot out. It was "the Drog's Ballacks" as Ballack converted a penalty from the foul on Drogba.


GILES SMITH


For any Chelsea supporters - in fact supporters of football in general, Giles Smith's weekly editorial on the Chelsea Official Website is a scream - a real piss take and very enjoyable read. Click here.


BLUES CLUES: LIVERPOOL


Liverpool obviously consider the game against Chelsea as more important than their Champions League clash with PSV as they rested five of their regular starters including Gerrard and Garcia.

While Liverpool are not in good form right now, and Chelsea have done a double double over Liverpool in the league these past two seasons, Liverpool are desperate and Benitez is a great tactician.
Chelsea are playing some fabulous football but only in spurts which gives teams a chance to compete right now as Chelsea still have to find their groove with all the new faces.

Prediction: 1-1 points dropped by the Champions in a fiercly competitive game. (Hope I am wrong and it is 5-0 to the Blues.)

This was another game we should have won comfortably after an inspiring first half display - but were made to work hard in the second half for our victory


The first half display was one of total control with the midfield combination exerting their dominance as Chelsea peppered the Charlton goalmouth with numerous chances.
The attention that defences are giving Shevchenko is giving Drogba plenty of space and he will be wondering how he only scored one goal in the first half.

Not that he was the only player guilty of squandering chances, an error that almost cost Chelsea some points in the second half. Essien was once again in great form breaking down Charlton's forward advances and executing telling passes to his teammates. Ballack too had a very good game, holding the ball well, some exquisite passing and a lovely shot inches past the upright with the keeper beaten.
Even Wright Phillips playing on right midfield gained in confidence as the game went on, playing his game of beating the defence down the wing and getting in some good crosses. Bridge had a great game on the left, looking dangerous as he surged forward as he has done all season. It really should have been 3 or 4 to nil at half time.


In the second half there were visions of Middlesboro as Charlton put on a battling display and disrupted the total control Chelsea had imposed in the first half. Hasslebank got Charlton back in the game with one trademark goals that we've all seen him score while playing at Chelsea over the years. His subdued celebrations actually got the Chelsea fans singing his name. Mourinho rolled the dice and brought on Ashley Cole for his debut and Kalou, bringing off the impressive Bridge and Wright Phillips. Seconds later Chelsea restored the lead with Carvahlo towering header getting a slight deflection and beating the Charlton keeper.

Chelsea were awarded a penalty after Kalou was pushed off the ball after another of his surging runs, but Lampard's penalty was impressively saved. It is probably time to give the penalty duties to Shevchenko - everybody knows the Lampard shoots to his left. Charlton continued to battle and I was glad to hear the final whistle as Dowie pushed three forward in an effort to get the equalizer.

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The first-round ties will be played on Sept 12/13.