Okay, to be frank, I expect the boys to thrash Blackburn, to say the least. A must-win game today. With Arsenal slipping through and Man Utd with full points, today’s away match against Blackburn is vital. If Chelsea loses today, it would be a big blow mentally and a tremendous confidence boost to Man Utd. Anyway, Man Utd will drop points in September. They have some real tough games to play. Luckily for them, they play Chelsea only in December.

Shevchenko has said that they badly want to win this game and has also said that he wants to score in a winning game. Unfortunately for him, in both games he scored so far, against Liverpool and Boro, Chelsea has lost. he also said that the team is very keen to make amends from the last match performance.

My preferable starting XI would be (4-1-4-1):

Cudicini (GK)
Terry (CB)
Boulahrouz (CB)
Ferreira (RB)
Bridge (LB)
Makelele (DM)
Lampard (CM)
Essien (CM)
Kalou (AMR)
Robben (AML)
Shevchenko (CF).

Yes, that means no Drogba. I would have Drogba or SWP or Obi Mikel coming in as substitutes for Robben and Kalou. Robben should be encouraged to make more forward runs and cross to Sheva. We now have a striker with a great header, so we should make the best use of Sheva’s skills. I feel Bridge is striking up a very good partnership with Robben and that should flourish. So, is Essien/Lampard with Sheva. Boulahrouz should make his debut today and hope he comes good. More than Boulahrouz’ debut, Carvalho deserves to be dropped for a game or two for his poor performance.

Three points and a clean sheet.