Chelsea’s first away game of the season. Given a choice, no blue would have chosen Reading as their opponent for this occasion. It’s not that we are scared of their footballing genius or attacking might. We did not want so soon a flashback of the season-defining disasters last time we traveled to Madejski stadium, knowing that they continue their giant killing acts.

Reading still continues to ‘challenge’ the champions. Last season, it was Petr and Carlo in the space of 90 minutes and this season it was Rooney, who is now out for 2 months. There is a lot of negativity about the way they are directly or indirectly involved in such horrible injuries. I’m not saying that they do this purposefully but they just happen for (with) them. At least this would make them little apprehensive of their own behaviour against Chelsea. I really hope so.

Jose says this about the current injury situation:

The situation is the same we had in the last weekend, I have to make a decision about Essien, yes or no, maybe no, maybe yes but I have to make a decision. After that the picture is the same, Paulo [Ferreira] is back, so one more option. For the weekend a lot of people will be back, Makelele is training normal, Sheva is training normal. John Terry will start training normal tomorrow, so for the weekend only Bridge and Ballack definitely out because they come from surgeries.

Paulo is back, so Glen can take a quick walk, that is until Paulo gets nutmegged. The hot news is Daniel Alves. Sky Sports reports (safely based on some Spanish paper) that Chelsea has agreed a deal with Alves. More authentic than this news is that Alves was not part of the Sevilla’s champions league squad yesterday. That sounds nice. It all looks that it is only a matter of time before he becomes a blue.

I don’t think Jose would risk Essien for this match. Given that we have a fit and ready Mikel, I think we should protect and preserve Essien for the Liverpool match and make that match his 100th Chelsea appearance. On the right midfield, SWP should have the edge over Joe Cole, as he had a fantastic match against Birmingham. Surely there is a temptation of letting Sidwell play his ex-club, but that can happen in the second half.

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In the attack, I’d start with Sheva and Drogba, and in the second half replace Sheva with Pizarro. Given Claudio’s brilliant debut, it would be a crime not to allow him any playing minutes. Alex is still not match-ready which makes Ben Haim a natural choice. There is a bunch who would like to see Tal as the right back, but I dont think it will happen for this match.

As regards how we approach this match, I think we should not lose the momentum that we set against Birmingham. Reading is a much better team than Birmingham and they’ve just drawn Man Utd at Old Trafford. With our current form (?) Reading would possibly repeat their ‘bus-park-goal’ technique to prevent us from running away with the match. But I believe this Chelsea team can unlock any defence as there is wide variety in Chelsea’s attacks – in the flanks, through the centre, long shots, set pieces – we are strong in all these areas. So, if one does not work, our players are intelligent enough to switch tactics and also succeed in that.

There is more proof than ever before, that I’m crap at fantasy league. In The Blue Champions Club, Torohi (not seen his name in bluechampions I guess) tops the table now and Mister Maysam is the runner-up (wish he could change his team title?!). Also there is this member who has anti-Chelsea name, well I dont mind as long as they are harmless and keep it under the acceptable level.

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Generally, people who have made points have got it from Malouda, Gerrard, Martins, van Persie etc. Those who are at the bottom (well me including) have carefully chosen those players who would get injured so heavily that they won’t be back in August. Thanks to SquadGod, there is no such thing as relegation in their fantasy league.

BBC’s Lawro predicts that Chelsea will win 2-0 and Man Utd will draw again 1-1 with Portsmouth. If the Wednesday night’s results go this way, hip hip hurray!

P.S: For the dudes from India: Wish You A Happy Independence Day!

[tags]Chelsea, Reading, Madejski Stadium, Cech, Cudicini, Malouda, Gerrard, Martins, van Persie, Fantasy league, Jose Mourinho, Liverpool, Man Utd, Portsmouth, Essien, Daniel Alves, Sevilla[/tags]