Club football is back. The last time Chelsea suffered back-to-back defeats was after winning the title in 05-06 and one of the two teams that defeated us then was Blackburn Rovers. Worry not, as there is another good piece of info. Blackburn Rovers are in an unbeaten run of 14 domestic matches and the last match they lost, was to Chelsea, when Ballack scored that extra time winner in the FA Cup. Expect a very exciting match this time too.

After a fortnight long break, particularly after a defeat, playing at home is the best thing to happen to us. Also, Jose can be relieved that all his players are back in good condition with more match practice. I guess he has a fairly large number of fit players to choose his eleven against Blackburn.

If there are a couple of players I badly want to see on pitch, and preferably to start, are Shevchenko and Joe Cole. Sheva scored yesterday against Italy in Ukraine’s 2-1 loss. If Sheva still does not make an appearance tomorrow, there’s something seriously wrong in his relationship with Jose. I don’t want Jose to pick Pizarro ahead of fit and just-scored Shevchenko. That would be gross injustice for a player of his calibre in this fitness and form. I’ll be grossly surprised if he does not partner Drogba on Saturday. That said, Drogba himself is fighting to be fit for the match.

This is how the official Chelsea website reports on Sheva’s game against Italy:

Andriy Shevchenko was in dangerous form against his old rivals from Serie A as Ukraine played Italy at home. The Chelsea striker hit the crossbar, forced Gianluigi Buffon into further saves and swept in a 71st minute equaliser after Italy failed to clear a corner. It was his 34th international goal on his 76th appearance.

Essien and Mikel will man the central midfield with Joe Cole and SWP on either sides. Against Russia, Joe Cole was little wasteful with his heavy touches but was always very lively and dangerous. Going by how Malouda has been playing of late, in comparison with Joe Cole, the Englishman should easily get the nod. In defence, Terry and Alex will be at the centre while Ashley Cole and Belletti should be the full backs. Belletti was quite decent and it’s worth giving him another chance.

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This match is of real significance as this comes after a rare Chelsea defeat and also at a time, teams like Liverpool and Arsenal are enjoying an unbeaten run and lying above Chelsea in the table. At least, one good thing is that the rest of the big four also have tough away matches – Liverpool at Portsmouth, Man Utd at Everton and the famous London derby at White Hart Lane. I’m really looking forward to the north-London derby especially after Darren Bent spiced up with this cheeky remarks on Henry’s sale.

Like Jose said earlier, this season would see the most exciting of title races of recent times. And, as you know, my guess is that the champion would end up with not more than 85 points. In these circumstances, Jose hints that Chelsea would still go for winning every competition that they participate.

I cannot see the difference between defending a title and trying to win a title back. When you win the title, in the next season you want to win every game to be champions again and retain the title. When we lose the title we want to win every game to bring the title back to Chelsea, I don’t see the difference. For us the aim of every competition and every game is to win but of course we cannot win every game, of course we will draw, of course we will lose, but the approach to every game is no different.

Also Jose, once again, talks about his admiration of the Premier League. He calls it the best league, more from the competitiveness point of view.

I think winning the Premier League is always a big achievement, I think it is one of the best leagues in the world. Forgive me Spanish and Italians but for me it is the best. I feel in this moment the Premier League is the best league in the world, improving year after year. It is a big achievement to win, like I think it’s a big achievement for the teams at the bottom to survive and not be relegated. For people to achieve objectives in the Premier League, it is very difficult.

I always wanted to see a kind of tournament or a match-up among all the newly promoted teams in various leagues to really see teams of which league are superior. Of course, we have the champions league for the top teams but that always does not tell the story.

And there is this interesting news that Chelsea is very close to sign a Portuguese wonderkid Aliu Djalo, for some reason, also known as Kaby. He is an attacking midfielder and he is reportedly valued by Chelsea at 5 million pounds.

I won’t be able to watch this game, as I’d be in an airplane during match time, but you can watch the match live on Setanta Sports. If you want to subscribe to Setanta Sports just click here. They have a juicy offer of just 9.99 pounds per month with no annual contract.

Well, what do I expect from this match, a clean sheet to start with, and then may be Sheva on the scoresheet. There are a lot of things I expect outside of this match – Tottenham, Everton, Portsmouth – all scoring thumping wins. We’ve had such days before!

[tags]Chelsea, Blackburn, Jose Mourinho, Mark Hughes, Andriy Shevchenko, Joe Cole, Stamford Bridge, Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton, Portsmouth, Kaby[/tags]