Gear up for the second local derby in 8 days. After a shaky-start-solid-finish against Fulham last week, Chelsea play QPR for the first time in more than a decade. Such is the gulf between these two sides that they never had to meet in the league and the cup draws also did not pair us. QPR have also come under the wave of billionaires. They are jointly owned by F1 man Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briattore and the Indian business magnate Laxmi Mittal. Mr. Mittal is the richest person living in the UK. If he is half as interested as Roman in football, QPR can call themselves lucky. Despite the recent flutters, QPR should not be upset to go down to the Blues in the third round match of the FA Cup.

chelsea-team-vs-qpr.jpgThe squad available for Avram would almost be the same as in last match except that Essien would be ineligible as he has picked up 5 yellow cards. Carvalho is still serving his suspension for his red card after he fouled Agbonlahor, but should be available for the next match. Both Sahar and Sinclair should fancy their chances to start. As we have a more difficult league cup encounter against Everton on Tuesday, we might go in with a lighter team. I would have Sahar in the centre supported by Kalou and Sinclair.

I’ve lost hopes that Avram might try anything other than a 4-3-3. Given that both Sheva and Drogba aren’t there are Pizarro is not quite in first team form, we indeed will play 4-3-3 with Kalou to continue his fine scoring form. I’m just hoping that both Sinclair and Sahar will start. If only one of them start the other could be SWP. It is against these smaller teams that SWP would be able to deliver his best. His pace and dribble may not be too much trouble for the top 8 teams in the premier league but would be a headache for the championship teams. In midfield, Essien would be missing. Will Avram again try to experiment with Sidwell? May be this is the match he should have done started sidwell. This time I think we can play Sidwell and if he is going to screw up this time, he’ll know that he has to count his days. The midfield should be Ballack, Mikel and Sidwell. My back four would be Alex, Ben Haim, Ferreira and Bridge.

It took just one win for Avram Grant to come back and compare how bad we were and how good we are. All right mate, I what’s it all about. Everytime Avram speaks to the Press, he is trying to send messages to Roman. It is in fact a dialogue that he is having with Roman, that is intercepted by the Press. He does not even have to be grateful to his predecessor for the brilliant group of players that he has gathered or the team spirit that he has brought in. But he would do himself a lot of favour if he goes about his job. I don’t know why he wants to glorify himself by comparing himself to a legendary Chelsea manager. I’m not falling for the bait. I’ll wait until I see back-to-back league titles again. One thing is for sure. Grant’s insecurity could kill him, if the team runs into a patch of poor results. On the other hand, he is in a win-win situation. If he wins the league title, may be he’ll give press conferences all day all night non-stop. If Chelsea loses there are various reasons, including a ‘bad start’!

Okay, let me break the heart-breaking story! Just when you think Avram can emote, he came out publicly that his half time talk did the trick against Fulham. In fact, here is TimesOnline reporting that the motivation, provocation and inspiration came from Steve Clarke but Avram claimed the credit in front of the TV cameras. It’s up to you to believe it or not. Knowing Steve, he is quite capable of ‘waking up’ the players like this.

We remember Ballack said something about some half time rollicking. But interestingly he never said it was Grant who did it. Even more interestingly, even in the Chelsea FC website, it is mentioned that the half time dressing down was given by Grant and his coaching staff! This is the excerpts from official Chelsea FC website:

Trailing 1-0 at the interval, Ballack and his team-mates were subjected to a dressing down by Avram Grant and his coaching staff, and the effects were clear as we quickly rallied and turned a deficit into a lead. ‘It was a little bit loud in the dressing room but we needed it, and we changed a lot, putting more pressure on Fulham from the first minute,’ Ballack explained. ‘We are happy to get the 3 points on the first day of the new year,’ he said, adding: ‘In the second half we came out like Chelsea play and we deserved it.’

Well, when will this book ‘Chelsea FC – An Inside Story’ be released?

Our home league record would be tested thrice in a space of just 10 days. While we should be able to negotiate QPR with considerable ease, we have Everton on Tuesday and Spurs on Monday. Grant says that two or three players could be ready for QPR match but did not want to go to too much detail. There are also reports that Drogba is training and he can play a part in this match. I hope we don’t hurry someone in and lose them for a longer period. That’s what happened to Petr Cech. We called him in when he was not fully fit. Not only we ended up conceding 4 goals but also lost him for a longer stretch of period.

I hope this match does not end up like the one against Liverpool. That was a bloody snoozefest despite the 2-0 scoreline. I must have seen millions of more exciting scoreless draws than that match. Players were playing as if they did not want to play that match and were forced upon to play. I hope this match is more exciting. Now by exciting I don’t mean a 8-7 scoreline. I just want a match where both teams play good football in attack, midfield and defence and more than anything play with an intention to win. My prediction is 3-0 for Chelsea.

I hope you’re tracking my performance when you’re also watching Avram Grant. I’m not trying to say I can compete with him (well, on second thoughts . . . lokay leave it). I don’t think I can be friends with Roman like Grant is. With just few weeks into my Chelsea job, I’m into disagreement with the omnipotent owner. That’s coming up later.

You all get much awaited relief from me as BlueBlood58 would start writing for this blog again. To start with he would write the match reaction article for this QPR match. He’s been supporting Chelsea for about 40 years, so he must know a thing or two ;-) Also, we are getting two or three more writers in this blog. It helps to keep some variety here otherwise I’ll keep jumping over Avram’s press conferences and that won’t be anything new as I won’t stop until he does. See, I’m at it again. That’s why there will be some new writers just to bring different point of views. Then I’ll have the easier job of just visiting the blog and posting comments. That can be more fun!