Forget about Robinho playing against the Spurs this Sunday, looks like he may not even join us. I must have checked the websites a million times last week. We got so close that it almost feels like Robinho is already a Chelsea player. When the rumour about Robinho first came up, I wasn’t too excited. I thought he was just trying to improve his Madrid contract. But when he rejected the multimillion offer from Madrid, I took notice. I was even more curious when Scolari said that he wants Robinho. Now I want only a happy ending for this whole episode. I won’t lose hope until tomorrow midnight. But if we don’t get him by this window, I don’t think he’d ever join Chelsea. Something like what happened with Dani Alves.

Now, let’s talk about the match on Sunday. This season, there are huge expectations on Tottenham. They are expected to break into the top four, mostly replacing Arsenal. That’s I had predicted too. Mostly because, they now have a shrewd manager in Juande Ramos and he was busy building his team. There was this high of signing Luka Modric. Then came the rumours on Berbatov and Keane. Liverpool signed Keane at about 20m and Berbatov is being priced at 30m. If Ramos gets his money for Berbatov, he’ll have huge tranfer bounty with few hours to spend them. He can even bring in four or five decent players with that kind of money. He is already in discussions with Spartak for Pavlyuchenko, while the Arshavin deal is more like our own Robinho transfer. While Spurs are getting some good transfer business, their start to the season was very disappointing with two defeats, one of them at home.

Harry Redknapp then said “No one’s going to break into top four. Tottenham can’t even get a point at the Riverside stadium”. Of course, it’s little too early to conclude these things as even Arsenal lost at Craven Cottage. But two defeats in two matches against teams that finished below them last season, is hardly promising. If they don’t get a point on Sunday, which is what I expect, that would mean
three successive defeats and a ‘pointless’ month of August for Spurs.

On our side, we had a great first match and in the second match, we deserved just a point but we did well to hold onto an early lead for three points. There were reasons why we couldn’t play impressively at the JJB but anyway, we are leading the table. Against Tottenham, I think we’ll have a great match. We’re playing at home which is a big advantage. I think this season at home, the fear factor is back.
Teams will not want to play at Stamford Bridge. No more funny games like the 4-4 matches that we had and no more last minute goals from the opposition.

Unlike last season, I don’t think the opponents can score four bloody goals at the Bridge or nick draws. We didn’t lose any matches last season and we still maintained that home record. But we lost something else at the Bridge last season. I thought opponents did not fear playing at Stamford Bridge. They knew that they could get a point or scoring goals here were no longer a massive achievement. We had lost points in more matches at home than in away matches! But these funny games are over, Stamford Bridge will be the fortress that it once was under JM.

In terms of team selection, Essien and Ballack are doubtful. It was a bit strange to see in the club wesbite that Ballack played against Wigan despite not being fully fit. With the kind of midfield riches that we have, there is no need to have players play when they’re not full fit, especially so early in the season. Drogba would return only by the first week of September, but he is back to the training ground and would play for the reserves on Monday. Phil says that he has to rearrange a bit and probably has to play one or two out of position. I wonder why.

I’d stick with the 4-3-3. The defence would have Bosingwa, Terry, Carvalho and Ashley Cole. The triangular midfield will have Mikel as the defensive midfielder and Deco and Lampard as the midfielders with attacking intent. The front three would be Joe Cole, Malouda and Kalou. Yes, I’d keep Anelka on the bench. By no means Anelka is the first choice striker in anyone’s absence. his selection for the first team should solely depend on the performance/promise shown in the last match. Mikel is also a slight doubt. If Mikel does not play, Malouda should play in a flat midfield, with Kalou on the left wing and in this case I’d bring in Anelka as the lone striker.

I’m sure we’ll do well against the Spurs because they come out and play football. That’s mostly their undoing as well because the quality of their defending and goalkeeping does not support their type of football. They attack expansively without bothering too much about the spaces and holes in their midfield and defence. This is what makes me believe that we’ll come out on top. With the Deco dimension to our attack, we’re always going to kill teams that are ready to play ball.

Last night, Zenit beat Man Utd and extended their agony of this season. It is quite clear that Man Utd are becoming more and more beatable and are certainly not the same team that we saw in the last two seasons. Man Utd fans get wound up when you say they’re a one man team and without Ronaldo they are an average team. They have few more weeks to go until Ronaldo’s back and if they say they’re not worried, they’re lying.

I hate the sight of Liverpool being so close to Chelsea in the premier league. They’ve been riding their luck for too long. They are always obscenely lucky in champions league but it seems that has caught on in the premier league as well. I expect them to lose points at Villa Park tomorrow while we make a hattrick of wins. And finally, my prediction is 3-1 at Stamford Bridge.

P.S: Watch this funniest football clip ever. You can’t be more stupid than Paul Scholes on a football pitch. Your comments are most welcome.