Home game alert! D-W-L-W-D-L. The last home game was a disappointing defeat to Arsenal. Now we have chance to get back to winning ways against out-of-form West Ham. We’ve got a fit squad that can beat any team, obviously, West Ham included. I’ll go mad if we drop points against West Ham at the Bridge after all the recent fiascos.

This weekend is also very crucial because Chelsea’s three points are much more achievable than that of our rivals. Man Utd and Arsenal travel to play Middlesbrough and Tottenham respectively. Liverpool hosts Hull City. I think, surely some of our rivals would drop points this weekend.

Before I proceed further, quick words on two fantastic matches this weekend in Europe. Don’t miss the el clasico tonight. Barcelona vs Real Madrid at 9 pm UK. I hope for a draw. I don’t want Barca to win. They need to be brought down to earth. I don’t want Madrid to win for their backstabbing on the Robinho deal. I’m rooting for Valencia to win this la liga. Or even Sevilla. Or Atletico. Or Getafe. Anyone but Barca/Madrid. But there’s no denying that the el clasico would be a great treat for a neutral. There’s no better rivalry in Europe than this one. I’m very excited about this match! 2-2 with a couple of red cards. Also this Sunday night 7:30 pm UK, Juventus plays AC Milan. Hoping for a draw here too. 2-2 again with half a dozen red cards.

Back to England. Big debate of the week has been Scolari’s comments on Drogba and Anelka. I thought Scolari’s comments were unwarranted. When asked about Drogba, he need not have spoken about Anelka. See, Drogba scored a fantastic goal the other day and he scored the winner that confirmed our progress in champions league. That was Drogba’s day and he stole the show with his 30 minutes. I don’t know why was it so difficult for Scolari give Drogba the credit that he deserved, without talking about Anelka. May be his intention was noble. May be he wanted to comfort Anelka but given his command of the English language, he should refrain from making such comments which can be understood in many ways.

My verdict is clear and you know it already. In my eyes, Drogba is in a different planet than Anelka. When both are available and if I have to choose only one, I would grab Drogba in the blink of an eye. Anelka has been scoring the goals and a few of them have been really sublime. Even with the benefit of this hindsight, if Drogba and Anelka were available for all the matches, I’d have taken Drogba. I have full confidence that Drogba would have also scored all the goals that Anelka scored and probably would have scored even more. Nevertheless, Anelka is the Barclays Player of the Month and I think he thoroughly deserved it. His interview in the club website is very impressive.

Of course, when you play you try to do your best on the pitch and I am playing in a good team, and I think that it is working for me. It’s important because you need to be happy in your football and your life so I’m glad. We have a lot of big players and they know me better than last year, how to give me the ball and how I play and that’s why I’m in good form. I hope I will score more goals than now, but this is not the most important thing for me. That is Chelsea, to win something in the end of the season and I will try to do the same and hope I will win something.

I’m impressed Nic. The next thing I expect from you is to forge a great partnership with Chelsea’s No.1 striker Didier Drogba. After Drogba scored against Cluj, the PA said ‘welcome back Didier Drogba, we’ve been missing you’. May be it might have irked Anelka but let’s cut the crap. It’s like comparing Adebayor and Henry at Arsenal. Add to that, Drogba is still very effective.

And now, Scolari need not have a dilemma because we can play 4-4-2. In fact, a 4-4-2 is not a compromise, this would be the most optimum formation to use now. If we have both Drogba and Anelka upfront, we will have a very potent attack which is what we have been missing all along this season. Drogba can be both a striker and a centre forward, and can complement with any striker. It’s quite difficult to contain a player like Drogba, especially in his current form. He also has a very good partnership with players like Lampard, Ballack and Joe Cole.

After a long time, we have a selection headache in the midfield. We have got Lampard, Mikel, Ballack, Joe Cole, Deco and Belletti all fit and available. I would pick Lampard and Mikel no matter what. Only the other two places are for contention, with Ballack, Deco and Joe Cole vying for them. I’d start Ballack and Joe Cole and then bring on Deco for Ballack or Joe Cole in the second half. In defence, we should bring in Ivanovic alongside Terry.

So, this is my team for the West Ham match:

Petr Cech
Bosingwa         Terry        Ivanovic        Ashley Cole
Mikel
Joe Cole        Ballack        Lampard
Anelka        Drogba

We’ve been struggling at home for three months and we have done nothing to improve. Scolari’s claim that he does not have those kind players is a weak argument. When JM said that the omlette would depend on the quality of eggs, there was a big roar on that comment. Some even said that it was the last straw. What Scolari says now is pretty much the same. If he was interviewed in Portuguese, he might have given you a similar expression.

On June 30, when Deco was signed, Scolari had Lampard, Ballack, Essien, Mikel and Makelele. It was his choice to further strengthen the already strong midfield contingent instead of buying a winger or a striker. Well, you can say that he was hoping to get Robinho and the club failed to land him. If he was such a dearth of talent, he could have given more chances for Franco di Santo or Scott Sinclair. Scolari seems to be risk-averse. I’m not saying we need to start these players every match. When you see that some players are unbelievably poor and we are suffering because of their performances, there’s no harm in trying out a di Santo or Sinclair or even a Stoch.

I can accept no reason or excuse not to take three points with this team against an out-of-form West Ham at Stamford Bridge. BBC notes that West Ham have not taken a point off Chelsea since 2002-03. Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal would be losing points today while Chelsea would beat West Ham only tomorrow. We should beat them 3-0. Lampard is due a goal. It’d be great to see a Lampard brace against West Ham! Hope this weekend belongs to us!