Which is the more important match – Boro or Liverpool? Boro, because that’s the next match. In our anticipation and build-up for the Liverpool match, let’s not forget that we’ve got a no-so-easy fixture (well, nothing’s easy for us now) on Wednesday night. If we don’t beat Boro tomorrow night, Liverpool will beat us fair and square at Anfield. The confidence of the team is very thin. If we realise that we can’t beat Boro at the Bridge, that means our problems still persist and we have not improved and, more importantly, there are very less evidences to show that we can go to Anfield with hope and confidence.

Before we go into this match, some quick bits on the transfer scene. Carlo is gone and that’s official now. He’s gone on a free transfer. While this sounds too strange to be true, I can imagine why. Probably the club wanted Carlo to get a good contract at Spurs and the free transfer would certainly help him. That’s a very honourable and generous gesture by the club. If you thought that Scolari let him go because he would promote Rhys Taylor, you’d hear Ray Wilkins say nonchalantly that we are looking for replacements and if we don’t get one in this window, we’ll get in June. Rhys Taylor and the other kids, find another club or go out on loan.

Carlo was the last known penalty stopper at Chelsea. In the champions league final last season, when we were heading to penalties, I was even wondering if we could bring on Carlo for Cech because he was so good at penalties. Now it is Cech on his own. There are bets being taken that Cech would knock himself out in the first week of Cudicini’s absence. If it does happen like that, we’ve got Hilario, the silent killer, the Barcelona tamer. What we should also have is loads of good luck.

Just four more days to go for the closure of this window and no one seems to be coming in. Lots of rumours but there is no statement of intent from anyone from the club that we’ll bring in players, at least the replacements. There are rumours that Ivanovic is getting closer to Fiorentina and Juventus want Malouda. But there is no new on if anyone could come in. Lot of fans have expressed their desire to bring in Robbie Keane. That’s interesting and expensive. I’d vote for someone like Djibril Cisse. What say?

Okay, back to the match. On paper, this could be an easy match. On paper, Chelsea are the No.1 team in Europe. Now you know what the paper’s worth. Actually, this match could very well be a fitting sequel to our winning run that involves prize scalps of Stoke, Southend and Ipswich. You know why? In terms of form, they’re the second worst team in the premier league. They are going down. I’d put my money on them going down. They have not won a match since 9th Nov 2008. In their last premier league match, they lost 3-0 to West Brom. Surely, they must be easy to beat? Yep, we mauled them 5-0 at the Riverside when Scolari’s honeymoon was not over. That was one of the two 5-0 wins we’ve had this season. The other being the home game against Sunderland. Roy Keane’s gone already. Gareth Southgate is hanging on. The fact that we beat them so comfortably also goes to say how poorly they have been playing. This Chelsea team is struggling to score against even league one teams and Boro concedes 5?In fact, the last four times we played Boro, we beat them every single time with a overall scoreline of 11-0. With this kind of recent history it’s easy to be optimistic. If at all I’ve learnt one thing from Scolari, that’s never to be optimistic.

I can almost predict Scolari’s team 11/11. Here it is. Cech, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Ashley Cole, Mikel, Ballack, Lampard, Deco, Malouda and Anelka. John Terry is likely to be back. If he is walking, he must be playing. Carvalho is injured again. Ivanovic should step in, based on form and quality. But Alex would play based on nationality. Ashley Cole must be careful about his flying tackles. He is the only recognised left back in the team now. Mikel is back after his little mischief with the drunken driving? What kind of footballer you are, if you’re not caught for drunken driving? But what puzzles me is why was he driving around SW6 at 5:30 am? Way too dedicated, I’d say.

Ballack and Lampard would play. By the way, Lampard’s free kick against Ipswich was one of the best free kicks I’ve ever seen, if it was not a deflection. Some say it is, some say it’s not. Anyway, for a change, we scored from free kicks and of course, scored by the most competent and capable guys in the team. Deco would play because he is fit. Malouda will be the left wide midfielder as Joe Cole is injured and no one else might want to play on the left. Anelka is in because Scolari still wants to punish Drogba for that bad match that he had against Man Utd. Sorry Didier. You’re Ivorian and you did not play well in one match. You deserve this punishment. Deco, get in please.

Back in October at Riverside, we were leading Middlesbrough by 1-0 at half time. They had lost all the interest in the game by then. In the second half, they conceded 4 goals in 15 minutes. That was one of the worst performances I have seen. They simply were not interested in playing that game. They started counting down for the final whistle from the start of second half itself. If Middlesbrough plays better than the way they did in October, then it would be 2-1. If they still play indifferently, we might after all get our first clean sheet in God knows how many matches!

I’ll go for a 2-1. I still don’t believe that we won’t concede at home. Terry comes in and Carvalho goes out. Now there’s the excuse to let one in from a free kick. We will score two goals because Lamps is in form so he will get one and the other one could be a trademark Anelka tap-in. Remember, if we don’t beat Middlesbrough, we’d fall below Aston Villa, deservedly so.