qua18

The good thing about playing Hull is, they play to win. They are in their worst run of the season but they would still play to win. In the last 10 matches, they drew twice and lost eight. Playing at Stamford Bridge should not be a worry for them (anyone) anymore. Early this season, Hull’s win against Arsenal was what propelled their incredible winning run. Now, they could be hoping that a win against Chelsea would revive their top half dream. A win at Stamford Bridge for Hull City? Not unthinkable but Chelsea are fresh from the latest big team humiliation. We may not play like wounded animals anymore but we keep losing the big matches, we have to continue to win the other matches or end our campaign in March. So a dropping point tomorrow is unthinkable for Chelsea.

The comforting things is that in the away fixture this season, when Hull were making headlines, we beat them 3-0 at their turf. Incidentally, we had just beaten by Liverpool then, at home, ending the four-and-a-half year run. Here again, having lost to Liverpool, Chelsea would look to batter Hull City. A comfortable win is very important. I say it’s gotta be comfortable because based on form, it should be a comfortable win for us and we play Aston Villa next, at Villa park.

Quaresma would be making his debut tomorrow. I’m not sure if he would start but he is surely playing and Scolari has confirmed that. Scolari has said that Quaresma is a better dribbler than anyone else in the team. All eyes on the new boy. He has given his typical first-day-in-new-club speech where he says what a great club Chelsea is and what a good opportunity he’s got. Where I have a problem is when he says he ‘admires’ Kalou and Malouda. I’m sure something’s lost in translation there.

Well I’ve got a new friend. Nicolas Anelka. Since January, he has been one player who has had the courage to say that the matches against Man Utd and Liverpool were must-wins, draws were not an option and we could go out of the title race if we did not win. Brave man to say that. And now, The Sun reports (I’ll leave it to you then) an Anelka story with a title ‘Blues are Clueless’. Anelka has reportedly said this:

We just didn’t know how to play against Liverpool. From the start of the season we’ve lost our tests against the biggest teams. Every time it seems our opponents are at least as strong if not stronger than us. Whenever the biggest matches in the Premier League come along we have just not shown we know how to perform at the ‘real’ Chelsea level. Liverpool were superior. They laid on a really good performance and pressed us out of the game. If Frank Lampard hadn’t been sent off we might have managed a draw but the fact is we weren’t in shape to do better than that. We couldn’t have won. That’s a very hard thing to have to admit. Although I don’t believe we are dead in the water for the title race it’s going to be really, really hard to win. We need to raise our standard of play, step up a gear, get stuck in more in the big matches and we need to improve our technical displays.

If he had said really that, he’s gone up a notch in my books. It was a very honest admission of the situation. Notice these key phrases – everytime they were stronger, they pressed us out of the game, we weren’t in shape to do better than a draw, we didn’t know how to play, we couldn’t have won etc. God honest truth. I’m now waiting to see us raise our standard of play, step up a gear etc.

When Cudicini left, one thing all of us feared is Cech’s injury. I’d say I even anticipated it. Cech would miss tomorrow’s match due to a niggle and he would be replaced by Hilario. We have not been our defensive best this season (neither at our attacking best). With all those forgotten cleansheets and disastrous set pieces, the arrival of Hilario only makes me more concerned. I think Scolari would play an orthodox 4-3-3 with Quaresma and Kalou on either sides. I think Anelka will start. Anelka has not scored since mid-December except the one against Southend but he would still start. Hope he makes a difference tomorrow. My prediction is 2-1.