Chelsea beating Arsenal is the best possible result on a football pitch. The team you love beating the team you hate, has to be the best thing in football. And when that happens at Emigrants and when the result happens to be 3-0 and when you see the goner fans walking out of the stadium and on their players with 10 minutes to go, has to be some sight. What a match it was! Glad I had the sense to hit the ‘record’ button right at the kick off. Now I can see Chelsea beat Arsenal 3-0 at the Emigrants as many times as I want.

If you’ve watched the match today, you see that’s the difference between contenders and pretenders. Chelsea absolutely murdered Arsenal and just cut them to size and put them in their place. Today’s Chelsea performance was just champions’ stuff. We had the depth in the team, the high quality of players, the incredible focus until the final whistle and more than anything, the maturity and experience. We had a clear penalty turned down and there was an incorrect offside call – both of which could have turned into goals. To beat the goners 5-0 on their patch would have been just heaven. Let’s leave something for the next time.

Chelsea played like they had always knows Arsenal’s next move on the pitch. I’ve always said that Arsenal’s football is very predictable. What matters to them is how well they are able to execute those predictable moves – that depends on how they play and how the opponent plays. Today, Chelsea played with such anticipation and composure, it was really a treat to watch. Still, I don’t think we played at our best. We lost possession many time very uncharacteristically. Our decision making upfront was not very sharp. Still, we had played well enough to beat Arsenal 3-0 at Emigrants (I’m just making the best use of my bragging rights, allright?).

I’m struggling to pick the man of the match. Didier Drogba is the easy choice but there was Ashley Cole, John Terry and Nicolas Anelka too. But purely because he had a role to play in all the goals, it has to be Drogba. The first goal was just beautiful. Ashley Cole beating a man and delivering a deadly cross was lovely enough. Then came Drogba who was the quickest to react, with his top class finish. Drogba had a role to play in the second goal too. When Ashley Cole managed to send another identical cross Gallas and Vermaelan were visibly nervous and badly wanted to keep the ball out of Drogba’s reach. I heard Vermaelan just doesn’t stop scoring. How true!

When the short free kick was awarded, I was sure of two things – Drogba would take it and he would bloody score. Just when Drogba was getting ready to blast it, I clearly knew that he would be going for the farthest point in the far post. Anyone who has watched Drogba’s free kick goals would know that. He does not try curving the ball in and all that. He just blasts it in. I was surprised that Arsenal did not prepare for it. Ah, that’s Chelsea being Chelsea and Arsenal being Arsenal. That’s Drogba’s 9th goal against Arsenal in 11 matches and he has never been on the losing side to Arsenal. They just can’t figure out how to handle him.

On 3rd Dec 2006 (yes, 2006), I wrote this article ‘10 reasons why Arsenal are crap now‘. You’ll see that most of those 10 reasons are still valid, even after three years. Arsenal have not progressed at all. After three full years, it’s great to see that I got it right so early. Either I’m a great visionary or Arsene Wenger is certainly. I think it’s both.

So we have now beaten Liverpool, Man Utd (twice), Tottenham and Arsenal. How’s that for a first-season record! Good job Carletto! We are now 5 points clear of Man Utd and 11 points clear of Arsenal and 13 points clear of Liverpool. We have the best goal difference in Europe probably, at this point of time. Our goal difference of 28 is far superior to any other in the premier league and is way better than the goal difference leaders in other leagues at this stage. The December matches are Man City(A), Everton (H), Portsmouth (H), West Ham (A), Birmingham (A) and Fulham (H). There are 18 points to be played for, before the African Cup of Nations begins. If we can 15 points out of that 18, we will firmly be on top of the table before the Africans leave.

We are a class apart from our rivals. They are all afraid, very afraid. Chelsea are now the unstoppable team, the team to beat, the best team in the league. We have very clearly moved from a state of hope to a state of expectation. We are now expected win the title. The odds are being shortened. The pundits say that it is now Chelsea’s title to lose. I don’t wanna get so cocky but even with extreme humility I have to say this is gonna be our season. Get in there!

I love seeing Arsenal crash and burn. When Chelsea plays Arsenal, I don’t have to tell you how much I want us to hurt them. This is one of those matches where I just don’t care about where the goal comes from. I’d be happy with a scrappy 1-0. In reality, based on form and ability (ah, there’s my PES lingo), Chelsea must beat Arsenal comfortably. We have beaten Liverpool, Tottenham and Man Utd (twice). If we beat Arsenal, it would have a huge impact on our odds to win the title. In the process, if we can be the trigger of an Arsenal downfall, there is nothing more pleasant than that.

There were some scares that Drogba and Lampard won’t be playing this Sunday. I was thoroughly annoyed not only because we would miss them but also that the goners had got lucky. Anyway, both are back and both would start. At least Drogba would start. Not sure about Lampard. Arsenal are missing a few players. Key one is candlefeet. News is that Robin ‘candlefeet’ van Persie is out for four to five months. Ouch. Gallas is injured. Not a drop of tear from me. They are also missing their first choice and second choice left backs. Right time to murder them I say.

Chelsea would certainly play the famous Ancelotti diamond with both Drogba and the tremendously improved Anelka upfront. Nicolas Anelka has been the surprise package under Ancelotti. From a tactical point of view I don’t see anything has changed to help Anelka on the pitch. I think psychologically Anelka has gone through a transformation. He is lot more committed, lot more purposeful and a lot more team-minded. I want him to play his match of  the season tomorrow. I hope he scores a goal tomorrow like the cracking one that he scored at the Emigrants last season.

Drogba’s availability for Sunday is the best news I’ve heard in a while. He’s scored 8 goals in the last 8 matches against Arsenal. Plus, they might play Senderos or Silvestre or . . both. What a mouth-watering prospect! Drogba was lacklustre against Porto in the mid-week but I guess he was only getting himself back to match fitness and he knows he’s gotta be superfit for the Sunday match. I’m sure you’ll see the difference between how he played against Porto and he would play against Arsenal. He’s got something about Arsenal. I won’t say he hates them but he surely loves to taunt them. He was once asked about his football gaming on playstation. With a very mischievous grin, he said he loves to play as Theirry Henry and shoot wide off target :-)

I must say I’ve never felt so relaxed as a Chelsea fan. We have a great squad, we have some super bright youngsters, the morale and confidence is so high, we are on top of the league and we are playing some great football. Full credit to Ancelotti. Granted he had a great team to work on but he still did and does a fantastic job of pushing them even further towards perfection. We have talked quite a lot about Ancelotti’s diamond and christmas tree. Fergie even said that the diamond won’t work for Chelsea without a player like Kaka in the attacking tip. If you look at the results, you have to say that whatever Ancelotti did has worked very well. The interesting thing about Ancelotti is, he keeps experimenting but he does that without really affecting the balance, compostion or the rhythm of the team. He has this knack of trying out all that he wants to and still has the team play as if nothing’s changed. That shows how tactically astute he is.

I don’t even want a 4-1 like last season. All I want is a win. If we get to punish them along the way, I’d love it. I think we might win 2-1 or 3-1. I have a feeling that Arsenal might just score. The only player in their ranks that worries me is Arshavin. He is top quality and he is so un-Arsenal in his approach to the game. That’s why he worries me. I have this feeling that he might just score. I wish Anelka and Malouda score, just so Arsene Whinger gets a french kiss. See ya!

Sorry I’m late but I’m here and I’m fine. Just before the start of the match, I was telling my mate that this would be a 4-0 for us. What I was telling him basically was that Chelsea are too strong for Wolves. That’s even without Drogba and Lampard. Now that the Bridge is back to the good old days being a fortress, Wolves are certainly going to worry only about the scoreline and not about the result. That’s what happened exactly. We could have easily doubled this scoreline if we had wanted. Once we got to a 3-0 lead, we had started to think about everything else than this match. I was pretty pleased with that. I certainly wanted a win of 3 or 4 goal margin so that we can stay on top on goal difference table too. Naturally, Ancelotti was certainly thinking beyond this match.

This was certainly a pre-cursor to the drogpard-less Chelsea. We had to get two things out of this match – goals and confidence. We all know that more than 50% of our goals come from Drogba and Lampard. When this duo is missing, we had to show that we can still continue with our excellent goal-scoring form. And confidence? We played superbly well, supremely confident and completely in control of the proceedings. Wolves had few chances but still were nowhere near stopping us from scoring.

From a Chelsea fan’s point of view, the biggest talking point of the match was not about the four goals or Essien’s near hattrick or the manner in which we despatche Wolves. It was the three subs that came in the second half. I don’t remember when was the last time a Chelsea manager played three young players in a premier league match. When I saw the names of Borini, Kakuta and Matic in the bench, I was just wildly hoping that all three would get to play. I was very very pleasantly suprised and thoroughly impressed of Carletto when he brought all three.

So finally, we got to see Kakuta. And I see what the fuss was all about. Man, he is so good! He dribbled, he did some tricks, he sprinted through – overall, he was damn impressive. I want to see more of him. I always knew that he is supposed to be the wonderkid who’s the next-xyz, but it was great to see him in action. He did not play like it was his debut. He did not play like how one would do if his match was a premier league home match. I also liked the way he blended with the rest of the team. I hope we get to see more of Kakuta in the near future.

Borini was impressive too. He did not get to make as much impact as Kakuta did but he showed some glimpses of why Carlo had him play in a premier league match. He had pace and could really accelerate at times. I still don’t know what kind of forward he is. He doesn’t look like a goal poacher. May be he is more of a support striker. Matic was very good too. He is a really big lad. I did see him making some very quick decisions and neat executions in his midfield play. He is very strong and he has skill to make some really tight angle passes.

I was so happy to see these guys on the pitch and playing so well. We seem to have a potential of hitting a great balance in the team with some fantastic senior pros and highly talented kids. I like the way Carlo taking us. He seems very professional, very pragmatic and thoroughly tactical too. He’s got his next big test coming up next weekend. Carlo has now beaten Liverpool once and Man Utd twice. If he beats Arsenal next week, we will surely finish as winter champions. We should thump the goners at Emigrants and you don’t know how much I’d love that.

There you go! A final confirmation that we’re winning the title this season! Chelsea weren’t even at their best but still got the win and moved ahead of the chasing pack by 5 clear points! Wasn’t a great display of attacking football from either teams but it was more like one of those tactical battles between Chelsea and Liverpool.

I thought Ivanovic was brilliant and should have been the man of the match. It was Nicolas Anelka who was the MoTM. He had a fantastic match too. So, we’re staying firmly on top. Let me say that again. We are now 5 points clear of Sunbears!! What a weekend! All your reactions here while I put up a post later. Cheers!

The big game is upon us. If Chelsea beats Man Utd on Sunday, the title is ours.  Isn’t that a stupid thing to say. May be, but I very strongly feel that this game and the reverse fixture have a big impact on the title race. It so happens every season that the difference between the champion and the runner-up is just the points gathered from the mini-league of the top four. Getting wins in the mini-league not only creates the gap between us and the rivals but also psychologically puts us on course for the title. We started this season on a very positive note by beating Man Utd, and that too on penalties. That win set us up for a fantastic start to the league.

This season, Chelsea does not look beatable. I know Wigan and Villa beat us but we don’t look beatable. If we play Wigan and Villa again, we can probably pound them. Whereas the other rivals do look beatable. Liverpool don’t look like they’ll record a win in the next 6 months. Man Utd have been riding on their luck for too long. There is a difference between this season’s Man Utd and that of the previous seasons. In the previous seasons, when they were in a spot of bother, they were helped by moments of individual brilliances from Ronaldo and Tevez. Plus, they carried their lucky charm everytime they stepped on the pitch. This season, it is not the moments of individual brilliance that’s helping them, it’s more about the referees, lovely mistakes by opponents at the most inopportune time, acts of God etc. Which is why, I find Man Utd beatable. I know I’m not even considering Arsenal here. If they’re still a threat in February, I’ll talk about them.

I think this is the right for us to play Man Utd. Firstly, we are in top form. Secondly, our top form was checked by Atletico mid-week. Thirdly, we’ve got some of our injured players back. Fourthly, the morale is high after the suspension of the transfer ban. As per BBC, for Man Utd, Berbatov, Vidic and Giggs are doubtful while Neville, Ferdinand and Park are sure to miss. And, CSKA just scored three goals in one half at holy Old Trafford.

I’m all gung-ho about this match. I have a feeling that we’ll beat them and beat them well. We’ve got Drogba on fire, Lampard back among goals, Anelka working very well with Drogba, Deco has been fine No.10 for us and so on. We’re ripe for this match. The only concern is the defence which looks a bit shaky and unconvincing at times. If we don’t make mistakes, I don’t think Man Utd have it in them to brea our defence and beat them. On the other hand, I think we can beat them even if they don’t do any mistakes. Like last season, I think Fergie will come to London to get a draw. If he does that, he’ll get beaten for sure. Chelsea would go all out for a win. And, if we go one up, we must go for more. Especially because, our defence has been a bit shaky. Back in the TSO days, we could live with 1-0 because our defence was just incredibly accurate and play to the tactical plan. With our current shape of defence, I’d try for 2-0 once we get to a 1-0.

Don’t worry if Man Utd gets a lead. I just read that 20 of the 28 goals that we scored this season were scored in the second half. I think 2-1 would be the result. Man Utd would get their goal from somewhere – cheeky set pieces, lucky rebounds whatever. Drogba would surely score and Joe Cole to score on his 250th Chelsea appearance and on his 28th birthday!