FA Cup match at the Wembley – you might just the feeling that the match is ours. We’re in some form at the moment. The ‘experts’ have eaten a lot of humble pie in admitting that this bunch of old men, players with no legs, stars that have past their prime – are peaking just at the right time. Chelsea’s resurgence in the last few weeks is against all the odds. In fact, it’s quite hard to explain. If Chelsea had faltered, there would have been so many ‘told you so’s.

As you all know, I belong to the Jose Mourinho school of thought. As far as I’m concerned, there are only good players and bad players. There is no such thing called young or old players. The physical attributes of all professional footballers certainly fall into a range. Walcott could run 100m in 10.5 seconds. The slowest player in Chelsea is not going to take 60 seconds or something. When it comes to physical attributes, because these thorough professionals, they’re never going to fall too behind from the best and the young.

Of course, as players get older, their physical attributes will keep deteriorating but they should be making it up with something else – experience. It is up to the manager to see what each of the players can offer and make a tactic that would work for the relative strengths and weaknesses. What shined in the way Chelsea played at Old Trafford last week was the maturity and experience. The whole team played with one objective, they were all very disciplined and played as a team with a common purpose. It requires a lot of maturity to play like that. It is exactly because of this reason, Sir Alex always considers Chelsea as his biggest rival more than any other team.

Martin O Neill would be very aware of that. Yes, Chelsea have a premier league match on Tuesday. But Chelsea have the squad and the maturity to be able to win two key matches in a week. After that 7-1 mauling, the Aston Villa team must think that they owe something to their fans. They were so upset and disappointed that they must be waiting for this match to avenge that defeat. Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t get to play a Chelsea team under pressure. In fact, Chelsea is sitting pretty at the top by a couple of points and a few goals in difference. The way I see it, there is no pressure on Chelsea while Aston Villa needs to prove that the last result was a once in 50-years kind of aberration.

We’ve discussed quite a bit about how Chelsea should approach this match, with the premier league in mind. My view has not changed. While there are no matches that I don’t want us to win, even if we don’t win this one, I’m not going to be overly concerned. I know we’re just one step away from the FA Cup final and probably the trophy itself. I’m not saying we should not give it a good shot, all I’m saying is, we don’t need to give it the best shot. For instance, I wouldn’t start our best possible eleven. I would rest players with options in the bench. I’m not only thinking about the Tuesday match but also about the next weekend fixture at White Hart Lane. If we play our key players for longer duration, the Spurs match would be their third match in about 8 days. When the Spurs match is the third of the three matches, I’d be very careful.

I would not start Lampard, Malouda, Drogba and Terry. But we could still have performers like Deco, Ballack, Joe Cole, Anelka etc which still makes it a team that can beat Aston Villa in a neutral venue. We have a very good squad and we must absolutely use it. Drogba has just returned from an injury so he could be in the bench that he can play about 20 minutes. I would completely rest Malouda and not even have him in the bench. Sturridge must certainly play and so should Salomon Kalou. I think we will win 2-0 from first half goals.

Before I forget, I’m loving the proceedings in the champions league since we were eliminated. Arsenal were taught a lesson in football and were thrashed out of sight. When you allow one opposition player to score 4 goals against you in a champions league quarter finals, you certainly have a loooong way to go. I thought Barcelona were not too good. They were made to look better by a poor and typical Arsenal performance. Barcelona are very unsure at the back. For that reason, they are certainly beatable. It would help Jose to see that Barca match at Stamford Bridge last season. Probably, any team that wants to beat Barcelona must see how we played them at the Bridge. In the recent times, in my opinion, that was the best big stage performance by any team against Barcelona.

I was expecting Man Utd to go out. I wasn’t just hoping, I was expecting. The moment I knew Robben is back for the second leg, I knew that Man Utd are gonna have it tough. It was great to see a Chelsea connection in the elimination of Man Utd. When Chelsea went out, I said it would help Chelsea in the premier league. When Man Utd went out, I thought it will NOT help Man Utd in the premier league. The reason is, when the draw for quarter finals and beyond was made, Man Utd must have thought that they’ve got a bye to the finals. They avoided Barcelona, Inter and Arsenal; they had only Bayern and one of the French teams to beat. From here to go out of the champions league, even after being 3-0 up by 40 minutes of the second leg, is very very morale draining. Which is why I think Man Utd’s exit must be a real heartache. They know that they have lost an easy and big opportunity.

It’s no surprise to you that I’m rooting for Jose in the champions league. I want see his Inter knock Barcelona out and win the champions league final too. He’s beaten Chelsea and CSKA, both teams that have a Roman Abramovich connection. He now has a chance to beat Barcelona with whom he has a special connection. This could just be his season. Let’s wait and watch.

Coming back to the FA Cup semi finals, I won’t be able to see the match as I’d be traveling. This afternoon, I’m leaving for the UK on a business visit for a week. So, probably no match reactions post unless Karma steps in. While I’m in the UK, I would be watching the Chelsea vs Bolton match at Stamford Bridge. I mean I’d be there is the West Upper stands to watch the match. I’d be the one wearing the dark away jersey with the name ‘BlueChampion’ on my back., provided I get this jersey in time over there. I’m extremely excited about watching the match at the Stamford Bridge. I’ll surely share my experience once I’m back. I’m carrying my new macbook with me, so I might be posting mid-week possibly. Anyways, have a great week. Let’s add three more Ws to our form, by next weekend. Catch you soon!