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!

. . we are ‘the favourites’ for the title. I just mean what I say. We are just favourites. That doesn’t mean we will win the title for sure. It’s just that we have a higher probability of winning the title than the other teams based on points, goal difference and a projection of results based on ability, form and morale of our players and that of our rivals. Hope I’ve made myself clear. We still have a challenging run-in to the title. When we can be held by Blackburn and can beat Man Utd at Old Trafford a couple of weeks later, there’s no guarantee of what would happen in the next five matches. One thing is for sure: Questions have been answered. Critics have been silenced.

My luck with prediction continues! The result was as predicted while the order of goals was not. At least I was better than BBC’s Lawro who predicted a 1-1. Ahead of the game, I mentioned that Malouda vs Neville could be the key and it turned out to be so. I expected Berbatov not to pose a threat, and he just didn’t. So, while my powers of predictions last, let me say this – Chelsea will win the premier league title of season 09-10. There I said it!

Big round of applause to Carlo Ancelotti for the dominance he’s shown in the mini-league involving Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal. We haven’t seen this since the Mourinho days. It’s not often you do the double against Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool (hopefully!). Though I had my worries about the starting line-up yesterday, the way Chelsea seemed to have prepared for the match was just brilliant. Right from the word go, it was clear that Chelsea had a plan. We were always under control to do that in a place like Old Trafford does say something. We let Man Utd have the ball and play in our half only when we let them. We wanted to win the game more than they did. We played as a team more than they did. This is a thoroughly deserved victory. Over 90 minutes, we were the better team in all departments of the game.

Talking about Chelsea deserving to win, there was a lot of noise from the Red quarters (fans and press alike) about the refereeing yesterday. Was drogba offside? Hell yes! I could say that watching the action live. But so what? Haven’t Chelsea been at the wrong end consistently, especially in champions league? Even a fortnight back, when Man Utd were riding their luck against a class Milan performance, we were denied a precious away win by the referee. Last season, whole world knew how the referee favoured Barcelona. These things happen time and again. What goes round will come round.

What’s very funny is Man Utd fans talking about quality of refereeing. The whole country knows how much Man Utd are favoured by the referees. The thing about penalties in Old Trafford is an open secret. What about the stoppage time against Man City? What about all the dives that get them penalties when Ronaldo was around? There was even an alternate league table if Ronaldo hadn’t got away with his dives. They have been favoured by referees to such an obscene level that they shouldn’t even be talking about this.

Why go that far? Let’s look at this game itself. Yes, Drogba’s goal was offside. What about Macheda’s goal? I’ve seen the replays many many times. He simply pushed the ball into the net using his arm. There are no two ways about it. In fact, that goal must have been disallowed and he must have been carded. Very conveniently, they are very quiet about this fact. And yes, Park could have got a penalty and so was the case with Anelka. You can say that the refereeing was poor but he favoured neither teams.

What was disgusting was the Man Utd supporting Press writing headlines and captions like ‘Drogba’s controversial goal puts Blues ahead’. That’s a fucking lie. What put Blues ahead was a better team, better tactics and better performance. Both teams rode their luck and they evened out. At the end of it, the score read 2-1 in favour of the away team. Simple as.

In the words of Jose Mourinho, ‘you always either dominate a game or control the game’. Typically in home games you try to dominate and in away games, you try to control. Chelsea did exactly that. I thought if Drogba wasn’t fit to start, we could have started with Kalou instead of Anelka. The Frenchman continued his poor form. While against Villa at home he could get away with his current form, here at Old Trafford, he could have nearly cost us the match. It’s clear that his confidence levels are low at the moment. He is unsure and unclear many a times.

Joe Cole did well to score his most important goal of recent times. But I’d be lying if I say I wanted to see him all 90 minutes. Deco was pretty impressive with his range and accuracy of passing. He was also very cool and calm on the ball. I thought Carlo made the right substitutions. He got Drogba for Anelka and suddenly we became more threatening in our attacks. He got Kalou for Joe Cole and he started making an impact immediately. He got Ballack for Deco just to keep Man Utd at bay as they got desperate. For me, the man of the match is once again Florent Malouda. I really really want him to win the Chelsea player of the season award. He absolutely deserves the prize.

This has been a roller coaster of a season for Chelsea. We were leading by some margin, then we had a bad December, we came to the second and fiddled with the third place, we got eliminated in the champions league, we were dropping points in the league and suddenly we started spraying goals all over to regain our form and here we are. With 5 games to go, we are now 2 points and 4 goals ahead of the second place Man Utd.

5 wins is all we need to win the premier league title. We have this small matter of beating Spurs and Liverpool along the way. For now, let’s enjoy the win. Trip to Wembley ahead for the FA Cup semi finals against Aston Villa. Let me be honest with you. I have a feeling of indifference about this match. If we win, very good, if we lose so what? The matches that matter come after this Wembley game. Let’s stay grounded and see how this goes!

Doesn’t it feel like we are destined to win this league title? Even before the second leg of the tie against Inter, I had said that losing to Inter could even have a positive impact to our league title chase. Having seen the effects of the first leg of the champions league quarter finals on our rivals, I think I was bang on. Man Utd have lost the first leg in a cruel fashion and have lost Wayne Rooney for about a month. To their horror, Arjen Robben will be back for the second leg next week. Arsenal have conceded two away goals to Barcelona in a match that redefined the word ‘luck’. Plus, they have lost Fabregas, Gallas, Arshavin and Diaby for a few weeks. Man Utd could go out of champions league next week and Arsenal need Jesus Christ to play in defence for them to have any hope. While all these are happening to our rivals, Chelsea have a week long break, since the demolition of Aston Villa, for resting, training and preparing for the all-important match at Old Trafford.

In Chelsea team news, it is confirmed that Drogba would start on Saturday. With Chelsea’s goal scoring form in matches that didn’t involve Drogba, his absence may not seem like a bad news after all. But none of those matches were against the likes of Man Utd, Barcelona etc. Against top teams, you need to have Drogba in the line up. He instantly creates a fear in the minds of the defence and can terrorise with just his presence. Keep in mind that Drogba’s record against Man Utd is something great. He has been prolific against a lot of top teams but not Man Utd. You can say that the Man Utd’s centre backs have got Drogba’s number. Let’s see how it goes on Saturday.

With Drogba in, Ancelotti has a decision to make in terms of the formation and tactics. I wish we go ahead with an aggressive 4-3-3 instead of a more solid, less fluent two striker formation. Which formation and tactics Ancelotti chooses depends on what he wants from this match. He has already said that a draw is not a bad result. I would never say that. With Rooney not being there, definitely not. If we go with a ‘draw is not a bad result’ mentality, we are not winning this game. We are playing the champions in their home ground in a very crucial stage of the league title. We are also playing against the mastermind that’s Alex Ferguson.

I agree that this is a match that we cannot afford to lose. Simply cannot. But ‘cannot afford to lose’ is a bit different from ‘draw is a good result’. Also this is a ‘must-win’ given our run-in to the title. To play with a ‘must-win’ attitude and a ‘cannot lose’ caution, we should have our tactics spot on. How we begin the match and play in the first half hour is very key. The last thing I want to see is a slow start from Chelsea. We should attack from the word go in both the halves. The ‘caution’ can set in for the last 20 mins of the match.

There are some obvious weak links in this Man Utd team. The most obvious is Gary Neville. With Malouda and Zhirkov on the left side of the pitch, I wouldn’t mind all our attacks are by exploiting old Gary. I would also call Berbatov a weak link. Man Utd fans can quote Rooney-less matches where Berbatov scored. Forget about the Rooney-less matches. Let’s look at all those matches where he scored: Bolton, Fulham, Everton, Portsmouth, Burnley, Wigan, Hull City, Blackburn, Sunderland and Stoke City. No Liverpool, no Man City, no Arsenal, no Tottenham, no Aston Villa and most clearly no Chelsea. Do you see a pattern? I’m sure you do. I rest my case.

Our threats could be from the improving Nani and Valencia. These two can really stretch Yuri and Paulo. While Nani and Valencia can be very effective for them, I don’t see them as the kind of players who would track back and help their full backs. I’m curious to see in what formation Man Utd will line up. Sir Alex does respect Chelsea a lot. In fact, ever since the Jose years, Chelsea is the only team that he considers a real rivals for his team. That’s why sometimes, he ends up being a bit too defensive in his team selection and formation. I won’t be suprised if Man Utd play a 4-5-1 and be content with a draw.

It’s clear that Chelsea’s morale is high and Man Utd’s morale is not so high, if not low. Chelsea must take full advantage of this and have a real go at them. If Chelsea were to beat Man Utd tomorrow, it would inflict a massive damage for Man Utd given that they also have a crucial quarterfinal match against a charged up Bayern. A win for Chelsea tomorrow can potentially derail Man Utd’s season. With this in stake, we must absolutely go for the win and goals too.

The whole of Chelsea team would have realised the golden opportunity that has presented itself once again for winning this title. For us, the opportunity keeps knocking our door. We have dropped the ball many times this season but still we seem to get opportunities again and again. We must grab this with both hands. I’m going for this result: Man Utd 1-2 Chelsea. Man Utd to take the lead and Chelsea coming back into the game to win it. For about 70 thousand-odd crowd, let’s make this the ‘theatre of nightmares’.

What is a good result at Old Trafford?

• Win - That's the only thing! If don't win we're out!


• Draw - If we get a draw, it's not a bad result!


• Doesn't matter - This game doesn't decide the title!



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