Things have started turning in our favour. You can debate forever if we are turning them around and they turn themselves for us. We beat Man Utd fair and square. Arsenal failed to capitalise. Spurs and Man City are looking to lose the plot. Chelsea are on a high having beaten Man Utd who looked to be odds-on favourite to win the title this season. We now sniff a decent finish in the table.

Much has been written about why and how Chelsea, in the given circumstances, beat Man Utd. There have been many theories. Mine is this. It is three-fold: (a) Man Utd’s approach was wrong (b) David Luiz, Torres and Zhrikov (c) We showed some spine, finally.

Man Utd played a great first half and were totally in control of the match. And then in the second half, they went too conservative and were looking to go home with a 1-0 win. Add this to some spirited second half showing by Chelsea, Man Utd were punished.

David Luiz, Torres and Zhirkov. What’s common among these players? As I always say, these are uninfected by our bad form of many months. These players are high on confidence and that showed. These were the live wire players and that was because of their belief and confidence. The belief and confidence of other players are a bit shaken because of our recent form. After this win against Man Utd, we should have all picked it up. Exception: No matter we win or draw or lose, there is one player that plays with the same spirit and confidence: Branislav Ivanovic.

We showed some fight. We conceded in the first half and let Man Utd dictate the game. In the second half though, we came in with an intention to fight. This is something I’ve not seen in Chelsea of this season. We concede a goal and we prepare to concede the match too. I don’t know how much fight we might have shown if Man Utd had gone 2-0 up early in the second half. Anyway, Chelsea showed some spine, they played for pride, they went after Man Utd and got their reward.

The sad news for the Blackpool match is, David Luiz could miss this fixture. He is doubtful. It’s a pity if he couldn’t. I thought David Luiz was the best player against Man Utd despite the man of the match being awarded to Essien. I thought Luiz was the key to our win not only because he scored a fantastic equaliser but also I thought he was such an inspiration for the other players.

When a young defender who happens to be a new recruit and a first timer for English football, plays with so much desire and commitment, it sure would catch on with other players too. We need to get the best out of the drive and enthusiasm of the ‘uninfecteds’. We have some great personalities in our team who take turns to pull our team through the tough times. Sadly, they’ve all been little under the weather so let Luiz, Torres and Zhirkov take the baton to inspire the team.

If you doubt the theory of ‘uninfecteds’, wait for Benayoun to return and see how he plays. He will play in a very liberated manner, uninhibited by the experiences and memories of bad form. Yossi has returned to light training and he could be back in action in about 3-4 weeks.

No matter which eleven we get to choose, they’d still be good enough to beat Blackpool. They would test us though. In any case, this is going to be an exciting match. Matches involving Blackpool have always produced lots of goals. In fact, Blackpool have never had a cleansheet at home this season (including the W teams). Their playing style should just suit us. In fact, it is only their kind of playing style that suit us the most.

I can even predict to some extent. Blackpool will take the game to us. They will attack us in numbers. We will be back to our flambuoyant best. We will play all our one-twos, triangles, soft-chips and you name it. We might concede but we would outscore them handsomely.

Really hoping that Man Utd lose points today while Rooney gets sent off for a three-match red card. BBC’s Lawro predicts Wolves to beat Spurs. I hope he gets it right at least this time. After all this, Chelsea to beat Blackpool.

Here is Frank Lampard with some much needed focus:

It was an obvious statement because three points is three points and having beaten Man Utd, we’ve edged our way back into looking upwards rather than sideways and around us. We can’t sit on that, we’ve had a couple of false dawns over the last couple of months and played our way out of it, so now we need to build, starting with Blackpool.

You nailed it Frank! If only you could back it up on the pitch! Good point there on those couple of false dawns. Here is for a 3-1 Chelsea win and a real dawn!

P.S: All resolved on the official website front. I now have published three blogs there. You can find them here, here and here. Cheers!