Here we go then, another trip to Wembley, another battle with Manchester United.
We’ve done ok in pre-season – if you ignore the Reading game – and their injuries could do us a favour, so fingers crossed my hangover won’t get a battering and neither will we.
Speaking before this game, new Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti says “I think we are ready to start this season against Manchester United on Sunday. It will be a very difficult match but we are excited and very happy to play at Wembley. It will be the first time for me to be at Wembley. It is not a friendly game, it is very important for us. We play against a great team. They were in the final of the Champions League last season. We have respect for this team but we want to win and play well. We want to put our quality on the pitch. It will be an interesting match.”
Sir Alex Ferguson meanwhile, seems to have the end of last season in mind going into this one and says “Adversity is always an important factor in developing and improving. I have always reacted well to adversity over the years and whenever we lose a match I tell my players that the next game is the important one – the match we have to focus on. That has always been the case here at the club. When you lose the last game of the season you have two or three months to reflect on the disappointment. We have not enjoyed that. But we will cope – and we will bounce back.”
On the injury front United look like they could be without Nemanja Vidic (calf), Wes Brown (thigh), Gary Neville (groin) and Edwin Van der Sar (broken finger).
For Chelsea, Joe Cole remains absent with a knee ligament injury, Yuri Zhirkov is a doubt (knee) although Michael Ballack (toe) could be passed fit.
Never an easy game to predict against United and whilst half of me could shrug off a defeat as it only being a friendly, the other half of me still hates to lose against them no matter what game it is.
Bring it on!
TEAMS
CHELSEA (from): Cech, Hilario, Turnbull, Belletti, Alex, Terry, Carvalho, Mancienne, Bosingwa, A Cole, Ballack, Sturridge, Mikel, Deco, Lampard, Anelka, Drogba, Ivanovic, Kalou, Ferreira, Malouda.
MAN UTD (from): Foster, Kuszczak, O’Shea, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Valencia, Fletcher, Carrick, Scholes, Anderson, Gibson, Nani, Giggs, Rooney, Owen, Berbatov, Macheda, Tosic, Fabio, Cleverley, De Laet.
Blue is the colour
