Venue: Stamford Bridge
Date: Sunday, 19 September
Kick-off: 1600 BST
Right, we did what we needed to in Europe midweek and now it’s back to the bread and butter of the Premier League. I’m guessing most of our rivals will be raising their eyes to the ceiling because it’s a home game to Blackpool but given the start they’ve had this season, there’s still a game to be had.
MANAGERS’ VIEWS
Carlo Ancelotti certainly isn’t dismissing the Tangerines, stating “It’s an important moment now. We have a lot of games and we don’t have time to train properly, but we are ready to play against a strong team. We have more knowledge and for that reason, we are doing well. There’s no fear, now, which is good. The players are all involved in the team and there’s a good atmosphere. If we can maintain this atmosphere, I think we can have success this year. To think about the game against City is too far away. Blackpool are a good team and have won two away games, at Newcastle and Wigan, and are showing good skills in the Premier League. We have to pay attention. There are no easy games. Our moment is nice. It’s good now, but we want it to continue. We have fantastic ability up front. We have to put a kind of football on the pitch to showcase this quality. Balance is important in football. If you have players with skill and ability, you can show this balance. You have to find that balance and be able to attack and defend.”
Blackpool boss Ian Holloway isn’t exactly writing off an upset either, saying “The facts at the moment are that we have seven points out of 12, which no-one would have given us a hope in hell to get. This is another away game and we have only had one at home, which we played exceptionally well in and could have had another two points, barring a great goal against us in the last three minutes. If we could go to Stamford Bridge and give a really good account of ourselves, it will be something else to put in your top pocket and then we can see where we go. But no-one is going to get carried away. We’re all very realistic and we know the challenge ahead. We knew the challenge last weekend – that we had to be at our best, almost above our best, and we were. We’ve got to times that by four at least I would imagine to even have of chance of getting any sort of point (at Chelsea). But we’ve got to go there and we have got to try to do what we can.”
SQUAD NEWS
For us, Jose Bosingwa (knee) and Frank Lampard (groin) remain out but Ashley Cole and Didier Drogba return.
For Blackpool, Almond (shoulder), Clarke and Rachubka (both knee) are absent and Baptiste (hand) is a doubt. Taylor-Fletcher is set for a return.
TEAMS
CHELSEA (from): Cech, Ferreira, Ivanovic, Terry, Alex, Cole, Kakuta, Essien, Benayoun, Ramires, Obi, Drogba, Malouda, Zhirkov, Turnbull, Kalou, Bruma, Sturridge, Anelka, Van Aanholt, Borini.
BLACKPOOL (from): Gilks, Carney, Keinan, Cathcart, Evatt, Crainey, Vaughan, Adam, Grandin, Harewood, Varney, Taylor-Fletcher, Ormerod, Campbell, Eardley, Halstead, Basham, Euell, Sylvestre, Demontagnac, Coid, Husband, Phillips, Southern, Edwards.
LAST SEASON
N/A
REFEREE
Peter Walton
PREDICTION
In terms of the facts, we’ve won 21 of our last 23 at Stamford Bridge, losing just one. We’ve also scored 50 goals in our last 12 Premier League games, conceding just 5 in return. If we’re thinking that trend will continue though, it’s worth bearing in mind Blackpool keeper Gilks has made more saves than any other keeper in the Premier League this season – then again, that just reflects the fact that the Blackpool defence have allowed the opposition the highest number of shots on target as well (29) – fingers crossed that trend continues today then!
Blue is the colour
