FA Cup third round
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Date: Sunday 9 January
Kick-off: 1500 GMT
Well, our form in the Premier League has been worse than poor for weeks on end, so let’s see how we fair against Ipswich in the FA Cup today. They, as we know have already lost their manager this week whilst the speculation about ours continues on a weekly basis. Will Ancelotti’s job still be secure at the end of today? Let’s hope so.
MANAGERS’ VIEWS
With him very clear the pressure’s on to get a result, Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti says “We will play our strongest team “If you are not able to move on, you destroy the season. If you are able to move on, you will be stronger. Against Ipswich we will play with the strongest team for two reasons. We want to use every game to move on from this moment and, secondly, the FA Cup is very important to us.”
Whilst over at Ipswich, their manager says “I’m hugely disappointed to be leaving Portman Road.” Caretaker for the day Ian McParland meanwhile, says “It’s a good game for the lads to play in at Chelsea and if you cannot be inspired by playing at Stamford Bridge you will never be inspired. They may not be getting results but they have world class players and could easily have scored four goals in their 1-0 defeat against Wolves this week.”
SQUAD NEWS
Alex (knee), Mikel (knee), Yuri Zhirkov (calf) and Yossi Benayoun (Achilles) remain out, whilst Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole and Michael Essien all face fitness checks after picking up knocks recently. Daniel Sturridge, after his 5 goals for the reserves against Tottenham should start.
For Ipswich, Murphy (ankle), O’Connor (shoulder) and Hyam (hamstring) miss out through injury. Sunderland midfielder Jack Colback has been recalled from his loan spell, striker Rory Fallon is cup-tied and Grant Leadbitter is suspended, although Celtic defender Darren O’Dea and Tottenham midfielder Jake Livermore have both been given permission to play by their parent clubs and captain Gareth McAuley returns from an Achilles injury.
TEAM
CHELSEA (from): Cech, Ferreira, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Bruma, Terry, Cole, Ramires, Kalou, Essien, Lampard, Anelka, Sturridge, Drogba, Malouda, Turnbull, Van Aanholt, McEachran, Mellis.
LAST MEETING
Chelsea 3-1 Ipswich (FA Cup 4th round, 24 January 2009)
REFEREE
Andy D’Urso
PREDICTION
On current form we’ve won only one of our last eight in all competitions although Ipswich have only won 2 from 10, losing 7. We have the advantage of being on a nine-match unbeaten run against Ipswich though and have 100% record against the Tractor Boys in the FA Cup. Having said that, we’ve been pretty bloody woeful lately, so whether we’ll still be in the running to become the first club since Blackburn to win three successive FA Cups at the end of the day, who knows?
Blue is the colour
