Carlo Ancelotti’s side enjoyed unparalleled success last season as the Blues claimed an historic Premier League and FA Cup double.

And the English champions will begin their pre-season with a London derby with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, who narrowly avoided relegation to League One last season.

Chelsea then head to Holland to face Ajax on July 23, before travelling to Germany to face Eintracht Frankfurt on August 1.

The Blues will then conclude their European tour with an away game against Hamburger SV on August 4 – just four days before their Community Shield clash with Manchester United on August 8.

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This evening the Latics played their final home game of the campaign, drawing 2-2 with Hull City to relegate their opponents to the Championship after two years in the top flight.

It took an acrobatic equaliser in stoppage time by Steve Gohouri to earn the home side a point after they had trailed 2-1 thanks to Mark Cullen’s goal following Will Atkinson’s début strike to draw Iain Dowie’s side level.

That all followed Victor Moses curling home his first goal for the Lancashire outfit.

Wigan were impressive and dominated for long periods of the match; Hull’s two goals coming largely against the run of play. Paul Scharner and the aforementioned Moses were particularly lively and will pose a real threat to the Blues on Sunday.

Chelsea’s opponents also won the reverse fixture 3-1 back in the first months of Carlo Ancelotti’s reign and the Latics have since guaranteed themselves of Premier League football.

Those who dismiss Wigan’s quality should realise the Latics only recently came from 2-0 down to beat Arsenal 3-2 at the DW Stadium thanks to a last-minute strike from the in-form Charles N’Zogbia.

Wigan have picked up five points from the last possible twelve; their only recent defeat coming at Upton Park as they lost 3-2 to West Ham.

The Latics have won just five games so far in 2010 – but two of those wins were against fellow Big Four opposition. They have taken only 11 points from the 54 available to them away from home this season – the fifth-worst record in the league.

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The 4-2 loss to Manchester City at Stamford Bridge was a heavy defeat and Carlo will have seen many on field mistakes he will want to forget. A straight red to Belletti and 2 yellows to Ballack will mean they are both suspended for the game against Stoke City who have been on fire recently until their 3-1 loss to Arsenal.

The same fixture in the league at the start of the season saw Chelsea snatch a late winner with Malouda tapping in the winner in injury time to extend Ancelotti’s winning run. Drogba also scored in that game to draw Chelsea level. Chelsea will play at home once again and will hope that they can get their home form back on track.

Chelsea will once again be without Michael Essien, Jose Bosingwa and Ashley Cole as they are all long term absentees. Zhirkov is doubtful and Ballack and Belletti are suspended. With the international break Ricardo Carvalho has returned with an injury which might leave him out of the game.
Stoke City will be missing a more important player in the form of Ryan Shawcross who was recently called up to the England squad just hours after his horrid tackle on Aaron Ramsey. They will also be missing Matthew Etherington who has been in sizzling form for Stoke with 8 assists this campaign. Other than that they miss no major players!
However, Stoke City are also one of the most unfair teams in the English First Division with Abdoulaye Faye heading the standings for number of red cards this season with 2! They are also not far behind in the yellow cards with 2 of their players holding 7 yellow cards each.
Carlo Ancelotti will have available Didier Drogba and Nicholas Anelka his top scorers. However, Anelka has been facing a barren spell recently and Ancelotti needs to work out how to get the Frenchman scoring once again.

Expected Line Up
Turnbull
Ivanovic
Alex
Terry
Ferreria
Joe Cole
Mikel
Lampard
Anelka
Malouda
Drogba

I am not convinced that Hilario is worth being at the club and I think Ross Turbull is better and put in some decent performances for Middlesbrough last season in the league. Ancelotti will not be taking his chances will know that the FA Cup is a good chance for silverware this season and will go all guns blazing. I feel that he needs to find a way to allow Anelka to move into a striking position so that he and Drogba can share the load so that sometimes Drogba is a lone striker and sometimes he is partnering up. Sturridge will not start as this is the first premier league opposition we face in the tournament. Joe Cole will start on the right of the midfield and will make runs down the wings and cut into the defense and make sure he is creates a havoc. Malouda is just exceeding expectations and has been flourishing in his new role. I think Matic could start because Mikel hasn’t shown the recent form I think and is too slow so it is necessary that he proves himself to Ancelotti.

On Field Battle
For the first time I think the match will be between Stoke City’s Rory Delap and the Chelsea defense. I honestly feel that the defense will always be under threat from this man’s long throws and will need to figure out a way to deal with his set pieces, keeping in mind that 14 of Stokes last goals from set-pieces came from Delap’s long throws. John Terry will need to command his men and then get on the counter attack to beat Stoke City.

Prediction
Chelsea will go in with a bang and keep should tear up a Stoke without their rock, Ryan Shawcross. It will still be a tough game with players like Ricardo Fuller who are exceptional in working with little space. Stoke set pieces are to be regarded with danger and dealing with them will be difficult. But with players like Malouda great on the wings Chelsea will be able to beat them on the counter attack fairly easily. Also, this will be the best time for Didier Drogba to start scoring again after not scoring for 2 consecutive games. The Ivorian could also be boosted by the appointment of Guus Hiddink as Ivory Coast coach, ironically on a temporary basis. I hope Chelsea will be able to get around this tough Stoke side who has won 8 times this season but have given other teams a stern test.

Chelsea 3-1 Stoke City
Drogba Fuller
Lampard
Drogba

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The glare of the media spotlight will be firmly fixated on the pre match handshake , if the Sunday backpages have their main picture as something other than the Terry and Bridge handshake then I’ll eat my own hat. The lucky coincidence in naming issues has led to this one being called “ The Battle of The Bridge “

Other than these two duelling love interests meeting for the first time , you may be surprised to learn that a game of football will also be taking place following the already infamous handshake as John Terry’s Chelsea looks to re-stretch Chelsea’s lead at the top of the table to four points against Wayne Bridge’s faltering City side.

In the last four games City have only managed three goals , one of those games including an atrocious 0-0 against Liverpool , this was the first football game my younger brother had ever went to and upon his return home I couldn’t do anything but laugh at him for having to endure 90 minutes of torture worthy of the very cruellest techniques ever employed at Guantanamo Bay.

Chelsea will be coming off a cruel defeat of their own after an epic 2-1 defeat to Inter Milan which included another bitter pill to swallow as Manuel Mejuto Gonzelez complied with tradition in not granting Chelsea a penalty on a big European night. The lack of performance by certain players at the San Siro may be a cause for concern for Ancelotti going into a pivotal stage of the season.

Man City will be without their main man Emmanuel Adebayor who received an instant red card during City’s 3-1 FA Cup exit to Stoke City. To be fair to the Togo hitman ,there is no way that the crime warrants the punishment. City will be buoyed by the return of Carlos Tevez from Argentina following personal problems. Patrick Viera is also suspended ( though this one is warranted ) for his low blow to Glenn Whelan.

The bad news for Chelsea just kept on rolling in Milan as Petr Cech tore a calf muscle and will miss a months worth of action. Alex , Juliano Belletti and Joe Cole were all on the bench against Inter and all three are expected to feature against City.

Expected Line-Up

Hilario

Ivanovic , Carvalho , Terry , Belletti

Ballack , Mikel , Lampard

Anelka , Joe Cole

Drogba

Main Man

The drop in Chelsea’s performances has , not surprisingly , coincided with the drop in form of Nicolas Anelka. The unsung hero of Chelsea’s season so far , a plodding performance against Inter again gives leverage to the argument that his strengths are not accentuated in the Christmas tree formation. You must believe that Nic needs to find his form from somewhere if Chelsea are to have a trophy laden end to the season.

Danger Man

Adam Johnson has made an impressive start to his Man City career since joining from Middlesbrough for 8 million pounds. The pacy , skilful young English winger will cause problems for the ever reliable Ivanovic at right back. The Serbian will need to be on his toes.

Prediction

The speed and mobility in City’s midfield will pose problems to Chelsea’s vastly less mobile midfield. However City’s defensive problems coupled with the lack of Adebayor and the fact that Chelsea players will surely be dying to put right what went wrong in Milan leads me to go for the following scoreline , a tough , tight , tense….

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For Chelsea and for Mourinho this will be a special night. Jose Mourinho enjoyed tremendous success at Chelsea , winning six trophies in just three years , two of those being the premier league which Chelsea had not won for fifty years before Mourinho arrived. The charismatic Portugese introduced to Chelsea a cocky , swagger and a winning mentality. Many of the Chelsea squad were bought by Mourinho , key players such as Cech , Drogba and Ballack all arrived at the club in Mourinho’s time. Mourinho’s style of management ensured that the Chelsea side truly became his side as he forged an “ us against the world “ type mentality and created a truly close knit group.

Jose Mourinho firmly believes that this familiarity with the Chelsea side will work to his advantage. Indeed of the starting eleven , only Ivanovic and Anelka are players brought to the club after Mourinho parted company with Chelsea. In recent months Mourinho will also have seen the return of the 4-3-3 to Chelsea , or at least a variation of the 4-3-3 which Mourinho so famously employed in his time at the Bridge.

However Chelsea have an ace in the hole too as Carlo Ancelotti had spent 8 years managing Inter’s bitter local rivals , AC Milan. Ancelotti knows Italian football as well as anyone and Ancelloti will have quite a vast amount of knowledge of Inter Milan under Mourinho. Both Ancelotti and Mourinho famously did not see eye to eye last season in Seria A as Mourinho proclaimed , both he and Ancelotti are “ not friends “

Mourinho’s legendary mind games have practically fallen on deaf ears at the west London club as the cool , calm and calculated Carlo Ancelotti has point bank refused to be drawn into a war of words with the master quotes man. Though Mourinho has attempted to spark Ancelotti into action by claiming that the club has gone backwards since his appointment , his attempts have been in vain as Ancelotti calmly disagrees with Mourinho’s statement.

Though Inter were rather easily eased out of the competition last season by champions league runner’s up Man Utd , this is a vastly superior Inter Milan side than the one last season. Mourinho has really put his stamp on this side. Gone is Ibrahimovich , a player whom Inter relied far too heavily upon last season and who failed to produce on the big European nights and in comes Samuel Eto to replace him. With Milito , Pandev and Ballotelli all genuine options to play alongside Eto , the Inter forward line is truly formidable. Mourinho has introduced a creative edge to this Milan side as Wesley Sneijder is the man which all good things about Inter revolve. Mourinho has looked to tighten the Inter defence too with the signing of experienced Brazilian defender Lucio from Bayern Munich.

Chelsea will still be without the substantial talents of Michael Essien , Ashley Cole and Jose Bosingwa. Alex , Deco and Belletti also look likely to miss out. Chelsea will be forced to sweat on whether duo Frank Lampard and Yuri Zhirkov will be fit. Lampard missed the weekend win against Wolves while Zhirkov was worryingly taken off during the game.

Expected Line-up

Cech

Ivanovic , Carvalho , Terry , Zhirkov

Ballack , Mikel , Lampard

Anelka , Malouda

Drogba

Expect Ancelotti to employ his Christmas tree formation away from home. With Joe Cole’s form still a worry , I expect Malouda to get the nod to start the game. Carvalho was given a rest at the weekend so that he would be ready specifically for this game. If Zhirkov fails to make it , Paolo Ferreira could slot in at left back which he has done in the past.

Main Man

If Chelsea are to come away from the San Siro with anything , you feel that John Terry will have to be at the very height of his game. We saw in the champions league final last season that given the chance , Samuel Eto will punish you in the harshest fashion. Terry’s public life seems to be having some negative effect on his on field duties as he entered sub-standard performances against Everton and Wolves. Against Eto he will be facing a truly world class striker and anything less than 100% focus on the game could well cost Chelsea dearly.

Danger Man

The threat from Inter Milan will be orchestrated by the Dutch creative midfielder , Wesley Sneijder. Though Sneijder failed at Madrid , he has become a force again in Italy under the tactical brilliance of Mourinho. Sneijder will bethe source of Inter’s attacking player , and as the saying goes , to kill a chicken you got to cut off its head and Wesley Sneijder is the head. John Obi Mikel will need to track his very carefully , he must also resist the temptation to give away free kicks in dangerous areas as Sneijder has got is lethal from dead ball situations.

Prediction

Inter have been the dominant force in Seria A for three seasons now. Much like Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea , Jose Mourinho has been brought to Inter to win the champions league. Though Inter will be disappointed with their heated 0-0 draw with Sampadoria , Chelsea were stuck in second gear as they stuttered past Wolves at the weekend. An away goal at the San Siro will be vital to take back to the Bridge in the second leg. In Drogba , Chelsea have a striker who is arguably above all others in the world game at the moment , however with Inter’s solid and fast midfield and the thread they pose up front it will be a very difficult one to call.

Chelsea 2 – 2 Inter

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This is the game before the crucial Champions League knock-out round first leg against Italian champions Inter Milan at the San Siro. Carlo Ancelotti will know of the great dangers that the Italian club under Jose Mourinho will cause but he will also be aware that he cannot overlook Wolves who are capable of causing a shock at home.

These to sides met earlier in the season with the result being a comfortable 4-0 victory to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. On that day Essien grabbed 2 but he , along with Ashley Cole are two first teamers who are certain to miss the game because of long term injuries. Yuri Zhirkov is expected to slot into left back , a position he has played many times for his country , Russia.

For Wolves Dave Edwards will hope to be given the all clear having overcome an ankle injury. One man who will not play is Michael Mancienne who will not be allowed to play against his parent club. Chris Iwelumo has left the club on loan in search of first team football at Bristol City.

Though Wolves sit only a point off the relegation zone , they will be in confident mood having turned over Tottenham 1-0 last weekend. Though the league table may suggest otherwise , Wolves will not be pushovers at home having earned draws against the likes of Liverpool and Villa at Molineux thus far this season.

In a move that will raise a chuckle from those who believe that the FA is secretly operated by Alex Ferguson , Wolves have been handed a £25,000 suspended fine because of fielding a reserve side against Man Utd earlier in the season and gifting them 3 points. This move by the FA practically ensures that the Wolves side that will face Chelsea this weekend will be as strong as Mick McCarthy can muster up. Timely move by the FA.

For Chelsea victory is essential. Carlo Ancelotti’s men have seen their top of the table lead being eroded beneath them and now with only a point dividing Chelsea and Manchester United, dropped points against clubs such as Wolves is unacceptable at this point in the season if this is to be a premier league winning season for the boys from the Bridge.

While Chelsea are battling at the very top of the table , Wolves are embroiled in a relegation battle down the bottom. Both sides will be desperate for a result but both for very different reasons.

Expected Line-up

Cech

Ivanovic , Carvalho , Terry , Zhirkov

Ballack , Mikel , Lampard

Kalou , Drogba , Anelka

Following Joe Cole’s poor first half performance and half time substitution against Cardiff, I expect to see Kalou start on the right wing after entering an impressive second half display (including an excellent headed goal), the rest of the team practically picks itself. Of Course Ancelotti could revert back to his diamond formation following Anelka’s dip in form due to being moved out wide to accommodate the return of Didier Drogba.

Main Man

Didier Drogba has been in blistering form since his return from the African Cup of Nations. He has grabbed four goals in four games and having fired out a mid-week challenge to Wayne Rooney declaring that he can score more goals than Rooney come the end of the season , Drogba will be looking to continue demolishing defences up and down the country this weekend.

The Danger Man

Kevin Doyle will be the man who wields the biggest threat to the Chelsea defence. The Irish international is a very talented player who has a decent scoring record this season with 6 goals. Doyle is also a threat from set pieces which infamously have been Chelsea’s Achilles’ heel this season. Chelsea will need to keep a close eye on Doyle throughout the game.

Prediction

Although Wolves will be desperate for a result and confident following a vital win last weekend , you would still have to back Chelsea. If indeed Chelsea do start this game in second place then this side , with such strong characters in it , will be foaming at the mouth to regain top spot and they may look to make a statement while doing it and all of that could prove bad news for Wolves. With Drogba having the best season of his career and the likes of Malouda and Lampard hitting form there is no reason why Chelsea should not be the heavy favourites in this game.

Prediction: Chelsea 3-0 Wolves

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Over the course of January the team has racked up 4 wins out of 4 and scored 17 goals in the process. The exceptional performances of the team have really given us fans the question of ‘Drogba who?’ The Ivorian will hope to get back into the starting line-up with Nicholas Anelka.

Chelsea will look to extend their lead at the top of the table with main rivals Man Utd and Arsenal meeting on Sunday. Ancelotti has already mentioned that he will look to take advantage of the Big 4 clash on Sunday and knows that one of the team will drop points and his team can extend their advantage.

Burnley on the other hand are now facing relegation, to be nice to them they were never expected to make much of an impact on the league. Collecting only 4 points from the last possible 30 has meant that Burnley have not been able to collect enough points.

The recent departure of Owen Coyle has left the fans and some of the players depressed in the squad. With a large loss in form with an addition to being knocked out of the FA Cup the Burnley side are very diminished and weak. With a large loss in form with an addition to being knocked out of the FA Cup the Burnley side are very diminished and weak.

Their last game in the league came in the form of a 1-0 loss to Bolton. Former Manager Owen Coyle put another nail in the coffin against his former side. Lee’s goal was enough to seal a victory for Bolton against Burnley.

Brian Laws who has been regarded as one of the best young managers in the country has made a jump from Sheffield Wednesday straight to a top division club. He has never handled such pressure and has a huge task in front of him.

Below is Burnley’s most recent line up from their midweek game against Bolton. The 1-0 loss to Burnley pushed them further down the table. However, the side might be boosted by the recent signings of young midfielders from Belgium. In addition, negotiations between Celtic Left-Back Danny Fox and Burnley are at an advanced stage.

Jensen, Alexander, Kalvenes, Duff, Carlisle, Mears, Elliott, McCann, Eagles, Fletcher, Nugent

Burnley have lost all their last 3 games and they will look to bring up their form and stay in the league. However, things don’t look good for them especially after Chelsea beat high flyers Birmingham 3-0. They will be boosted by the return of Andre Bikey from the African Cup of Nations who has been the man in form for them this season.

With 17 goals coming from the Blues Burnley will need to have a tough defence which will not be able to be penetrated. The game holds a lot of importance for the Chelsea team because a win here could really put them closer to the Premier League trophy and Ancelotti will not take a chance.
One astounding stat is Chelsea have not won since 3 away games and against Burnley Ancelotti will definitely look to get things back on track when it comes to the teams away form.

My Prediction and Formation
——————————–Cech————————————
—Ivanovic————Terry———–Carvalho——————A.Cole
——————————–Matic———————————-
———J. Cole———————————————–Malouda
——————————-Lampard——————————–
————–Sturridge/Drogba————-Anelka————————

Even though we are facing the 18th placed team we shouldn’t go to Turf Moor with a completely changed side. Deco has not performed in the previous games and letting Nemanja Matic have a go is now the right time. J. Cole should hold his position especially after giving what has been his best performance this season.
Drogba should be thrown into the line-up as a substitute. Let Sturridge have a start and let us see how he performs. He has the pace and can make the assists if not the goals. Malouda has continued his great performances and has been a great secondary striker throughout January. Lastly, do I need to justify the defensive line up?
Ameya’s Prediction: 4-0 or 5-1

The way we have been performing we need goals. Players like Anelka came out of the Birmingham game were disappointed because they didn’t get a goal. That is the attitude that will spur the team on this season. In addition, Joe Cole has to impress 2 managers: Ancelotti and Capello and by giving the club outstanding performances he wish that he is on the plane to South Africa in the summer. Drogba already has 19 goals and many assists and with him back maybe we can grab a few extra goals. Lampard has now taken back his best goal scoring form. With such great attacking players I am sure we will make Burnley BURN!

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3. Wolves v Chelsea – Preview

With 3 absentees now from the Chelsea squad the good news is that Essien has returned to Chelsea but he is injured. The selection crisis he faces comes in the form of his formation. Does he continue with the Christmas tree formation or pair up Anelka and Sturridge in his 4-4-2 diamond midfield formation.

Preston who recently lost to Bristol City and have shown their leaky defense and this is what the team will be keen to exploit. Last weekend’s 7-2 mauling of Sunderland will have given the whole squad the injection of confidence that was needed. 12 goals in 2 games is extremely impressive. Joe Cole also seemed bright and lively and Carlo will look for him to keep shining. Another option that Carlo has is to play some of the youngsters and especially give an opportunity to Jacob Mellis. The youngster was recalled from Southampton and hopefully he will get a chance to shine.

Carlo has always been able to rotate at the back very well and he will be good at making the right decision this time around as well. At the start of the month he mentioned his hopes to allow the youngsters to have a go in the FA Cup. I hope that he gives players like Borini and Kakuta a chance with Sturridge.

Preston North End on the other hand have many problems to worry about. With 2 wins in their last 5 games and 1 win in their last 5 league games Darren Ferguson has got a lot to worry about. Even with the weather Preston had a good training session because Ferguson was able to use Manchester United training facilities in the build up to the game. Their biggest win coming in the form of a 7-0 victory over Colchester in the FA Cup 3rd round this will be a boost for the Preston team.

Come tomorrow Ancelotti will look to progress into the next round and try to get closer to another trophy. With United and Liverpool knocked out Chelsea should look at the FA Cup as a easier target but shouldn’t be distracted easily.

Below is Preston’s most recent line up from their 4-2 loss of Bristol City where they were 2-0 down in 12 minutes time. St. Ledger as we already know is a Rep. of Ireland starting CB and Jon Parkin scored a hat trick in Preston’s last FA Cup fixture. He will be very positive going in this game. The attitude of the team will be very different to their normal approach and Ancelotti needs to be wary.

Preston’s most recent line up;
Andy Lonergan, Eddie Nolan, Sean St. Ledger, Neill Collins, Callum Davidson, Chris Sedgwick, Richard Chaplow, Darren Carter, Ross Wallace, Jon Parkin, Chris Brown

One interesting fact is that Preston have always been knocked out by Premier League sides at their home stadium. Their home form is particularly displeasing. Chelsea on the other hand have not lost to lower division sides in the last 10 games in the FA Cup. The teams last loss coming to Barnsley in the 06/07 season.

History
The last time Chelsea faced Preston was in 2002, that also in the FA cup where we won 3-1, Gudjohnsen, Hasselbaink, Forsell getting the goals. However last time we tavelled to Deepdale was in 1981.

This game holds big important for all of us because we can see it being a tricky fixture. Going careful and treading on the water correctly is important. This is the formation I would like to see tomorrow.

———————————–Cech———————————-
—-Ivanovic————–Alex————-JT——————–A. Cole
———Kakuta—————–Lampard————————C. Clifford
————————J. Cole———–Anelka————————–
———————————-Sturridge——————————-
Prediction: 4-0

The game has to be won and a draw is unacceptable. Ancelotti shows that his team is not missing the Africans and needs to show it once again. With Clifford and Kakuta on either wing there will be pace and behind Danny Sturridge Anelka and J. Cole can also drop into or swap into Striking positions. The Christmas tree formation has given us 12 excellent goals, let’s hope for 4 more!

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