It's Round and It's White

Arsenal and Chelsea shared the spoils in a disappointing, far from entertaining stalemate at Emirates Stadium. Both sides cancelled each other out with their minds seemingly on other issues. The Gunners appeared still in shock at losing to Wigan on Monday night, while Chelsea – who made eight changes from their energy-sapping win over Barcelona – had one eye on ... Read More »

Manchester City moved to within a point of leaders Manchester United with a comeback similar to those we’ve been seeing from their rivals for years. In a match of great magnitude both teams were without key defenders, but the most intriguing news was the return of City’s hero-turned-villain striker, Carlos Tevez. According to Roberto Mancini, the Argentinian wasn’t fit enough ... Read More »

The young King has departed Stamford Bridge, his crown lying dented. On 4th March 2012, following a Premier League defeat to West Bromwich Albion the day before which left Chelsea in fifth place and three points behind Arsenal in the battle for Champions League football, Chelsea parted company with their King, Andre Villas-Boas, after less than a season in charge. What ... Read More »

Chelsea progressed to the semi-finals of the F.A Cup after an entertaining 5-2 victory over a battling Leicester City. Chelsea named a weakened, yet characteristically strong side with Fernando Torres, Juan Mata, and Daniel Sturridge all featuring in Roberto Di Matteo’s starting 11. The temporary manager made seven changes from the team that successfully overcame Napoli in last week’s Champions League ... Read More »

Having considered Andre Villas-Boas’ short reign at Chelsea, I couldn’t help but see many similarities between that and the short spell of Jim Gannon as Motherwell manager. Admittedly, the job in hand differed massively in terms of prestige and ambition, but both arrived as young managers full of ideas ready to revamp their club. From their faith in youth, to ... Read More »

After the resignation of Fabio Capello, it seems that yet again England will enter a major tournament in complete disarray. As of yet no permanent manager has been put in charge, with the team currently temporarily managed by Under-21 boss Stuart Pearce. The public attention is on Harry Redknapp of Tottenham, the bookies’ and fans’ favourite to get the job ... Read More »

It’s safe to say England have been dealt a major blow with injuries. Rooney, a man who loves England friendlies is unavailable, while the poacher Darren Bent has picked up a worrying injury which could rule him out of Euro 2012. With Rooney set to miss the first few games, who can England turn to? 1. Danny Graham Danny Graham ... Read More »

Many England fans were full of optimism for a new-look, exciting England team as the nation heads into this Summer’s Euro 2012 following the departure of Fabio Capello earlier this month. A new regime of youthful, hungry England players picked on their form and not their reputation, ideally spurred on by their German counterparts who performed so admirably at the ... Read More »

In many ways the first half of the FA Cup tie against Birmingham perfectly summarises Chelsea’s last couple of months. A ponderous and uncreative midfield combined with a blunt and under-supplied attack, mixed with an alarmingly regular defensive calamity. Despite a marked improvement in the second half, mainly in the form of a sharper midfield and the again impressive Branislav Ivanovic’s ... Read More »

There is a new illness sweeping the nation at the moment: ‘Redknapp Fever’. When the judge in the tax evasion case ruled ‘not guilty’ and Fabio Capello resigned as England manager on the same day, many in the media jumped to the conclusion that the judge had effectively offered Harry Redknapp the England job. As the ensuing days played out, endorsement after endorsement ... Read More »

Andre-Villas Boas (AVB) arrived at the Bridge facing an extremely tough task: turning an ageing squad with an average age of 27 boasting high ego’s into a rejuvenated, creative yet strong and fearless squad challenging for the Premier League trophy. In a season which highly argued to be the most competitive yet, the task laying before AVB is not one ... Read More »

As Euro 2012 rapidly approaches, England national team coach Fabio Capello will soon have to decide which strikers he will be taking to Ukraine/Poland. England’s first game of the tournament on June 11th is a tough challenge against France at The Donbass Arena in Donetsk (Ukraine). It has been well publicised that Wayne Rooney will not feature in the first two games of the Championships, having been handed a two ... Read More »

It’s fair to say that most of the 23 places aboard the plane taking the England squad to Donetsk in the summer have been sewn up if Fabio Capello’s selection policy is anything to go by, but in this blog I’d like to look at some players who could force themselves into the reckoning going on current form, and those ... Read More »

Chelsea put 2011 behind them and got 2012 off to a great start with three points in a feisty encounter with Wolverhampton Wanderers. With three draws and a loss in the last four matches, Andre Villas-Boas knew he needed to work up some wonders to get disillusioned Chelsea fans back on his side. Having suffered a humiliating loss at the ... Read More »

New Years’ Eve is a time to look back on the year and celebrate your accolades. Yet Chelsea had a year to forget, winning no trophies, and 2011 was summed up in a dismal showing against Aston Villa in front of 40,000 fans at Stamford Bridge. Whilst everybody was getting preparing the fireworks to celebrate the start of 2012 up ... Read More »

It has become apparent that this season that under the tutelage of Andre Villas-Boas, Chelsea have adopted a far more stylish way of playing. If this is to bring trophies will be discovered, but what we have seen is a Chelsea side that are willing to attack sides patiently, and use intelligence to break open opposing sides. The new manager has ... Read More »

Newcastle 0-3 Chelsea Ten minutes into the game a raucous home crowd burst into a verse of ‘You’re just a s**t Colocinni’ after a lucky David Luiz remained on the pitch despite hauling down an eager Demba Ba.  That Luiz and not the Newcastle captain (injured in the first half) would finish the game seemed unlikely when, in the 4th ... Read More »

It was a strange occasion at St. James’ Park. The planned tribute for a Newcastle legend that sadly passed away almost a week ago was graciously put on hold by the club, at the wishes of Gary Speed’s wife. Newcastle fans honoured a former fans favourite in their own way, with chants galore, and scarf-waving in the 11th minute of ... Read More »

A relatively comfortable 3-0 win ensured that the recent pressure piled upon Andre-Villas Boas was eased, having prevented another home defeat which quite frankly would have led to the media hanging AVB out to dry. Chelsea went into the weekend’s match knowing that only a win would be sufficient enough to boost confidence levels having suffered a recent dip in ... Read More »

Bolton Wanderers suffered a major dent in their preparations for the start of the new season with the news that winger Chung Yong-Lee will likely miss the entire season with a broken leg. The midfielder suffered the injury during a friendly match against Newport County earlier this week, in what was reportedly a poor challenge by an opponent. The leg ... Read More »