English Premier League, Chelsea vs Blackburn preview
Blackburn Rovers will travel to Stamford Bridge today to take on defending champions Chelsea, who are just four points ahead of the visitors in the Premier League table.
Despite starting the season with a bang, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 have been in poor form recently and the slump has seen them slip to fifth place in the League, some 9 points behind current League leaders Manchester United.
The Christmas and New Year’s period was especially tough on Chelsea as they picked up 10 points out of a possible 33, because of which they are no longer considered title contenders.
Ancelotti blamed lack of confidence and fighting spirit for their poor performances, ruling out the departure of Ray Wilkins as a possible reason for their form.
However, the Blues seemed to have returned to their former selves when they delivered a 7-0 thrashing to Ipswich Town in the third round of the FA Cup.
Blackburn have had a tough season as well, a change in management is never easy unless the new owners are rich Arab Sheiks willing to empty out their pockets for new transfers.
Venky’s, an Indian company, took over the club this season and their first major decision was to sack the manager Sam Allardyce, which caused discontent and outrage amongst the fans and players.
However, Allardyce’s replacement Steve Kean has done well so far, he was quick to stabilize things on and off the pitch, with the Rovers currently sitting at 10th place on the Premier League table.
A quick fix will in no way guarantee success in the long term and in order to achieve that, the Indian owners will have to find a more permanent solution when it comes to the management at the club.
An alarming statistic shows that Blackburn is the only side in the Premier League, who has failed to recover any points, in a match where they have fallen behind.
Team news
Carlo Ancelotti will be without http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/John-Obi-Mikel-c18882, who is out with a knee injury but is expected to return shortly.
Meanwhile, long term absentees include Brazilian defender Alex, former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Yuri-Zhirkov-c37683.
The trio is expected to be out for the rest of the season, which means Ancelotti needs to bring in reinforcements, if he expects his side to have any chance of winning silverware this season. However, the return of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Captain-c8314
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/John-Terry-c18895 to somewhat full fitness has given the Blues a big boost ahead of the weekend fixture.
Despite http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Daniel-Sturridge-c10076 putting in a spirited performance against Ipswich Town and scoring two goals, the Italian manager refused to guarantee his start over the weekend.
Ancelotti said while speaking to reporters, “He played well, scored, is a good player and a good striker, very dangerous. In the future, he'll have opportunities. We have a lot of games in this period coming up. I think he has to fight with the other strikers,
but everyone has to fight. There are a lot of players in competition up front”.
The match against the defending champions will be a big match for caretaker manager Steve Kean as a win at Stamford Bridge today will take them much higher up in the Premier League table, bringing them closer to getting a chance to play European football.
Keane will be without one of the influential midfielders, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Australia-c746 does at the competition, Emerton will be unavailable for that period.
Keane received a boost to the squad ahead of the fixture against Chelsea with the return of striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rangers-c40314 in the third round of the FA Cup and
is set to start against the Blues.
His presence is important as first choice striker, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Keith-Andrews-c20525 and Vinnie Grella are long term injuries and are not expected back for at least a few months.
Predicted starting XI
Chelsea: Cech, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ramires-c30523, Lampard, Malouda, Sturridge, Anelka
Substitutes: Hilário, Turnbull, Bruma, Van Aanholt, Kakuta, Kalou, Sala, Mikel, Bosingwa, McEachran, Drogba, Mellis
Blackburn http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rovers-c40385: Robinson, Salgado, Samba, Nelsen, Givet, Hoilett, Dunn, Pedersen, EH Diouf, Benjani, MB Diouf
Substitutes: Bunn, Doran, Morris, Hanley, Chimbonda, Roberts, Nzonzi, Linganzi, Goulon, Olsson, Kalinic, Santa Cruz
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