Chelsea

Another weekend, another twist in the Premier League title race.

The way this season is going, it would be foolish to write Chelsea, Manchester United, or even Arsenal out of the race for top spot.

As the Manchester derby edged towards full time earlier on today, those of a blue persuasion in West London must have thought their slightly lighter blue cousins up north were about to do them a huge favour and hold United to a draw, surely ending any hopes they had of hanging on to their title.

Sky Sports’ fondness of hype is an inescapable part of the modern Premier League title race.

With David Haye fighting John Ruiz in Manchester on the same day and the fight being shown on Sky Box Office, the broadcaster was almost contractually obliged to adopt a fight theme for their coverage of Manchester United v Chelsea.

If Chelsea were looking for a boost ahead of their crucial clash with Manchester United this weekend, they got it in Munich on Tuesday.

Wayne Rooney’s awkward landing towards the end of his side’s 2-1 defeat to Bayern Munich simultaneously had England and United fans praying and Chelsea fans breathing a sigh of relief.

As I walked away from Stamford Bridge this afternoon having watched Chelsea beat Stoke City 2-0, my mind was already racing ahead of me.

Would we get Tottenham in the semi finals or would we have to wait until the final?

I switched on Five Live, made my way home and found out that it would be the latter. A semi final against Martin O’Neill’s talented Aston Villa stands between Chelsea and back to back FA Cup finals.

After John Terry has his super-injunction overturned last week, The Daily Telegraph has revealed the identity of the Premier League manager seen leaving a brothel in December last year.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/news/7151797/Avram-Grant-Premier-League-bosss-brothel-visit.html

Of course as with John Terry, Avram Grant's name has been all over the internet which is probably why the Telegraph decided to publish.

On the pitch, John Terry is the embodiment of the power, passion and dedication that marks out any great leader. Throughout his career at Chelsea and for England, the 29-year-old has put his body on the line. Managers across the world would kill to have some like Terry in their team.

There is no doubt that he is a fantastic player, but as a man he leaves a lot to be desired.

This is something I have been working on for a few months now, when I had the idea of writing an ebook or something similar on my experiences following Chelsea from the arrival of Jose Mourinho in 2004 to the present day. Let me know what you think.

I will never forget the night of April 30th 2008. Chelsea 3-2 Liverpool, 4-3 on aggregate. It meant we were going to Moscow and the first Champions League final in our history. The atmosphere at the Bridge that night was unlike anything I have ever heard, then or since. It was incredible and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The Matthew Harding Stand was literally shaking and my vocal chords took one almighty pounding.

After the pain of the semi final defeat in 2007 and the five-hour coach journey back from Anfield this was sweet revenge. If you had said to my Dad 20 years ago that he would have the chance to see his team in a Champions League final he would have thrown his head back and laughed. But in 2008 it became sweet reality.

Over the last few months Gael Kakuta has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

As far as first steps on the road to potential Champions League glory go, this was a fairly uninspiring start for Chelsea.

Carlo Ancelotti will pleased with the three points – which were secured with a strike just after half time from Nicolas Anelka – but he will know that his side can play much better than this. The Italian could counter that at this stage it is points, not performances that matter. And these points were gained without the likes of Didier Drogba, Jose Bosingwa, Joe Cole and Yuri Zhirkov.

As the world of football reels from the shock of Chelsea’s 18-month transfer ban, thoughts will now begin to turn to the long-term implications of Fifa’s decision.

The penalty handed down yesterday by the organisation’s Dispute Resolution Chamber isn’t completely unprecedented – Roma were banned from signing players during the January 2006 transfer window as a result of their pursuit of Auxerre’s Philippe Mexes – but there is no doubt the Blues are the most high profile victims to fall foul of Fifa’s attempt to stamp out club’s questionable practices in poaching young talent.