BLACKBURN ROVERS
v
CHELSEA FC
Ewood Park, Blackburn
30th October, 2010 – 7:25 PM IST
On Saturday, defending Champions Chelsea will make the trip to Ewood Park to play Blackburn Rovers in their tenth Barclays Premier League match. Carlo Ancelotti will look forward to snatch full three points from this tie and maintain the position as the table toppers.
Blackburn are currently placed at 17th place in the league. Blackburn’s latest form has been dreadful, having won only a single game in their last five outings. The prospect of getting a new owner has been the only positive sign for the team from Lancashire. The Indian poultry giants Venky’s, the potential buyers, have confirmed that they will try to make funds available for Sam Allardyce’s team during the January transfer window to help him keep the team competitive at the top level.
Even though the Riversiders have had a tumultous season thus far, they have only lost once at home against Arsenal. With skipper Samba and Ryan Nelson coming back to the team, the team will shape up stronger in defense. With the physical style of their game, Sam Allardyce’s team would pressurize Chelsea to make mistakes, just like they did last season.
Their counterparts, the league leaders Chelsea have been in relentless form lately. They are currently five points ahead of closest rivals Arsenal. Chelsea have earned 22 of possible 27 points so far. Having amassed 25 goals and conceded only two. Chelsea have shown the right balance in attack as well as in defense.
However, Chelsea’s away form has been pretty ordinary off-late. Chelsea have failed to score in their last two away excursions, losing to Manchester City and managing a goalless stalemate at Villa Park. They have won four of the last five games and are raring to register their first victory at Ewood Park since November, 2008. With Bosingwa back in action, Chelsea have only got stronger and would like to sustain their lead over their rivals intact.
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Team News and Tactical Brief
Blackburn
Skipper Christian Samba will be back after missing the last game through suspension. Centre half Ryan Nelson has trained with the squad yesterday and is expected to make his come back. Steven Nzonzi will be left out due to hamstring injury. Vince Grella is also likely to miss this game with a groin complaint. Allardyce is likely to give new signing Herold Goulon, who arrived on a free transfer earlier this week, more time to settle in before considering him ready for first team action.
The team is known for its physical nature of the game. Salgado and Givet create a strong defensive lineup with Samba and Nelson. Allardyce will try to ruffle Chelsea with a five-man midfield to take advantage of Chelsea’s 4-3-3 formation and also to keep Anelka and Malouda under constant pressure. Allardyce would hope that his top scorer Nikola Kalinic, who has scored two goals so far, would be ably supported by his midfield to break Chelsea on the counter attack, by taking advantage of the void left by Chelsea’s more adventurous full backs.
Probable Starting Line-up: Robinson(GK), Salgado, Samba, Nelson, Givet, Emerton, Dunn, Jones, Pederson, El Hadji Diouf, Kalinic.
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Chelsea
Chelsea have recovered from most of the medical room blues in the past week. Alex is expected to be back in the team. Ancelotti might not want to risk him in the first XI though. Lampard and Ramires are still recuperating from their respective injuries. Ramires is expected to be fit before the midweek European fixture against Spartak Moscow at Stamford Bridge.
Ivanovic is expected to play alongside Terry, with Bosingwa and Cole filling up the defensive unit for Chelsea. Ancelotti is expected to field an attacking formation of 4-3-3 to keep Blackburn’s vulnerable fullbacks under constant pressure. Bosingwa and Cole will venture forward to give Chelsea more width upfront. Chelsea’s three-man midfield will face a tough test against a physical Blackburn midfield. Mikel and Essien will have to sweat it out to keep things in check.
Probable Starting Line-up: Cech(GK), Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole, Mikel, Essien, Zhirkov, Anelka, Malouda, Drogba.
Key Facts
* Chelsea have conceded only once in their last five games. They have gone without conceding any goals for the past 301 minutes in all competitions.
* Chelsea have not won at Ewood Park in their last two visits. In December, 2009, they were ousted by Blackburn from the Carling Cup in a thriller that ended in penalty shootout following a 3-3 scoreline in normal time. Last season, big Sam’s men forced Chelsea to drop points at Ewood Park.
* If Chelsea manage to win this game, Ancelotti will earn his 50th victory as Chelsea manager in his 71st game in charge.
TheHardTackle’s PLAYER TO WATCH OUT FOR
Florent Malouda(Chelsea FC)
Last week the French winger’s fine run of form saw him reach the summit of top goal scorer’s list in the premier league. Malouda’s clinical finish helped Chelsea to break the deadlock against a determined Wolves side after Zhirkov sweetly set him up for the goal. The French maestro has now scored 7 goals in the league in eight games and in current form he could cause the Rovers defenders some serious problem with his cut-ins and link-ups with Cole.
TheHardTackle’s PREDICTION:
Blackburn Rovers 1-2 Chelsea FC
After last week’s hard-fought defeat at Anfield, Allardyce’s men would like to put up similar commitment in front of their home crowd to muster some challenge against the league leaders. With the return of Bosingwa, Chelsea will have more options down the right flank to create opportunities upfront. TheHardTackle predicts that Chelsea might just edge past Blackburn Rovers in what could be a very tight game.