Defining Moments...

Today is the start of a critical 12 day period for AVB and Chelsea, 4 wins would see us back into 4th place in the league before a tough couple of games against Man City and Tottenham, it would also see us progress into the quarters of the Champions League and FA Cup, 4 poor results could see the season over on all fronts for AVB and his men, out of contention for the top four and out of the cups. For anyone who has been watching Chelsea, I think the latter of these two outcomes is by far the more likely, the first half against Bolton was terrible and the silence at the Bridge in that first half was eery. The second half saw glimpses of the old Chelsea secure a crucial 3 points, but whether AVB can begin to harness the good things the older players can offer is another matter. I hate to say it but AVB needs to be a bit more like Alex Ferguson, Man Utd scraped a 2-1 win last week and who scored for them , Scholes and Giggs! AVB needs to start using the likes of Lampard in this manner if he is not going to play him for 90 mins all the time. But if this 'project' is going to involve youth players, why does AVB inist on playing Miereles who is clearly nothing more that a squad player and not just sling Josh McEachran into the starting line up like, again I hate to say it Arsene Wenger has with Jack Wilshere.

The debates on whether AVB is the man to lead this club forward could last for hours, I personally maintain my faith in him, if we sack him where are we going to go next? Golden oldies like Scolari have proved abysmal choices, thus a promising young manager must surely be the answer. Although this faith did waiver greatly when I learnt that having called for a team meeting, he then dropped Lampard, Essien and Cole for speaking out in it, I mean if you want an honest and open frank discussion, such repercussions are the number #1 way to lose the trust and loyalty of the dressing rooms and some extremely key players, as was shown by their performances against Bolton. On a side note I hope Oriol Romeu comes back soon, because he is an absolute class act, he plays his role soo fantastically well, schooled in the art of it through the Spanish national and Barcelona ranks, he presses players, he plays simple balls , his touch and awareness is second to none, and to be honest I don't think there is much coincidence in the fact that when we beat Man City and Valencia at home it was during a period where he was starting games, before that we looked shoddy in defence and midfield and since he has not been starting we have again looked shoddy.

But lets get down to the task at hand and focus on one game at a time, Chelsea are going to have to work for every minute of the next 12 days, making sure they play the inches and hard yards. The first test comes at the The Hawthorns at 3pm, the stats shows that Chelsea have beaten West Brom in their last 15 meetings, however during these current times I don't think many Chelsea fans will even take comfort from these stats.

     

 The form guide reads  West Brom: WDLWW Chelsea: DDDLW

With two convincing wins against Sunderland and Wolves, West Brom will be full of confidence coming into this fixture. Daniel Sturridge and Didier Drogba, who travelled up to the midlands with the 20 man strong sqaud, should be fit for the match having recovered from their toe and knee injuries respectively. Bosingwa and Terry are still not fit to play, many who have seen Bosignwa's pitiful attempts at defending this season will be only too glad to see his name off of the team sheet, however missing our talismanic captain and leader is always going to be a massive loss. Gary Cahill has come in and done well though, and looks like a defender in the JT mould. Hopefully he and the rest of the defence can put a stop to Odimwengie's and Keith Andrew's recent rich vein of form.


I would hope to see Torres playing up on the last defenders shoulder in this game and see Mata, Lampard, Essien and Ramires trying to feed him and Sturridge balls along the ground with pace and energy, I doubt we will see this, but fingers crossed for a good performance.


Match Prediction:
Heart: West Brom 1-3 Chelsea
Head: West Brom 2-1 Chelsea

Come on Chels!