It was a very messy start for the Blues, and Bournemouth had the ball in the back of the net in short order. Thankfully, Evanilson was leaning offside and thus Semenyo’s goal was ruled out. Chelsea didn’t settle right away and the home side continued to threaten. Eventually, we grew into the game and started […]
Welcome to cold and stormy Dean Court, where Chelsea hope to bounce back from Wednesday’s poor defeat against Leeds United. Enzo Maresca’s expecting an equally tough game here, so we’re going to have to do a lot better than last time out. The head coach has made a few changes to help us achieve those […]
After the disappointment of midweek, we’re going to need a lot better effort today against Bournemouth, if want to take all three points back with us to the Bridge. Presumably, that will involve as much of a first-choice starting lineup as possible given our busy fixture list, and it might even involve a start for […]
Winless Hmm Concerns
Bouncebackability is a made-up word — “all words are made up!” — often credited to Shakespeare Iain Dowie, who used it some twenty years ago when he was the manager at Crystal Palace. Of course, he didn’t actually invent it; he only made it popular. In any case, bouncebackability is the … ability to … […]
Enzo Maresca is expecting another tough challenge this weekend, away to Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon. We failed the tough challenge midweek thanks to a “bad day” against Leeds United at Elland Road. Can we avoid a similar fate tomorrow? It would be easy to blame rotation or tactical choices, but no one played well in […]
December may have begun in disastrous fashion — not for the first time in our history! — but that shouldn’t detract from how good November was for the Blues. We started with a win at New Three Point Lane against Spurs on the first, beat Wolves then Burnley on either side of the international break, […]
1. PEDRO NETO (6.5, sub) Neto came on at half-time and immediately changed the game. On a better day, his goal starts an epic comeback from two goals down, with perhaps a winner arriving in the final 5-10 minutes to truly stick it to the locals. Alas, this was not one of our better days. […]
Highest Chances Streak
The danger of a letdown was always going to be high. After two highs, the low is almost inevitable. And sure enough, despite the warnings, despite the awareness, despite the rotation and fresh legs, we were indeed let down … and let down quite badly. It’s probably fair to say that no one played well […]
Combination First WHAT?!
The fear was always that this would be a massive letdown after the Barcelona and Arsenal games last week, and unfortunately that’s precisely how things panned out at Elland Road, an unhappy hunting grounds even in the best of times. Chelsea were off the pace from the opening whistle, and none of Enzo Maresca’s rotational […]
Welcome to Elland Road, a place where we’ve not had much success historically. But Chelsea are in pretty good form, with some pretty good momentum, so perhaps we can change that today. Speaking of changes, Enzo Maresca has made a few after the exertions and dramatics of last week, with a very different-looking back four(?) […]
After two high-effort, high-drama, high-emotion games, there’s every chance that today’s visit to Elland Road will result in a comedown and a letdown. It’s tough to keep up those levels, especially when the occasion is not nearly as grand. One way to combat this problem is through rotation, to keep legs and motivations fresh. Rotation […]
Wow Machine Hmm
Chelsea made it seven unbeaten, in all competitions, with a stellar effort against league-leaders Arsenal on Sunday, battling to a 1-1 draw despite playing over an hour with just ten, so surely a game against one of the worst teams in the league will pose less of a challenge. Of course, that’s not how it […]
After two massive results and two massive 90-minute efforts, Chelsea hit the road to Leeds to take on one of the Premier League’s lesser lights. Of course, there’s history here, too, and quite a bit of it, but The Whites are struggling at the wrong end of the table after winning the Championship last season. […]
1. REECE JAMES (9.2) It’s not been talked about too much, perhaps for fear of whispering it too loud and thus inviting disaster, but Reece James has been able to stay fit all season thus far, featuring in all thirteen of our league games (starting nine). Though his minutes have been carefully (and successfully) managed, […]
Prepared Most Hmm
I had the pleasure(?) of listening to this game live on Chelsea TV, with an extra-extra amped up Jason Cundy going absolutely berserk at even the tiniest bit of action. Cundy operates at an 11 on a normal day. He was around a 14 for this one. But in a way, he was the perfect […]
Lol What Hmm
Three yellow cards in under 13 minutes of play is a good summary of what took place in the first minutes of Chelsea’s match against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge today. Bukayo Saka’s strike straight at Robert Sánchez, which would have been overturned for offside had it gone in, was the Premier League leaders’ only strike […]
It’s the day we’ve been all looking forward to. Both Chelsea and Arsenal have had great starts to the 2025-26 season, with the latter losing a single match since the beginning of August. They also arrive with impressive continental results, with the Blues beating Barcelona 3-0 at home and Arsenal doing likewise against Bayern, 3-1, […]
The weather’s getting cold and frightful outside, but the big question facing Chelsea for today’s showdown at the Emirates, is whether to make it Cold on the pitch as well. Cole Palmer has been declared fit and available after two months out, and the temptation will surely be to throw him right back in. Will […]
First Comeback Hmm