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Saturday October 24, 2009

Chelsea’s imperious home form may prove a handful for Sam’s side

LONDON: Carlo Ancelotti’s English might still be a work in progress, but the Italian is currently happy for Chelsea to provide eloquence on his behalf.

On every occasion the west Londoners have been asked a taxing question since Ancelotti took charge, they have provided an articulate response.

A shambolic defeat at Wigan was followed by a brutally efficient win over Liverpool; then, just when their credentials appeared to be undermined by another notable wobble, this time at Aston Villa, they reaffirmed them in stylish fashion with a 4-0 thrashing of Atletico Madrid.

It all makes ominous reading for Blackburn Rovers ahead of their visit to Stamford Bridge today.

Chelsea may have been prone to the odd bout of brain-freeze on their travels this term, but their imperiousness on home soil has been a throwback to the days of Jose Mourinho.

Flourishing Blues: Florent Malouda (centre), Deco (left) and Michael Essien celebrate Chelsea’s fourth goal against Atletico Madrid during their Champions League Group D match at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. Chelsea have won all their four Premier League matches at home this season. — AP

Four wins out of four in the Premier League, including 10 goals for and just one against, are the kind of statistics which usually add up to a title challenge.

Chelsea are also one step ahead of their rivals in a different form of numbers game.

The club’s serene progress in the Champions Lea­­gue this season, where they have won all three games without conceding, is a mark of their strength in depth.

They have not once been able to call upon Didier Drogba, their talismanic striker, due to the three-match European ban awarded for his foul-mouthed rant at Tom Henning Ovrebo, the referee for last season’s semi-final with Barcelona.

Chelsea’s ability to shrug off adversity is in stark contrast to some of their title rivals, most obviously Liverpool, who have laboured in the absence of the injured Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, a point that has not gone unnoticed at Stamford Bridge.

“We’re very fortunate at Chelsea,” Frank Lampard, their England midfielder, said.

“Since Roman Abramovich came, we’ve had a lot of strength in depth — like with Salomon Kalou scoring twice against Atletico with Didier Drogba being out.

“People said we would struggle without Didier, but we didn’t. If you take Torres out of their team, who do they (Liverpool) bring in?

“It’s difficult. We have players that are not here only to make up the numbers, but players that are fighting and working hard every day in training to come in and really prove themselves.”

Lampard had failed to score from open play for his club all season until he plundered Chelsea’s third goal against Atletico with a typically crisp long-range drive.

Presumably, any relief felt by Lampard will have been mirrored by Ancelotti.

Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn have lost all three league games on their travels, leaking 11 goals in the process, and were thrashed 6-2 by Arsenal in their last outing to the capital.

They might venture south buoyed by their east Lancashire derby win over Burnley, but few of their fans will be travelling with great expectations.

“Looking at the fixtures, beating Burnley gives us a better opportunity to nick something from the next two games than we would otherwise have done,” maintained Allardyce.

“It was a great three points bearing in mind it was a local derby and that our next two away games are Chelsea and Manchester United.

“It was important we got to 10 points as quickly as possible as these fixtures are going to be difficult.”

At the other end of the table, basement club Portsmouth travel to fellow relegation candidates Hull City. The teams have managed just three league wins between them this season, while Portsmouth, who have been beset by ownership problems so far this campaign suffered fresh off-field turmoil on Thursday when it emerged their chief executive, Peter Storrie, was in line to face tax evasion charges.

Birmingham, beaten 3-1 away to Arsenal last time out, welcome Sun­­derland to St Andrews for the Midlands side’s first home match since the club were taken over by Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung.

Today’s other matches see high-flyers Tottenham taking on Stoke while Wolves play Aston Villa and Burnley face Wigan.— AFP

Premier League Fixtures:

Saturday

WOLVES vs ASTON VILLA (Live on ESPN 7.40pm)

BIRMINGHAM vs SUNDERLAND

BURNLEY vs WIGAN (Live on Star Sports 9.55pm)

HULL CITY vs PORTSMOUTH

TOTTENHAM vs STOKE (Live on ESPN 9.55pm)

CHELSEA vs BLACKBURN (Live on ESPN 12.25am tomorrow)

Sunday

BOLTON vs EVERTON

LIVERPOOL vs MAN UTD (Live on ESPN 9.55pm)

MAN CITY vs FULHAM (Live on Star Sports 10.55pm)

WEST HAM vs ARSENAL (Live on ESPN 12.10am Monday)

STANDINGS

P W D L F A Pts

MAN UTD 9 7 1 1 21 9 22

CHELSEA 9 7 0 2 19 8 21

TOTTENHAM 9 6 1 2 21 13 19

ARSENAL 8 6 0 2 27 11 18

MAN CITY 8 5 2 1 16 9 17

ASTON VILLA 8 5 1 2 12 7 16

SUNDERLAND 9 5 1 3 17 13 16

LIVERPOOL 9 5 0 4 22 13 15

STOKE 9 3 3 3 8 11 12

BURNLEY 9 4 0 5 9 19 12

EVERTON 8 3 2 3 10 12 11

FULHAM 8 3 1 4 8 10 10

BLACKBURN 8 3 1 4 11 17 10

WIGAN 9 3 1 5 9 16 10

BOLTON 8 2 2 4 11 13 8

WOLVES 9 2 2 5 8 15 8

BIRMINGHAM 9 2 1 7 6 13 7

HULL 8 2 1 5 8 20 7

WEST HAM 8 1 2 5 9 13 5

PORTSMOUTH 9 1 0 8 5 15 3

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