The Official Thread of Chelsea FC

[EC Unique]

Go on the chavs   doubt if both teams will finish with 11.

[Captain Obvious]

Clichy off Yaya yaya,Kompany walking a tightrope.

[EC Unique]

Get in there fat frank

[Captain Obvious]

He didn't score tonight but Sturridge won that game for Chelsea.

[Norf Tyrone]

I wonder will the FA want another wee look at Toure's behavior tonight?

[AQMP]

Credit to Mata, going down and rolling around might have got Toure the line.

Big win for Chelsea. To be honest, could have been 0-3 before Meireles scored.  Good second half and were on top after the red card and I'd say the 3 pts were just about deserved  Didn't like Lampard's humpy post match interview though.  Whatever happened to "it's not about me,it's about the team/club"?

[paco]

What did Lampard say? Did he do much apart from the penalty? He's been getting a lot of attention from the press since last night, it's amazing how they can go from claiming that he's on his way out to him being back to his best/Chelsea's main man, all because of a penalty.

[Bingo]

Chelsea showed show character last night that they haven't always shown this season. Maybe AVB is starting to have the team playing his way but they rode their luck for first 25 mins - could that be due to the early goal that forced them into playing a high line again?

Gary Neville (as much as it pains me to say it, is excellent) before the game highlighted how different teams have played Silva, Lucas been the most effective and he shown how. He then showed that Romeu has played a similar role to this in recent games and he would be vital to nullify Silva and other City players that drop into the hole. As the game played out, he was very impressive I thought. Could he be the type of player that Chelsea have been crying out for.

[Denn Forever]

What did Lampard say?

He said he feels as fit as he has ever, can't understand why hes not playing.  Oh, he hasn't talked to the manager.

Is this possble?  Who takes training?

[Dinny Breen]

I wonder will the FA want another wee look at Toure's behavior tonight?

I hope Joey Baton sees this and I expect Gervinho is asking the same question...

[gawa316]

Interesting pic

[Bingo]

Interesting pic

Is he smelling your mans arse in front or waiting on the pelvic trusts of the man standing up 

[AQMP]

There was some paper talk linking David Villa with a move to Chelsea in January.  While this was probably a load of balls it definitely won't be happening now.  Sadly Villa has broken his leg in the World Club Champs:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/dec/15/david-villa-six-months-breaking-leg

The Barcelona striker David Villa faces up to six months out of the game after breaking his left leg in Barcelona's Fifa Club World Cup semi-final win over Al-Sadd in Yokohama.

Villa, who had been linked with a multi-million pound move to England in the January transfer window, suffered a fractured tibia while challenging for a ball in the Al-Sadd penalty area. He was taken to the Yokohama Rosa hospital.

The injury means Spain are likely to be without their leading striker for the defence of their title at Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. The 30-year-old is Spain's all-time top scorer with 50 goals in 81 appearances.

"We are going to miss Villa," the Barcelona midfielder Thiago Alcantara said. "We hope it isn't too bad. When you play you never think that these things can happen. It was bad luck." He added: "There is a long way to go [until Euro 2012]." Barcelona won the game comfortably 4-0, and will face Santos in the final on Sunday. The Brazilian defender Adriano scored twice in the first half – his opener helped by a moment of hesitation from the Al-Sadd goalkeeper Mohamed Saqr. After the break, Seydou Keita and Maxwell added another two to complete a comprehensive win.

On Wednesday the Barça coach, Pep Guardiola, had denied the club had been actively trying to sell the 30-year-old Villa only 19 months into the four-year deal agreed following his €40m (£33.5m) transfer from Valencia.

Villa scored five times in 15 league appearances this season, following his 18 goals in 34 games as Barça won the Primera División title last season.

[Doogie Browser]

Sad news for Barca and Spain but better news for Ireland I suppose.  Talk of him and Messi having major row at Barca recently.

[AQMP]

Napoli...one of the tougher draws on offer