WILLIAN: VERY IMPORTANT GAME

The Blues welcome Southampton to Stamford Bridge on Sunday, the first of three Barclays Premier League games in the space of a week, with Willian confident we can maintain the pressure on those teams above us.

Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino praises Jose Mourinho

 

 

Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed his admiration for Chelsea counterpart Jose Mourinho ahead of the sides' clash on Sunday.

Winning the title this season would be my greatest Chelsea achievement - Mourinho

Nov 30, 2013 

The Special One already has two Premier League winner's medals to his name from his first spell with the Blues but insists success this time around would be more impressive

Jose Mourinho admits winning the Premier League title with Chelsea this season would top any success he enjoyed in his first spell at Stamford Bridge.

Lukaku considering Chelsea exit

Lukaku considering Chelsea exit

The striker, on loan at Everton, says he has not heard from anyone at Stamford Bridge in a couple of months and has to do what is best for his career

He knows why he's on loan-MOU takes swipe against LUKAKU

He knows why he's on loan: Mourinho hits out Everton star Lukaku as Chelsea stick with Torres, Eto'o and Ba up front

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has taken a swipe at Romelu Lukaku, saying the striker has never revealed why he joined Everton on loan.
Lukaku has netted seven goals already for the Toffees this season, leading many to question why he was allowed to leave Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea will not move for January striker, insists Jose Mourinho

Friday 29 Nov 2013 12:50 pm

Jackson Martinez has been linked with a move to Chelsea (Picture: Getty)

BELGIANS AND BA QUIZZED AT THE BRIDGE

BELGIANS AND BA QUIZZED AT THE BRIDGE

 

Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and Demba Ba answered supporters' questions on stage as the

Torres to return against Basel, confirms Mourinho

Nov 25, 2013 

The Portuguese boss has revealed the Spaniard is ready to play once more, having missed the Blues' last three matches in all competitions with an abductor muscle injury

Lamps hails Mikel's efforts

Ancelotti: One player at Chelsea didn't show respect and so I tried to kill him

Ancelotti: One player at Chelsea didn't show respect and so I tried to kill him

Carlo Ancelotti says that while he was at Chelsea there was one player who he tried to 'kill'.

The Italian, now in charge of Real Madrid, won the double with Chelsea in 2010 and will go down as one of the greatest managers in their history.

Ancelotti explained how the secret to good management was handling players, but that he'd had enough of one player at Stamford Bridge.

Angry: Carlo Ancelotti spoke of one player that he tried to 'kill' because he showed disrespect

'We've never had any problems with the players, just one time at Chelsea. One player didn't show respect and I tried to kill him but it wasn't possible,' he told The Times.

'The player is the property of the club and sometimes you cannot do what you want.'

The player is said to be one with a 'well-documented history of misdemeanours' but cannot be named.

Ancelotti also spoke of a separate time when he punished Didier Drogba for turning up for a match late.

He said: 'One time Drogba arrived 30 minutes late for a game, so he didn't play, but the key is mutual respect.'

Source: dailymail

LAMPARD: LICENSE TO THRILL

LAMPARD: LICENSE TO THRILL

Posted on: Mon 25 Nov 2013

Fresh from his brace on Saturday, Frank Lampard has been speaking about his position on the pitch and the highly competitive nature of this season's Barclays Premier League.
A change of formation and the return of John Mikel Obi to the starting 11 at Upton Park gave our all-time record goalscorer the freedom to constantly threaten in the final third, with a first goal from open play in the league this season duly arriving in the second half, adding to the penalty he had already converted. It was an opportunity he clearly relished.
'I do love getting forward and I appreciate it when the manager does give me that license,' Lampard said. 'I just play where the manager tells me to. We've got a lot of attacking talent in the team and the manager has got to try and get the best out of that.
'I'm playing pretty regularly at the minute and I feel fit and strong. I want to show that I am good enough to carry on playing and I'll try to do that. I don't want to be a passenger sitting on the bench not doing much, even in my older years.
'As you get older you adapt your game and you probably don't bomb up and down as much as you always did, but you can use your experience, and whether you're deeper or not if you've got a little bit of license to get forward then you can do at the right times.'
Saturday's victory against West Ham leaves us in third position in the table, four points off pacesetters Arsenal and two points ahead of this season's surprise package Southampton, our next Premier League opponents. Lampard has been considering the depth of quality in England's top flight this season.
'We've been pretty good. No-one's caught fire, maybe Arsenal have and we're in touching distance of them still. We are in a position where we want to improve, we want to be challenging to win the league and I think we're in a good spot to do that,' said Lampard.
'When Jose was first here we were five or 10 points clear at certain times but it's a different league now. There's a lot more competition so you can't walk away with it but we're right in there with a shout.
'Saturday's win was how we want to play. That's the benchmark. I think there's room for improvement with us and we will do that because we're aspiring every day to improve. As long as we do that and show performances like the one on Saturday then we will do well.'

Source: chelseafc.com

Lampard

Basel - Chelsea Preview: Mourinho's men aiming for knockout stage

 

Jose Mourinho saw the Switzerland side defeat his team at Stamford Bridge in the opening fixture of the group and will be looking to avenge that surprise result

Chelsea can secure qualification for the Champions League knockout stage with a victory over Basel on Tuesday evening.

Jose Mourinho's side sit at the top of Group E with nine points, three clear of second-placed Schalke and four ahead of their Swiss opponents.

Chelsea suffered a surprise defeat against Basel at Stamford Bridge on September 18 but have since won all but three of their 13 games in all competitions since that result.

Mourinho's men head into Tuesday fixture following a comfortable 3-0 victory over West Ham as Frank Lampard scored twice against Sam Allardyce's side, while Oscar also netted.

Fernando Torres missed out once again with an adductor problem, while left-back Ashley Cole was an unused substitute as he continues to nurse a rib injury.

Apart from Marco van Ginkel (knee), Chelsea have no long-term absentees though, and they will be eager to avenge an embarrassing home defeat in September.

Basel top the Swiss Super League by three points after coming from behind to beat Thun 4-1 on Saturday, with Marco Streller – who has now scored nine times this season – getting on the scoresheet.

They are unbeaten in their last eight matches and are in terrific form on their travels, undefeated in all 15 games on the road in the current campaign.

Both of their losses this season have come at home and they will be without Chile midfielder Marcelo Diaz, who suffered a rib injury while on international duty.

Behrang Safari (thigh) will also miss out when Basel look to complete an unlikely double against formidable opposition.

They are unbeaten in their last four Champions League matches against English sides, including a famous 2-1 win over Manchester United in December 2011 that saw their opponents fail to qualify from the group stages. 

 

 

Source:Goal.com