Match reports The Independent, Conrad Leach: “It usually takes decades to build up an enmity on the scale that now exists between these two teams, but in their case it only took one match. That was last October, when Stephen Hunt accidentally collided with Petr Cech, his knee hitting the Chelsea goalkeeper in the head. It [...]

Match reports The Times, Russell Kempson: “It was not quite thrill-a-minute - Mourinho could never be accused of throwing caution completely to the wind - and Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner, was pictured gloomily resting his chin in his hands near the end. Yet if this is the way forward for Chelsea, with Mourinho’s midfield diamond [...]

Match reports The Guardian, Kevin McCarra: “While United, busier in attack, deserved to be victors, they will be conscious, too, that Chelsea’s line-up was a distorted reflection of the prowess that Jose Mourinho can call on when there are fewer problems. Didier Drogba has hurt his knee and, though a scan should confirm that he will [...]

Chelsea lost their unbeaten record in pre-season yesterday afternoon when they went down 2-0 to Rangers at Ibrox. Nacho Novo struck from 20 yards on 86 minutes, and Filip Sebo made sure of the win just a minute later when his shot from a similar range deflected off Ricardo Carvalho and looped over substitute goalkeeper [...]

A few links that you might enjoy: Feyenoord 1 - 1 Chelsea: Sky Sports News highlights - Chelsea remain unbeaten in pre-season after a feisty 1-1 draw in Rotterdam. Feyenoord scored first on the stroke of half time through Kevin Hofland - Glen Johnson and Petr Cech were at fault as the Dutchman was left unattended [...]

I had originally been scheduled to work last week in Southern California so I could attend both games knowing the airfare and hotel was being paid for. Of course, that fell through so that I was obliged to watch both games on TV (the Stanford game was televised on a Spanish only channel I don’t [...]

A few links I’ve come across recently that you might enjoy: Highlights video of Chelsea’s win over LA Galaxy - See John Terry’s excellent left foot strike, and Steve Sidwell’s “welcome to the game” tackle on David Beckham. Nice one, Steve. Terry scored two great goals during the pre-season tour of California: see his other game-winner, [...]

Arjen Robben we know is injured and will be return soon, but what of our other ‘forgotten men’ (not including the man whose job it is to polish the silverware)? Scott Parker Alexy Smertin has been picked ahead of him this season, and I can only guess at how Parker feels about that. I’d say he [...]

Kick-off: Saturday, 1 May, 1500 BST So starts another defining week in our history. Last weekend we finally let the Premiership title slip from our weak grasp. Now we’re involved in a fight for second place. Finishing second in the Premiership guarantees passage to the first group stage of the Champions League, so it’s imperative we win tomorrow [...]

The Professional Footballers’ Association profiles Glen Johnson, Scott Parker, and John Terry, the three Chelsea players nominated for this year’s PFA Young Player of the Year award: Glen Johnson - a ‘fantastic’ player for Chelsea, says Ranieri - now watch him go for England! Scott Parker - has developed into one of England’s most accomplished young midfield [...]