It’s Chelsea vs Manchester United (again) at Wembley this afternoon, playing on an all new semi-artificial surface, which should mean no nasty injuries, and some decent football. The Wembley directors have said yesso to Desso, in adopting the half grass, half synthetic solution to try and solve their ongoing pitch woes. With the system in place at many Premier League clubs such as City, Arsenal and Liverpool, amongst others, here’s…
It looks as if Deco has made his last appearance in a Chelsea shirt with news of a transfer to Fluminense all but completed. The Brazilian club announced on their official website the 32 year old Portuguese international will sign a two year deal and be officially unveiled on Monday. Deco had earlier commented to the Brazilian media that; “Chelsea have chosen not to speak to the press until the…
So this is what a win feels like. It hasn’t been the best pre-season to date, at least from a results point of view. The first team have lost their last three, the reserves have lost all three, and before this morning, the Under-18 team had lost their only fixture. They put that right, however, in the form of an entertaining 3-2 victory over Wycombe Wanderers in a match where…
Hot on the trail of Daniel Philliskirk earlier this week, two more Chelsea youngsters secured loan deals on Thursday. Neither are new to heading off to temporary homes, although their experiences do differ vastly. Ben Gordon’s second career loan spell will take in a season at Kilmarnock, whilst Ryan Bertrand’s seventh will take him to Nottingham Forest. Indeed, Bertrand’s arrived on his 21st birthday – quite a feat for one…
A selection of pictures from Wednesday’s reserve friendly, which finished Woking 1-0 Chelsea. Conor Clifford has an early shot at Lenny Pidgeley’s goal. Jamal Blackman prepares for his Reserve team debut. Woking go through their warm-up. Teams emerge from the tunnel. Jamal Blackman Franco Di Santo contests an aerial battle. Milan Lalkovic looks to make gains. …
Chelsea’s third reserve outing of this pre-season went much the same as their previous two. Despite playing a lower level of opposition in Blue Square South side Woking, Steve Holland’s young boys were unable to find a win and instead went down to their third defeat in a row. Joe McNerney’s header on the stroke of half time was the game’s only goal in what was probably the most disappointing…
Chelsea’s pre-season tour concluded on a sour note with yet another defeat due to defensive errors. The match started well enough, with almost a full strength line-up missing only Drogba and Cech from the starting XI, although the former was on the bench. Chelsea kicked off the first half and within a few minutes Lampard had a shot on goal that the Hamburg keeper, Rost, managed to clear to safety….
In a few hours Chelsea will kick off their fourth and final pre-season match against Hamburg in the Volksparkstadion, Germany. After a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Frankfurt on Sunday, Ancelotti will be looking for a better display from his team as part of the preparation for the Community Shield match with United this coming weekend. With all the players back from the World Cup now, and only a few notable…
So the 2010/11 loan exodus begins. After seventeen different players embarked on nineteen separate loan spells last season, Daniel Philliskirk became the second of an expected many (following Rhys Taylor) to find a new temporary home for the new campaign. The midfielder will join up with Oxford United this week and spend a month on loan at the Kassam Stadium; a deal which will likely be extended should he impress….
The goalkeeping situation at Chelsea warrants further scrutiny after a string of mistakes by Hilario against Frankfurst, followed a weak display by Turnbull against Ajax. With many of the bigger name players returning from the World Cup, it was nice to see such luminary players as Lampard, Terry, Anelka and Malouda return to the starting line-up. Many players were still clearly rusty, but it was Hilario who took centre stage…