Chelsea wins 7th match in a row!

Things have been controversial for Chelsea FC this 2007-08 season of the English Premier League. Chelsea had lost former manager Jose Mourinho at the start of the season in place of new manager Avram Grant, who has had to deal with the adjustments and the injuries that are plaguing Chelsea. Injuries to the likes of Chelsea stars Andriy Schevchenko, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, Wayne Bridge, John Terry, Claude Makelele and Ricardo Carvalho have not been good for head coach Avram Grant in trying to put the best 11 on his line-up.

Definitely, it has been a big mystery of mix-and-match in order to find a proper combination in order to bring out the amazing Chelsea football team chemistry. Back in September 2007 was a low point for Chelsea, giving up an 0-2 loss to Aston Villa, an 0-2 loss to Manchester United, an 0-0 draw with Blackburn Rovers at home and another 0-0 draw with Fulham also at home at Stamford Bridge.

Since then, things have looked up for Chelsea FC, and their recent 2-0 away win against Wigan Athletic has extended their winning streak to seven in a row, 5 straight in the English Premiership and 2 matches in the UEFA Champions League.

The goals for Chelsea against Wigan Athletic came from vice-captain Frank Lampard, who opened the scoring in the 11th minute. Frank Lampard has scored 4 goals for Chelsea in the last two matches, including a hat trick against Leicester City last week for a Carling Cup match.

Chelsea's Juliano Belletti scored his first ever goal for Chelsea after he had taken the ball from a little past half court and took it to the edge of the box before unleashing an awesome strike to beat Wigan Athletic keeper Chris Kirkland.

Chelsea's win move them to the third spot in the English Premier League standings with 24 points, just 3 behind the league leaders Arsenal and Manchester United who both have 27 points.

Chelsea's next match will be a UEFA Champions League group stage match against German Bundelsiga 1 club Schalke '04 on November 6. Chelsea defeated Schalke 2-0 last October 2007 when they hosted the German side at Stamford Bridge. This time Chelsea will be visitors at Schalke. While that might be a slight disadvantage, Chelsea's form look good enough to book them a win and earn the 3 points to take a commanding lead in Groub B of the UEFA Champions League.

Chelsea's next Premiership match will be on November 11 against Everton at Stamford Bridge.

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Six goals to Nil!

Chelsea was firing on all cylinders in their recent English Premier League match against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. Manchester City, who are ranked at number 3 in the English Premier League points standings should've shown a better result, but it was all Chelsea from the start, and the downpour of goals were definitely a delight for Chelsea fans.

The Chelsea Blues biggest win of the season came thanks to two goals from Chelsea's super striker Didier Drogba and a goal each from the likes of Chelsea's Michael Essien, Joe Cole, Salomon Kalou and Andriy Shevchenko.

Chelsea's Michael Essien added some big stats to his record by also providing two assists and a goal, and could clearly qualify as Man of the Match as well as Didier Drogba, who scored two goals.

Manchester City has improved their quality of football under the new management of head coach Sven Goran-Erickson, but City was in no match for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in terms of getting the ball in the back of the net. The result was very favorable indeed for Chelsea, who have been struggling this 2007-08 season of the English Premier League in coming up with victories. Perhaps injuries to the likes of Michael Ballack and other key injuries have not been able to produce the best eleven footballers on the pitch at the same time for Chelsea. However, perhaps that will all change as it seems that the Chelsea players are getting healthier.

Perhaps Manchester City could've kept the deficit down had their starting goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel played. However, Manchester CIty had to rely on reserve keeper Joe Hart, and it must've been painful for Joe Hart to let in so many goals. But what could be done? Chelsea was just really playing some awesome football, finding the right space for passes and striking it into the back of the Manchester City net.

Chelsea manager Avram Grant is very pleased with the big win, his biggest win since taking over the management reigns of Chelsea after the resignation of Jose Mourinho.

"In the next game we have to do the same, and it's up to the team to keep working hard and keep the spirit going," commented Chelsea forward Salomon Kalou.

Chelsea's next English Premier League feature will be an away-match at the JJB Stadium against Wigan Athletic. Definitely, with Chelsea's top form, they look to make easy work of Wigan Athletic and maybe add 3 more points to their current 21 points in the English Premier League standings. Chelsea FC is currently 4th with 21 points, just one behind Manchester City who have 22, and just 5 from the English Premier League leaders Arsenal and Manchester United, who both have 26 points.

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Russia's chances for qualifying to the UEFA Euro 2008 Finals are still alive after coming from behind to beat England 2-1 in their recent Euro 2008 qualifying match held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia this October 17. It wasn't an easy task though for Russia with England playing top form. In fact, it was England who struck first to silence the Russian home fans when England striker Wayne Rooney of English Premier League champions Manchester United chested a flick pass from teammate Michael Owen and slammed a powerful volley into the goal of Russia past Russian goalkeeper Vladimir Gabulov.

Russia were struggling to get an equaliser, and Russia's head coach Guus Hiddink made some adjustments with key substitutions, bringing in midfielder Dmitri Torbinskiy to replace defender Vasili Berezutski in the 46th minute, and then brining in forward Roman Pavlyuchenko to replace a tired Aleksandr Kerzhakov in the 58th minute.

10 minutes after the substitution, England striker Wayne Rooney gets yellow-carded for a foul in the penalty area against Russia's Konstantin Zyrianov. Russia's substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko took the penalty kick and beat England keeper Paul Robinson to put the game level at 1-1.

4 minutes after, on the 73rd minute, Russia's Roman Pavlyuchenko was able to poke in a rebound from an initial shot made by teammate Aleksei Berezutski. England keeper Paul Robinson did well to parry the first shot, but Roman Pavlyunchenko was the first to get to the ball and poke it in the unguarded England goal to give Russia a 2-1 advantage and send the Russian home fans to a frenzy.

England coach Steve McLaren made last minute gambles by bringing in Frank Lampard, Stuart Downing and Peter Crouch from the bench, but Russia was able to hold off the England offensive to book the win and collect all 3 points. Russia's win over England improves their point standings in Group E to 21 points, just 2 points behind England who maintain the number 2 spot with 23 points. Croatia lead Group E with 26 points, and look to be assured of a spot in the Euro 2008 Finals in Austria and Switzerland this June 2008.

England must win their last Euro 2008 qualifying match at home against Group E leaders Croatia on November 21 if they hope to make it to the Euro 2008 finals. Meanwhile, Russia have two away matches for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying stages against Israel on November 17 and against Andorra on November 21. Russia still has the opportunity to collect 6 points if they win both matches, and those 6 points could indeed earn them a trip to the Euro 2008 Finals. Russia drew with Israel at home 1-1 back in October 2006, and they crushed Andorra at home 4-0 back in June 2007.

England lost to Croatia 2-0 when they were visitors at Croatia back in October 2006. Come November 2007, England will be hoping that the home pitch advantage and the home crowd support at the New Wembley Stadium can help them get a win against the Group E leaders Croatia in order to ascertain a spot for the Euro 2008 Finals.