What an occasion to post my 100th post in this blog - Manchester United at Stamford Bridge!

The match has a lot of significance though Scolari believes this is just another league match. If Chelsea win this, the statement they make would be loud and clear. If United manage to win, then it would be the spark they need to truly kick start their season. If United win or the match turns out to be a draw, which many consider a safe bet, then Arsenal would end up having the top spot in the table.

Liverpool drew with Stoke yesterday after a Gerrard goal was disallowed in the early minutes and then they failed to overcome Stoke's physicality. They became league toppers until Arsenal beat Bolton at Reebok late in the evening to claim the top spot. Now its upto the Blues to take back their spot in the league, which they occupied since the season began a month ago.

After the match against the French side mid-week, Scolari pointed out that there was still a lot of room for improvement. I believe Scolari was warning the players against getting complacent. He wants a state of "tranquility" i.e, good possession effectively minimizing opposition attacks. I guess all the time he had the weekend match in mind and he wasn't impressed with Chelsea giving away balls easily.

There is a strong possibility of Scolari going with the same starting line-up that drubbed Bordeaux mid-week and humbled Citeh the last weekend. Drogba and Ballack might be fit to play and Scolari may bring them on during the game. Anelka, though he missed half a dozen chances whenever he played this season, is likely to get another go before Drogba replaces him in first team.

I'm just praying Scolari won't commit the same mistake Grant committed - to play Drogba upfront and Anelka wide. Joe Cole is having a splendid time and Malouda is beginning to play well and so we don't need a replacement in the flanks. Similarly, Ballack would find it difficult to displace Lampard, Deco or Mikel from midfield. Its no coincidence that whenever John Obi played, Chelsea won comfortably.

For United, Ronaldo is likely to start because it was his arrival that unlocked the Villareal defense. Before that, United didn't look like scoring at all. It remains to be seen if Fergie considers this match worth risking Ronaldo's fitness. I think Fergie would start Ronaldo unless he shares the same opinion as me - Ronaldo is useless against good opponents.

If Ronaldo starts, it would be interesting to see where Bosingwa plays, in the opposition half as he does nowadays or his own half. Ronaldo wouldn't fancy the wing Ashley Cole is defending because he was unsuccessful there in previous meetings. Marcel Desailly believes Ronaldo starting would be an indication of how desperate United is. Maybe Magricoz ex-coach Scolari knows how to deal with Ronaldo.

Meanwhile Setanta Sports reports that Mineiro had a successful medical at Stamford Bridge yesterday and is close to completing a move. The Brazilian midfielder would be a replacement for injured Essien.

Guess at the team:
Cech  
Bosingwa, Carvalho, Terry, Cole
Deco, Mikel, Lampard
J.Cole, Anelka, Malouda
subs: Cudicini, Alex, Belletti, Bridge, Drogba, Ballack, Ferreira, Kalou


Referee: Mike Riley
Time :14:00 BST/18:30 IST
TV Timings: 1830 ESPN(IST), 21/09/08. 
Scoreline prediction: 3-1


Head To Head
Home and Away:
League (inc PL): Chelsea 37 wins, United 55 wins, Draws 40
Prem: Chelsea 10 wins, United 9 wins, Draws 13
At Stamford Bridge:
League (inc PL): Chelsea 20 wins, United 29, Draws 17
Prem: Chelsea 6 wins, United 4 wins, Draws 6

Form Guide
Chelsea:
17 Aug v Portsmouth (H) won 4-0 (EPL)
24 Aug v Wigan (A) won 1-0 (EPL)
31 Aug v Tottenham (H) drew 1-1 (EPL)
13 Sep v Manchester City (A) won 3-1 (EPL)
16 Sep v Bordeaux (H) won 4-0 (CL)

Manchester United:
17 Aug v Newcastle (H) drew 1-1 (EPL)
25 Aug v Portsmouth (A) won 1-0 (EPL)
29 Aug v Zenit St Petersburg (N) lost 1-2 (SC)
13 Sep v Liverpool (A) lost 1-2 (EPL)
17 Sep v Villarreal (H) drew 0-0 (CL)

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We begin our journey towards Rome in the Champions League with a home match against Bordeaux, a French side. After a win against City in the weekend, the Blue spirits are high and Bordeaux would find it difficult to contain the quality chelsea possess. Their main agenda would be damage limitation. Maybe they'll have a go at Chelsea on home turf, but certainly not at Stamford Bridge.

It would be interesting to see how Scolari approaches today's game considering that we play United this weekend. Will he afford to rest key players like Lampard and Joe Cole taking into account the fact that they played 3 matches in a span of 8 days. Captain John Terry is suspended for the weekend and I don't think FA will admit the refereeing error. Refereeing was terribly bad last weekend. So Terry may be partnered by Alex and Carvalho might be rested for today's game. We might also see people like Kalou and Ivanovic in action today. Ballack will make his return from injury today but may not play the entire 90 minutes unless situation demands. We may also see the young striker Franco Di Santo in action today.

This is Scolari's first match at the topmost level of Club football in Europe, though he had won the South American equivalent, the Copa Libertadores twice with Brazilian clubs. Meanwhile Laurent Blanc's side is labeled "unpredictable" by many pundits. The Girondins, as they are called, are likely to flood the midfield and rely heavily on counter-attacks. Blanc is the oldest player to score in the competition, a feat he performed when playing for United. Chelsea and Girondins de Bordeaux have never met in European competition.

In the other Group A game, Roma face the newcomers CFR 1907 Cluj of Romania and are expected to come through without any loss of points. Meanwhile the Blue fans are also keeping their fingers crossed over the Terry red card appeal, on which a decision will be made today. Mark Halsey was pathetic last Saturday as a referee and the chances are that he will remain so during the appeal.

Guess at the team:
Cech  
Ferreira, Terry, Alex, Bridge
Deco, Mikel, Lampard
J.Cole, Anelka, Malouda
subs: Cudicini, Carvalho, A.Cole, Di Santo, Drogba, Ballack, Belletti, Kalou


Referee: Pieter Vink
Time : 0015 IST 
TV Timings: 0015 Zee Sports(IST), 17/09/08. 
Scoreline prediction: 4-0

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Stamford Bridge bids adieu to Shaun Wright-Phillips as the winger was sold to his former club Manchester City. He was bought in the 2005 summer and always remained in the shadows of more crafty wingers like robben, Joe Cole and Duff. Wright-Phillips had his chances when Robben and Duff left but failed to capitalize on it. He lacked the consistency to be a regular first team player though a lot was expected from the England international.

In total Wright-Phillips started 65 games and played 59 games as a sub for Chelsea, scoring 10 goals. His departure means the Robinho deal would be finished any time now. Obviously Real is holding on to Robinho because Calderon wants maximum possible price from Chelsea. All the best to Wright-Phillips and lets hope he scores goals galore, except when its against us.

More good news followed for Blue fans as John Terry, Frank Lampard and Petr Cech have all been given Uefa awards in their respective positions. The awards were given out in a ceremony in Monaco, the venue where group stage draw of 54th Champions League was carried out by the Union of European Football Associations. The following are the eight Champions League groupings -

• Group A: Chelsea, AS Roma, Bordeaux, Cluj.
• Group B: Inter Milan, Werder Bremen, Panathinaikos, Famagusta.
• Group C: FC Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, Basel, Shakhtar Donetsk.
• Group D: Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven, Marseille, Atlético de Madrid.
• Group E: Manchester United, Celtic, Villareal, Aalborg.
• Group F: Lyon, Bayern Munich, Steaua Bucureşti, Fiorentina.
• Group G: Arsenal, Porto, Fenerbache, Dynamo Kiev.
• Group H: Real Madrid, Juventus, Zenit St. Petersburg, Borisov.

Roma,  Bordeaux and CFR Cluj are the opponents for Chelsea in group A. Luciano Spalletti's Roma would be the greatest threat, but the Blue fans need not worry much because we have a true Blue hero in the Roma squad - John Arne Riise. The Giallorossi plays in the Stadio Olimpico where the champions League final will be played this season.

Bordeaux are the French league runners up and are a formidable side coached by ex-United player Laurent Blanc. Meanwhile CFR Cluj are the Romanian champions who won both the league and cup last season. Cluj are busy during the transfer window preparing for European competition.

The Blues' fixtures for the group stages are -

Tuesday 16 September - Bordeaux (home)
Wednesday 1 October - Cluj (away)
Wednesday 22 October - Roma (home)
Tuesday 4 November - Roma (away)
Wednesday 26 November - Bordeaux (away)
Tuesday 9 December - Cluj (home)

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