good win by chelsea to keep up in the race. sheva scored so thats gotta be a bonus?

Looks like the pack are going to catch Arsenal...Shevchenko was always going to come good, he wasn't playing terribly in any case...He makes others look better too and Pizzaro & co. should benefit while Drogba is gone...it will prove a few things about Drogba's scoring form, but then again Ancelotti & co. knew it all along

i beleive sheva's goal didnt prove much...

he is playing good recently..but not Milan sheva !!!!

Drogba's absence would have a big effect..

especially if his injury takes long to recover

Oh well, looks like 3rd place at best this season....i'll continue to follow!

Man City, as i expected, i making it tricky for the top 4, mostly the 3rd and 4th place teams, but that too we'll see come January because i think that battle will go right down til the end of the season

yea chelsea may get 3rd spot this season. my reds have slipped up yet again.

and may slip further if Chelsea get their way for the next match, that's why i said their game in hand could probably be useless to even surpassing Man City...worse yet is if they drop points against West Ham in the extra game. 

Nonetheless, I think Chelsea has lost a little bit of tooth from the way they played Arsenal, so don't be surprised Chelsea fall behind with John Terry's injury.

By the way, he shouldn't complain, he said he liked to be kicked...

terry's injury is a loss. but ben haim can come in and replace him.

yup and i think this season Chelski's team is better than last season, if at least due to Mourinho finally buying shrewdly in the transfer market

However, this might show one thing that John Terry himself overlooked or maybe considered, that's why he stuck out for a high wage contract, and that is that they are other players that can do what he does and do it better or just as good...we'll wait and see. - Let us not forget that Chelsea were not first this season under Mourinho and that Man United and Arsenal have gotten considerably better than two seasons ago.  As a matter of fact, many of the other EPL teams too

krish, u still here mate???

yea, chelski's team is better. but how would he have got the base of his team without flashin the cash.

Same way he did now...Ballack is free, he didn't spend much this summer, he didn't have to spend so much on Shevcenko given he wanted to come and his contract would've been cheaper in a year.  John Terry and Lampard should've never been allowed to hold the club for ransom, they don't have many options that will keep them winners...not shrewd business purchasing strategy initially.

Refocus!

Chelsea has to be careful, it's a potential banana skin.....

There's no easy team in the CL but I can't see Olympiacos beating Chelsea, much as I'd love to see it......

chelsea shuld walk ova olympiakos. if they find them difficult then the champs league isnt theres this season.

Drogba reiterates summer desire to leave Chelsea

Star striker Didier Drogba has re-iterated his desire to leave Chelsea, but not during the January transfer window. The Ivory Coast international returned from knee surgery after an eight-game absence to play in Saturday's 1-0 FA Cup third-round victory over London neighbours QPR.   But he will now head off to the African Cup of Nations in Ghana, meaning he will miss the Blues' Carling Cup semi-final, first leg tie at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night and up to five Premier League matches.   However, a more worrying prospect for Chelsea and their fans is that Drogba has once again revealed he wants to quit the west London club.   He told Eurosport: 'It comes from me, I said what I am thinking, that I wanted to leave.'   The 29-year-old admits the departure of former manager Jose Mourinho in September only heightened his desire to leave, but claims he will only seek an exit in the summer as he wants to concentrate on AFCON duty this month.   Drogba said: 'Mourinho's departure didn't help. To the contrary, it made my desire to leave even bigger.'   He added: 'I am not going to speak about my next club and my major objective is the ACN [African Cup of Nations] and winning all the interests we have to win when I'll return for Chelsea.'

the reason why Chevchenko is getting better and better is due to a tactical change in the system deployed and this, along with the stability the club is having (when the norm is the team suffers when their manager for years leaves) is due to the assistant manager, not Avram Grant. Now Chevchenko is getting better service, rather than long balls to chase coming from Lampard, Ballack is giving him the connection he needed all along- it is no wonder why Mourinho didnt want Chevchenko, he knew he chelsea's brand, more accurately Mourinho's brand of football wouldnt suit Chevchenko.

Chevchenko is beginning to look half the man he was at AC, and its not a coincidence. The assistant manager would have been working tirelessly to make the team play attractive football (inevitebly conceding alot of goals in the transition), and this cannot be done without chevchenko and ballack taking more centre stage. It is easy for Ballck to shine when the team is built around him, rather than sharing his position with Lampard.. i look with alot of interest and curiousity on the outcome of this transformation; sounds quite bold but i really do believe Lampard's position in the team is under threat, as long as Ballack is there.

lampard under threat? i think they're getting ready to sell him to Juve. Juve would have bought him by now its just that he is asking for his current wage and juve think its just a tad too pricey.