The timing of Diego Costa’s move from Chelsea to Athletico Madrid was perfectly timed.

When you sign for one club that plays your former club the day after things are always going to be tense when you take your place in the stands.

When your old club score in the last minute, you might just pull a face like this to celebrate!

https://twitter.com/weagled/status/913141322915155971

https://twitter.com/mbatshuayi/status/913145763047383045

https://twitter.com/Jack8sparrow/status/913149945389166592

Diego Costa looks so pissed, this is great. #KTBFFH

— Sean Carley (@SeanMCarley) September 27, 2017

 

The one player that has not featured since arriving during the summer is Danny Drinkwater. He has been getting over a calf injury and has yet to take the field and his arrival has been forgotten a little bit.

He arrives under a little pressure, some have said that he is not what Chelsea needs; while others posit that he is not Chelsea’s quality.

He is, however, English and this is essential as the Blues compete in the Champions League. However, the true value is his skill, experience, and a great partnership with N’golo Kante.

The partnership that won the premier league for Leicester city had Ngolo Kante and Drinkwater in the midfield. This alone is a statement that the entire premier league must be afraid of.

If the coming of Kante to Chelsea midfield last season gave them the trophy, then the arrival of the man that helped him achieve the magical feat in Leicester will hopefully bring even more trophies to Chelsea. So, its hard to see why Danny Drinkwater will not thrive at Stamford Bridge.

Even Emenalo Likes Him

Even the most distrusted man at the club likes him.

Citing why he is a good fit for the team, Micheal Emenalo, the sporting director, posted that he is a premier league winner, as well as an experienced Champions League player. These experiences are actually invaluable.

He is tenacious, he can shoot at long range, and he can provide a consistent back up over a long season.

Will Danny Drinkwater Play At Chelsea

Moving to Chelsea was a risk for Drinkwater, there is always a risk he could do a Steve Sidwell. However, he has achieved more than Sidwell before he moved to the club.

We have four quality midfielders in the squad and with the club in competition on multiple fronts they should get plenty of game time.

Chelsea gave two debuts in the Carabao Cup match against Nottingham Forest, so who is Dujon Sterling who replaced Davide Zappacosta in that game.

Aided by our loan policies that sees more experienced players away from the club we thought we would profile a player that hopefully will bleed blue.

So Who Is Dujon Sterling

Sterling is a proper academy product having joined the Blues in 2007 at the age of 8. He is now a seventeen-year-old that has represented England at various youth levels, winning the u19 European Youth Championship in the summer.

Able to play at right back and right midfield he has also played in every Chelsea youth level team, going on to win the FA Youth Cup, UEFA Youth Cup and u18 Premier League.

Sterling has an eye for goal and scored his most important one yet in the FA Youth Cup final last season against Manchester City.

Chelsea’s academy at Cobham Training Centre is regarded as one of the best in the world after our Youth League and FA Youth Cup titles.

Sterling represents the huge success we have had at youth level in recent years and it is great to see him in the Chelsea senior squad and getting some game time.

What Does The Future Hold?

Whilst it is encouraging to see him in the squad and getting game time, it is unlikely we will see him as a regular anytime soon. He still needs time to develop but it would be great to see glimpses of him in future particularly in the Carabao Cup.

A few short-term loans might be on the cards to get him regular game time but we look forward to seeing him develop and hopefully be amongst the crop of youngsters trying to oust Cahill et al.

 

So here are a few, who is Dujon Sterling videos to finish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2bsEbt-yNs

Pitch invasions are largely a thing of the past, however on Sunday we got to see a pitch invasion fail from a solo Arsenal fan.

The Arsenal fan committed the ultimate pitch invasion fail as he charged onto the pitch following Shkodran Mustafi’s header into the Chelsea net. However, Mustafi was offside and the goal was rightly ruled out.

It was quite funny given that the joy that sent him charging onto the pitch was short-lived. Cue pictures of him across social media charging onto the pitch in celebration after the rest of the stadium had noticed the assistant referee’s flag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFtpTCgRoCs

An Arsenal fan was kicked out of Stamford Bridge for running onto the pitch after Mustafi’s offside goal. pic.twitter.com/pg68KGEA4t

— Soccer Memes (@SoccerMemes) September 17, 2017

Pitch Invasion Fail & The Law

Large-scale pitch invasions by Premier League teams are largely a thing of the past but from time to time some fans end up on the pitch in moments of celebration. This can potentially be costly for over-excited fans, as technically invading the pitch at an English Football ground is a criminal offense.

The implementation of this law is patchy at best and it seems few get seriously punished.

Fans are often able to back into the stands without the stewards getting involved. Other times they just get kicked out, it seems that only when there is malicious intent are the fans arrested or punished (in general)

A few Chelsea fans invaded the pitch during the Champions League Final in Munich and all made it back into the Chelsea end without incident.

Arsenal Pitch Invasion Fail Fan’s Fate

The fan during the Arsenal v Chelsea game was intercepted by stewards and escorted from the pitch. He was swiftly ejected by security. It is unclear whether he will face any tougher than that.

Despite him being an Arsenal fan we hope not, excitement is natural in football and the humiliation of national coverage of his premature celebrations seems like punishment enough.

 

Arsenal may have won the FA Cup at the end of last season to restore some pride, but in general the last twenty years have seen Chelsea dominate this London derby.but in the last twenty years Chelsea have dominated this London derby for the most part.

In that time Arsenal have gone from perennial challengers at times invincible to a laughing stock that value fourth place far more than trophies.

In order to build some excitement ahead of the game tomorrow here are videos of three moments where Chelsea have destroyed Arsenal.

The games span the League Cup, Premier League and Champions League and we have even snuck in an extra moment on top of the three promised

Arsenal 0 Chelsea 5 – League Cup

Let’s start with a 5-0 victory at Highbury in 1998 a time when we were on the rise but were not the dominant team in London that we are today.

Before the game Wenger said he had named a strong side, afterwards he tried to claim he had named a weakened team, classic Wenger hypocrisy.

Chelsea 6 Arsenal 0

The 2013/2014 season saw Jose Mourinho back at the Bridge and he made his mark with this stunning six-goal victory. We were two goals up within ten minutes and when Oxlade Chamberlain handled on the goal line Kieran Gibbs was sent off Chelsea scored and ran riot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwf8WPjs7K0

Chelsea 3 Arsenal 1

Last season and Conte got revenge for defeat early in the season with a comprehensive victory during our march to the title.

This game included the Hazard wondergoal where he beats half the Arsenal side on a mazy run and finishes it off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhuh3UWqSSA

Your brucie bonus

Whatever happened between him and Terry Wayne Bridge will always have one moment that Chelsea fans will remember forever.  a quick on two and Wayne Bridge wrote his name into Chelsea folklore with a strike that announced Chelsea had arrived on the European stage

In 2004 Wayne Bridge wrote his name into Chelsea folklore with a strike that announced Chelsea had arrived on the European stage

Oh Wayne Bridge, Scored a f*cking great goal, In the Highbury sh*t hole, Two minutes to go..

 

After a year on the sidelines, European football returns to Stamford Bridge with fans debating can Chelsea win the Champions League 2017-2018?

The simple answer is of course, but competition across Europe is tougher than ever with strong Italian, German, French and Spanish challenges for the title expected.

The key is a simple group qualification to make sure you face a runner up in the round of 16.

Once you enter knock out football anything can happen. That is something that every Chelsea fan should remember considering our own run to lift the title in Munich five years ago.

This year European giants and Tottenham will be targeting glory in Ukraine but there is a long way to go.

Can Chelsea Win Champions League Group?

The return to the big time starts off with a relatively straight forward against Azerbajani minnows FC Qarabag which masks a tough group which includes Roma and Athletico Madrid.

This makes beating FC Qarabag home and away vital to ensure we maintain momentum. Dropping points could mean needing to get results away at Roma or Athletico to guarantee qualification.

It is not going to be easy but with Morata, Hazard and Willian we have an attacking threat to match any defence we might have to break down.

If you like intriguing footballing stories then check out how FC Qarabag have brought together a war-torn region, but don’t play in their traditional homeland. See the story

Champions League Knockout Stages

The big unknown is always the knockout stages, you can get a fortuitous draw and avoid the big guns or you can get a Bayern Munich, Real Madrid or Barcelona straight away.

This will not overly concern Antonio Conte as you have to beat the big teams to lift the trophy and I doubt he will try and shirk from a challenge.

Can Chelsea win Champions League 2017-2018

Predicting the Champions League is impossible but with Morata making a fast start to his Chelsea career we have the tools to beat any team on their day.

In the meantime, we might as well enjoy the ride.

The sign of a good start to your Chelsea career is getting your own chant. The Alvaro Morata song shows the positive impression his goals and performances have had on the Chelsea faithful.

However, it has also highlighted the conflict I have with some of our chants and the continued use of the term Yid. This song has caused controversy and put the Chelsea media team on the back foot.

Not sure what I am on about the song shown below, uses a common tune and the the use of the word is pretty clear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r1NPvzjKdI

Why The Controversy?

Yid is an offensive term for a Jew. Therefore it has no place in our football vocabulary and should be easy to police right?

Well….. it’s removal from football has been complicated by the use of the term by Tottenham fans who call themselves the “Yid Army” and chant it at every game home and away.

This should not be an excuse for its use by Chelsea fans, you can only be responsible for your own behaviour. It should not need to be pointed out that using racial slurs is inappropriate at any time, especially in a crowd of people at a televised event shown around the world.

I welcome the club taking action to make this clear.

Denying that Chelsea have not had a problem with anti-Semitism in the past would be naive, but if it persists today it is a tiny minority and not representative of our fans. I do not think that the majority of fans that sing this have racial intent in their words.

We need to ensure the songs we sing reflect this.  there are a couple of common Chelsea songs that feature the offending word.

They need to be changed or consigned to history.

We already have some great songs about Tottenham that do not use this word or court controversy, let’s stick to these.

 

Do you think it is ok for Chelsea fans to use the word ‘yid’ in chants about Spurs?
#chelseafc #cfcaway #ktbffh

— FamousCFC (@Famous_CFC) September 10, 2017

Here are famous Chelsea fan David Baddiel’s thoughts on it from 2013 that still hold true today.

Time For A New Alvaro Morata Song

Chelsea have handled the arrival of the Alvaro Morata song well, they have condemned it quickly and briefed the player to make a public statement.

Since I arrived, I have been able to feel your support every single day, you are amazing and I’d like to ask you to please respect everyone!

— Álvaro Morata (@AlvaroMorata) 9 September 2017

The controversy is not Morata’s fault and let’s hope fans come up with a new Morata song soon.

Songs About Tottenham We Can All Enjoy

I am sure that our fans can come up with other equally creative songs that annoy Tottenham fans without using the term Yid. Here are some examples of songs that we should sing instead.

 

This week sees the current Champions face the former Champions in what will be a good test of how each side has progressed since the start of the season.

However, the best part of the end of the international break is that away days are back and Leicester away is always enjoyable whatever the result.

Leicester Away For Chelsea Fans

Leicester away is one of my favourite Chelsea away games. Easy to get to with away fan friendly chain pubs on route, it is a good day out whatever the results.

The police are friendly and don’t try and impose themselves too much and fans are able to move around the city freely with a minimal amount of fuss.

Although there is a ten-minute walk from the City Centre to the pub, it is not too much of a hardship and includes a walk past of Leicester’s other iconic stadium where the Leicester Tigers Rugby Union team play. When you win its an easy trip back to the city but if we lose it can feel like a bit of a trek.

A Little Bit Of Football

Chelsea have put a freak result against Burnley behind us to recover to six points and back in the hunt. Leicester have had a mixed start to the season with one win and defeats to Manchester United and Arsenal. The latter being a seven goal thriller that Leicester lost due to two late goals.

Victory for Chelsea will provide momentum in an important seven game September across three competitions and keep pace with a top half of the table that already has a familiar feel to it.

The result can be something to ruin an away day and results at Leicester have been mixed. Highlights include when we all but sealed the 2015 title here and you can even see the FamousCFC.com in the BBC image (if you look really closely)

Diego Costa has been axed from the Chelsea 2017-2018 Champions League Squad in order to protect his value to potential suitors in January.

These will include our Group C rivals Athletico Madrid for whom Costa played before signing for the Blues. It is expected that a deal for Costa will be made between Athletico and Chelsea once their transfer ban expires at the start of the January window.

This exclusion means that Chelsea will only have two forwards registered for the group stages meaning there will be little room for error.

Conte Forced To Name Youth

UEFA homegrown player rules mean that Antonio Conte has to name 8 homegrown players within his 25 man squad.

Homegrown Player Definition – UEFA defines locally-trained or ‘homegrown’ players as those who, regardless of their nationality, have been trained by their club or by another club in the same national association for at least three years between the age of 15 and 21.Four of the locally-trained players must be from the club itself, with the others being either from the club itself or from other clubs in the same association.

A lack of homegrown players in the Chelsea squad means that Conte has been forced to plug gaps in his squad with youth. Although these players are in the squad Conte has full autonomy in who he picks for each game from the list of 25.

Full Chelsea 2017-2018 Champions League Squad List

Goalkeepers

Tibo Courtois, Willy Callabero, Eduardo

Defenders

David Luiz, Antonio Rudiger, Marcos Alonso, Davide Zappacosta, Gary Cahill, Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen, Jake Clarke-Salter,

Midfielders

Cesc Fabregas, Danny Drinkwater, N’Golo Kante, Eden Hazard, Pedro, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Victor Moses, Kenedy, Charly Musonda, Willian, Kyle Scott

Forwards

Alvaro Morata, Michy Batshuayi

Chelsea’s Homegrown Players

B Squad (qualified at Chelsea)

• Kyle Scott (Midfield)
• Andreas Christensen (Defence)
• Charly Musonda (Midfield)
• Jake Clarke Salter

Association Homegrown

• Danny Drinkwater
• Gary Cahill
• Victor Moses
• Cesc Fabregas

The end of the international break sees the season kick off properly for Chelsea fans and Eden Hazard fitness has been something fans have been sweating over during the break.

7 games across 3 different competitions prove the first proper test of depth and quality of the 2017/2018 Chelsea squad.

Hopefully, the international break and closing of the transfer window will have given players and fans perspective and inspiration to push the team forward.

One player missing in August that will be pivotal is Eden Hazard, he comes into the side having helped Belgium become the first European side to qualify for the World Cup in Russia.

It is always frustrating when a player returns to fitness in an international break but it seems that he has come through unscathed.

This is important as we face Arsenal, Man City, Athletico Madrid and a tricky trip to Stoke during the next four weeks. Hazard is the kind of the player that can be the difference between success and failure in these tough games.

Eden Hazard Fitness The Key To Our Season

The fitness of Eden Hazard could be what makes or breaks our season.  We will need the Hazard of last season and not the one before if we are to have any chance of retaining our title. He is the allan key of our attack that can unlock even the toughest of doors.

It has been a tough start to the season without him and I am excited to see how he will interact and partner with Alvaro Morata.

If the two of them can build a solid partnership then Premier League defences will quake in terror. Morata has had a bright start to his Chelsea career and the return of Hazard could be what is needed to keep things rolling.

Teams Chelsea Play In September

Premier League – Leicester (a) Arsenal (H) Stoke (a) Manchester City (H)

EFL Cup – Nottingham Forest

Champions League – FK Qarabag (H), Athletico Madrid (a)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEWy23WZ5Gw