The countdown begins

And so it was confirmed-Chelsea are Premier League Champions for 2009-10. Not much drama in the end, Drogba's histrionics aside, but I'll not complain. Chelsea probably deserving champions, if even for their record against the rest of the Big 4* (*I guess Sky Sports don't consider Spurs as part of the Big 4 and I would have to agree with them!), where they finished 6 from 6. Their victories over Arsenal home and away were certainly convincing enough, but last month's victory at Old Trafford was far from perfect, and, until Steven Gerrard decided to play in Didier Drogba to gift Chelsea the lead after 20 largely unconvincing minutes, they didn't look great against Liverpool 2 weeks ago (their play in the final third has been awful at times this season). Still, aside from a loss to Wigan (who would have thought after watching Sunday's game?), any of their defeats were generally against 'quality' opposition, so they were as deserving as anyone else. The fact that they scored over 100 goals in the process did their case no harm either. Where the Premier League title mind end up next year is a discussion to leave for another day-all contenders have plenty of question marks hanging over them for 2010-11.

During the week, we have several 'preliminary' World Cup 2010 squads named. And, no shortage of surprises (from where I'm sitting). Who would have thought that Argentina would feature 2 Newcastle players but cannot find room for either Javier Zanetti or Esteban Cambassio from Champions League finalists Inter Milan? Who would have thought that Kaka would be preferred to Ronaldinho (if we look at form)? France don't include Karim Benzema but have Andre Pierre Gignanc? And so on. For now, let's assume my predictions made (elsewhere) on Monday hold true-Spain are dumped out early and we have a Brazil v Italy final, with Brazil prevailing. Not much imagination on my part, but I'm only going on what I've seen and read.

Chelsea go against the hapless Portsmouth in tomorrow's FA Cup Final. If there's one team and manager I wouldn't mind losing to it's Portsmouth and Avram Grant. Let's hope for an exciting encounter, but if I'm honest, anything better than 2/1 on Chelsea at -3 is generous...

And now, the end is near

So it's been a whole 2 months since I last posted. Laziness and volcanic ash are to blame I guess. Plus a lack of material. Well, not really.

The last time I was composing a post for this blog, I was going with the theme that Chelsea were going nowhere and I'd like to see them break up the team and start from scratch. Now, it looks as if they will win the Premier League, despite my misgivings back in March and a schizophrenic series of results along the way, Chelsea only need to beat Wigan at Stamford Bridge on Sunday to deny Man Utd a historic 4th in a row and record breaking 19th English league title. Thanks to Steven Gerrard's errant pass last weekend, Chelsea are in the driving seat-surely they will be able to overcome a Wigan side that beat them 3-1 earlier in the season? The bookies make them 9-1 on, which I would say is about right. Roberto Martinez and Dave Whelan have been making all the right noises this week about Wigan giving it the full gun, and I believe they will, but surely Chelsea will be able to put together 90 minutes from the 1st minute to reclaim the league crown after what has been a poor Premier League seasons all round.

All 3 English clubs have since exited the Champions League, as have Barcelona, and we are left with a final featuring 2 former sons of Stamford Bridge set to play key roles for Inter Milan and Bayern Munich. Chelsea and Arsenal can have no complaints, Man Utd can feel somewhat unlucky to go out on away goals with Wayne Rooney not being fit enough to play a full part in their defeat to Bayern Munich. Barcelona finally met their match in a dogged and well drilled Inter Milan team, who managed to withstand the Catalans despite being a player down for over 60 minutes at the Nou Camp.

The Champions League final is scheduled to kick-off on May 22 around 45 minutes after the European Rugby Cup champions are crowned. No Irish representation this year, as Toulouse take on Biarritz. Last weekend saw Leinster bow out during an exciting 2nd half in the rain, while Munster went out without a whimper in sunny San Sebastian. Home advantage and injuries had a large bearing on both games I'm sure, but both teams rode their luck at stages this year (Munster in their final pool game with Northampton and Leinster in the quarter-final with Clermont Auvergne. Let's hope both sides rebound for 2011.

One way or another, Manchester will deny Chelsea the title this season

4-2? At home? To Man City? Really? Yes, it was that bad. Chelsea succumed to a team that had failed to win any of their other games this season against the putative top 4. After taking a (deserved) lead late in the 1st half, indecision and incompetence allowed Man City to equalise and it all went downhill from there. Jon Obi Mikel is clearly not good enough to play a key role in a championship contending team, and to me, John Terry no longer instils a sense of confidence in the rest of the team. Mikel's replacement, the ageing Beletti, also showed his lack of quality in earning himself a red card in conceding a penalty that made the score 3-1 (although, it begs the question, what was the difference between Beletti's offense and that committed by Walter Samuel in the San Siro earlier that week?).

If Chelsea are to win the Premier League this season, it is going to require what would appear to be a flawless 2 months on the run-in. You can argue the point, but I think that it's fair to say that with trips to Old Trafford, Anfield, White Hart Lane and a visit from Aston Villa that they have a pretty tough run-in. And they must do it without both 1st choice full backs after Jose Bosingwa joined Ashley Cole on the 'out for the season' list earlier this week. I'm pretty sure Zhirkov will be an excellent replacement if he can stay fit, and Ivanovic has shown he has decent attacking abilities (see his run in the San Siro),so maybe they will be ok. Time will tell, but Michael Owen's loss could be a factor in determining whether or not the title returns to London-I don't believe that Wayne Rooney's run of goalscoring from can run all the way to the end of the season, and Dimitar Berbetov hasn't shown that he is ready or willing to pick up the slack. But, let us not forget that there is always the chance another Fedrico Macheda will surface (Mame Diouf?)

The other London team were hit with yet another broken leg last weekend. Arsene Wenger and Cesc Fabregas were understandably upset after the game, but I thought their comments were out of order. Still, when I saw Liam Fox of Burnley (who escaped with merely a talking to) dive 2 footed at Theo Walcott (who was lucky to avoid injury) earlier today, I wonder if maybe they have a point.

The long and ridiculous saga at Fratton Park appears to be drawing to a sadly inevitable close with administration, the loss of 9 points and almost certain relegation assured. This sort of scenario isn't unusual in the lower leagues or the League of Ireland, and I'm not surprised it has happened in the Premier League, but it's not something you want to see in the putative 'best league in the world'.

I guess some people never change. Or, they quickly change and then quickly change back

Well, well, well. Or, to put it another way, was anyone surprised by Wednesday night's carry on in the Champions League?

First off, we had Arsenal drafting Sol Campbell in as defensive cover. You're a team that has pretensions of winning the Premier League and the Champions League. You need a centre back to cover for your 2 first choice stoppers. Where do you turn? To a 35 year-old who latterly played (1 game) in League 2 and who you allowed to leave the club on a free transfer over 3 years ago. Is this some sort of mid-life crisis for Arsene Wenger? I always thought his preference was to fill the team with as many 16 and 17 year olds as possible? Not with clearly washed up players like Campbell (just witness his reaction to the backpass that ultimately cost his side the game) or Man Utd cast-offs (Mikael Silvestre). But, Arsene quickly reverted to type post game. His ridiculous assertion that Campbell's poking of the football with his foot towards his goalkeeper did not constitute a back-pass was truly Arsene at his best, although, I would have got more of a kick if he had said he didn't see it!

Now, where Arsene might have had a point, was in his criticism of referee Martin Hansson in the way he 'handed' the ball to a Porto player and then allowed him to take the indirect free-kick straight away (it's hard to believe the ref could have asked the Porto player did he wish to take the free-kick quickly in the time that elapsed between the award of and taking of the free-kick. Of course, the same referee also had a significant role in 'handing' France their place at the World Cup. Was his attempt at appeasing Irish fans anger at the French (by playing a key role in the downfall of a team managed by a Frenchman and one who would count Thierry Henry as one of its greatest ever players)? I don't know. What I do know is that we will still get to see Mr. Hansson officiating in South Africa this summer. It's small minded of me, but I would like to see him turn up at an England game.

For a while on Tuesday night, it looked like Italian club football was going to redeem itself after several years in the wilderness. AC Milan had an early lead and played plenty of good football agianst Man Utd, but ultimately faded and were outdone by their failure to take chances and the English side's clinical taking of goals from a limited pool of chances. A late goal from Milan means that they only have to win but 2 clear goals at Old Trafford. I expect that odds might be long on that happening.

But the cruelest demonstration of incompetence, past performance being a predictor of the future and downright thivery was at the Allianz Arena, where a certain Tom Henning Ovrebo wronged the Viola not once, not twice but three times. The decision not to punish Bayern players van Bommel and Klose for dangerous tackles and the decision to allow Miroslav Klose's late winner ensured that Bayern escaped with a narrow advantage. Fiorentina, unlike Chelsea last May, have 90 minutes to right the wrongs visited upon them by Mr. Overbo. Let's hope for the sake of football that they do just that.

And it came from a partially cleared David Beckham free-kick....

Jebus. Sky would have to find a way to ensure David Beckham had a starring role in the opening Milan goal on Tuesday night. Name: Martin Tyler. Favourite film: 6 Degrees of Separation from David Beckham. Given the choice between watching on Sky and TV333333333333, it really is a case of the lesser of 2 evils.

Far from Good My Son

Will the defeat on Merseyside mark a pivotal point in Chelsea’s chase for the title? Bad enough to surrender an early lead, but the loss of Ashley Cole, possibly for the remainder of the season, made a bad night worse. All of this while Man Utd were down to 10 men and level with Aston Villa. Chelsea stay top, but their form away from Stamford Bridge, their propensity to concede from set pieces and the fact they still have to travel to both Old Trafford and Anfield doesn't fill me with confidence for their prospects for the months ahead.

Chelsea have Michael Essien to come back of course, but Man Utd have managed ok without Ferdinand and Vidic. And, I think it would be fair to say that Chelsea will miss Ashley Cole more (and for a longer period of time) than Man Utd will miss Ryan Giggs. At least expensive Russian recruit Yuri Zhirkov can step in-a proper left sided player, but he lacks Premiership experience, and I would question his defensive qualities at this point.

Let’s face facts-Ricardo Carvalho ain’t getting any younger, John Terry ain’t getting any better and Petr Cech hasn’t looked or played like Petr Cech since he met Stephen Hunt. Chelsea’s Achilles heel may very well be the centre of their defence and their goalkeeper. Someone like (confessed Chelsea fan) Roger Johnson would fit in very well at Stamford Bridge next season, but for the remainder of this season, Chelsea must make a better fist of the basics of defending than they have done to date.

Around the league, Liverpool did their best of making a mockery of my prediction that they would finish ahead of Arsenal in 3^rd place by losing 1-0 at the Emirates. Spurs stay 6^th and within a point of 4^th, despite losing 1-0 to Hull City, underling what a truly mediocre Premier League this has been to date. Man City have still not established any kind of consistency, but get the chance to make a statement when they visit Chelsea on February 27.

The January transfer window closed without much to get writing about-all I’ll say about Robbie Keane’s move to Celtic is that his career appears to have come full circle.

It's What You Do on the Pitch that Counts

Apologies for the lack of new material loyal followers-matters of an automotive nature have monopolised my thoughts of late, but the fog is beginning to clear and a resolution (of sorts) appears imminent...

Chelsea certainly spluttered on Tuesday night-badly as Man Utd played at Hull over the Christmas period, they still managed a 3-1 victory. The returning Didier Drogba managed to score, but it was not enough-it would be ironic if Chelsea suffer a dip in form with the return of Drogba!

What better way for Chelsea to get back on track than by taking on a wounded Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. Arsenal's performance last Sunday did not suggest that they belong in the Title conversation-and you would have to assume that a victory by Chelsea tomorrow would put that issue to bed-we should remember that Arsenal have been beaten convincingly by both Chelsea and Man Utd at the Emirates, while they contrived to turn victory into defeat at Old Trafford earlier in the season. Given that they face an in-form Liverpool at the Emirates on Wednesday night, we will soon find out just how much 'mental strength' Arsene Wenger's 'youngsters' really have in what could be the defining weeks of the 2009/10 season.

We can assume Man Utd will beat Portsmouth today, we cannot say the same about Chelsea in the clash with Arsenal. Wednesday night has some interesting fixtures as well as Arsenal v Liverpool, Man Utd face Aston Villa at Old Trafford and Chelsea travel to Everton. It's hard to see Man Utd dropping more than 2 points, while draw draw is not an improbable outcome for Chelsea.

As I started to write this, 10 man Liverpool have beaten Everton and now sit in 4th place. A draw in the 5.30 game between Spurs and Villa would do the red half of Merseyside very nicely. Mark my words-Liverpool will play Champions League football next season, and, when/if Torres returns, I wouldn't be surprised if they catch Arsenal. As TMQ likes to say 'all predictions wrong or your money back'!

In other news, John Terry has been stripped of the England captaincy owing to his affair with Wayne Bridge's publicity shy former girlfriend. And who has been been appointed has his replacement? Why it's suspected drug cheat and drunk driver Rio Ferdinand! Seriously, I could care less about John Terry's antics off the football pitch-I'm sure his moral compass points towards the same version of north as that of most other professional footballers in the Premier League today. For me, scoring away from home last weekend at Burnley is of more interest than his playing away from home off the pitch.