Andre Villas-Boas admitted his team could be left counting the cost of failing to beat Norwich after their goalless draw on Saturday.

The Blues were unable to fully capitalise on their chance to close the gap on the leading three, who all play on Sunday, after Fernando Torres fired another blank against a well-organised Canaries team who collected their first clean sheet of the season.

“Bearing in mind Norwich’s run of form, you could say it is not a bad point, but because we want to be champions, it puts in things in a different perspective ahead of tomorrow’s fixtures” said AVB. “The games tomorrow can punish us hard in terms of what we were expecting. This could have been a good last opportunity for us to threaten for the title. The leaders can build a good margin tomorrow – that is the reality – but Arsenal must have a word to say, Tottenham the same. We don’t know what will happen. We will have to wait and see if this is a point gained or two dropped.”

Villas-Boas added:

“We created enough opportunities to win the game, especially in the second half, but just could not find the back of the net. The players really fought hard, but we could not find it, either through our lack of efficiency or [Norwich goalkeeper] John Ruddy’s performance. If we had done, then we would have taken all three points.”

Torres has now not scored since October, and failed to find the back of the net for the 11th Premier League game. Villas-Boas, though, refused to point the finger of blame at the £50million man.

“Fernando tried really hard. His movement was sharp and effective. He also has a major impact in our offensive game and we were happy with his play,” said the Chelsea boss. “We cannot be hypocrites because in the last game against Sunderland everybody praised him for his form. He could not find the back of the net, but we are not just looking for that – we are looking for him to produce for the team and we had a good amount of chances to win.”

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard went off in the first half with a calf injury, which Villas-Boas hopes will not keep the 33-year-old out of action for too long.

“Frank will have to be assessed through an MRI scan, but the doctors tell us it is nothing very serious – maybe a muscle tear and we will have to find the extent of how long he will be out.”

 

Massively disappointing draw for Chelsea at Norwich today.  The 0-0 draw was the first time that Norwich has kept a clean sheet this season, and that tells you everything you need to know about Chelsea’s performance.

For those of you expecting to see new Chelsea signing Gary Cahill line-up alongside John Terry, the team news from Carrow Road was a disappointment and Cahill was not even named to the Chelsea bench. Hopefully Cahill will be in the line-up next week as Luiz once again failed to impress, and most of Norwich’s chances came against Luiz.

It was another disappointing afternoon for Fernando Torres, whose goalless drought continues. A really good save from John Ruddy denied him in the first half, but the big miss came in the second half when he missed an absolute sitter. Bosingwa’s low ball into the box found Torres completely unmarked eight yards from goal. But he poked the ball wide of the goal, when he should have scored.

Bad news on the injury front for Chelsea as Frank Lampard, who looked to be back starting for Chelsea left early in the first half with a calf injury. Big blow for Lampard and Chelsea as he will probably be out for a couple of weeks now.

Really disappointing draw then today. I fully expected Chelsea to pick up all three points, but once again this Chelsea side played down to the level of its competition, something they have frustratingly done all season.

What did you think of Chelsea’s performance today?

According to the Daily Mail, Chelsea have launched a Chelsea have launched a £20million bid for Shakhtar Donetsk’s Brazilian midfielder Willian.

The skilful 23-year-old Willian, who can play on the left of midfield or behind the strikers, and was a stand-out in the Champions League groups stages this year, leading Shakhtar  to the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time in their  history.

Willian would give Chelsea some extra pace and flair, and with Juan Mata, the two of them would totally change Chelsea’s midield.

Twenty million might not be enough to get Willian, Shakhtar value him at closer to £30million, but considering that  Lille’s Eden Hazard could cost, Willian would be a very good cheaper alternative.

Highlights from Andre Villas-Boas’s press conference today in which he talks about Alex’s transfer situation and this weekend’s match with Norwich:

Gary Cahill discusses the first team opportunities ahead of this weekends trip to Norwich

Didier Drogba will team up with Nicolas Anelka in China next season after having all but agreed to a massive £270,000 a week three year deal with Shanghai Shenhua.

That salary would eclipse the reported offer of £200,000 a week made to Drogba by the Chinese Super League club Dalian Aerbin this month, a wage similar to that accepted by Anelka, and underlines Shenhua’s desire to make Drogba a figurehead for an emerging and wealthy league.

Shenhua finished 11th out of 16 teams in the Chinese league last season but intend to recruit heavily under the former France international and Fulham manager Jean Tigana.

Big sign of intent for the Chinese Super League (CSL) to sign Drogba and Anelka. It was always going to be difficult for Chelsea to sign Drogba since they were only offering him a one-year deal and at much lower wages.

Michael Essien talks to Chelsea TV about returning after his long-term injury.

Andre Villas-Boas insists Fernando Torres has not developed a “mental weakness” after being forced to play second-fiddle to Didier Drogba.

Earlier this week, former Chelsea boss Carlo ­Ancelotti suggested that Torres had become the latest Blues striker to be “devoured” by the sheer force of Drogba’s personality.

But AVB disagrees with Ancelotti saying:

“I don’t think Fernando is being overshadowed by Didier. It would be unfair for a player of Fernando’s ­personality and dimension to conclude that Didier is inflicting himself on ­Fernando’s self-belief. We’re speaking about two of the best players in the world. If that was the case with any player, it would be a mental weakness or a mental block. Which is not the case, in my opinion.”

Pressed further on ­Ancelotti’s assessment, Villas-Boas added:

“I respect Carlo’s opinion, although for me, it’s not the case. At the beginning of the season Fernando was ­delivering goals and feeling that confidence. When he was playing well it was our best period of the season. Goal statistics can hurt everybody. Fernando is looking better now but that is not because Didier is not here – it’s due to the team being on a three-game winning run.”

 

Looking at the weekends match, Villas-Boas is pleased to see Paul Lambert’s Norwich exceeding expectations in the top division. After their 3-1 away win against West Brom last weekend the Canaries fill be full of confidence. AVB told the clubs official website: ‘It’s a great pleasure when teams achieve something with a certain style. Victories are important for motivation, the way they play is very positive, they are fully motivated players with complete commitment to their manager and each other,’ said Villas-Boas.

‘They have had an excellent run of results, and they continue to surprise established teams in the league, which shows the value of the work Paul and his team are doing. ‘We need to find consistency in our own performances, it will be better if we beat Norwich, but I don’t care what happens in the other matches this weekend, we need to do our own job first and foremost.’

The Chelsea boss also hopes that the build up of the match will be about football and not John Terry’s bust up with Anton Ferdinand.
The Blues face QPR for the first time since our club captain reportedly made racists remarks to the QPR defender.

Villas-Boas is asking for both clubs, and the media, to come together to ensure the game passes by without trouble breaking out.
“What are you going to do to make that environment a bit better, in terms of headlines and how much time we’re going to see taken up with Anton v Terry,” said the Portuguese. “If you want to finish, avoid speculation about it, about the return to QPR, a repetition of the images. “We can play our part, but so can the media. “It’s important to kick any discrimination out of the game, but it won’t be a reminder of those incidents. “It’ll be an intense cup game between two London teams, and hopefully it will be well contested between 22 players.”

When asked if Terry would be in the starting eleven the manager reasured us Blues that he will have no problem playing the centre-half.
“I’ll have no problem picking John – not at all.
“He’ll have to compete against three others, but we’ll make the right decision.”

The Blues broke the British transfer record twelve months ago when they splashed out to land the Spanish hit-man from Premier League rivals Liverpool.

The striker has only managed to bag himself a pitiful five goals since his arrival, his last coming in October of last year. He has failed to form a successful partnership with teammate Didier Drogba and with the arrival of Andre Villas-Boas, Torres has saw himself take up a seat on the bench regularly as the manager has been favouring the Ivory Coast man to play in the lone-striker role for The Blues.

Drogba’s contract at Stamford Bridge is due to expire in the summer. He is currently at the African Cup of Nations representing Ivory Cost. His absence allows Torres a chance to shine. The Blues’ frontman started at the weekend against Sunderland and looked like the old Fernando Torres as he terrorised the Sunderland defence.

Ancolotti believes letting Drogba leave would help Torres build a platform to succeed at The Bridge.

“I don’t judge the work of a colleague,” Ancelotti told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“What I would say is training Chelsea, when the club is in the middle of a major generational change, is complicated.

“Take Torres and the crisis he has lived through there. I now know if you decide to invest strongly in him, you have to sell Drogba. “Didier is like Filippo Inzaghi was at AC Milan. He simply devours any competition.

“It’s not that he’s evil – nor was Inzaghi – it’s just the way they are.”

Should AVB sell Drogba and take the gamble that Torres will come good if given games? Ancelotti is a very experienced manager who knows what he’s talking about so his oppinion does carry some wieght.

Josh McEachran spoke to Chelsea TV on his loan deal at Swansea until the end of the season.

Chelsea TV sat down with Gary Cahill to get his viewpoint on why he joined Chelsea:

Words of support today for Chelsea’s under-fire Fernando Torres from Oriol Romeu, who says that Chelsea are close to seeing the best from Torres.

While he has struggled for goals since joining Chelsea, Torres has an impressive 11 assist this season, and that Romeu argues is why Torres is making an important contribution to the team:

“People used to say that if he doesn’t score he is not playing good, but that is not true,” said Romeu. “He is playing good and he helped us to get the goals. He played very good in the game at Wolves and he played another big game for us [against Sunderland]. Every ball he fights for and he is big player for us. If he is happy, if he is enjoying it on the pitch, then he is going to play better and he helps us much more than if he is not enjoying it on the pitch.”

Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas has consistently backed the striker to rediscover his scoring touch and he was delighted with his efforts on Saturday.

“Fernando Torres is getting his good run of games, finding inspiration, finding motivation, finding form,” said the manager. “He has all the team behind him and the fans behind him.”

 

Petr Cech has warned Chelsea fans it could be years before the club wins another trophy as replacing an aging squad takes time.

“I have lived this in the last few years with the Czech national team” Cesch is quoted as saying in the Sun. “We had two generations of players who basically retired at the same time and it takes time to recover. It took us nearly three years to rebuild the side and we are grateful we have managed to qualify for Euro 2012. Now you can see with Chelsea there have been changes in recent years, because you can’t stop a player’s age. We’ve also changed the manager and a bit of the philosophy too, so again it needs time.”

As a Chelsea fan are you willing to give AVB one or two more years to make Chelsea younger and better? Or does he need to rebuild and win at the same time?

Fascinating comments from former Chelsea boss, and new Paris Saint-Germain boss Carlo Ancelotti about Fernando Torres.

PSG is owned by the Qatar Investment Authority and have money to spend. They are in the market for a center forward and Ancelotti says that he has been offered many of Europe’s top strikers including Torres:

“I have received hundreds of phone calls from agents offering me players ever since I signed with PSG. They have offered me some incredible names. Players who have just signed spectacular contracts elsewhere,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “They all want to come here. There’s the city of Paris, there’s money and there’s a coach with a good reputation. Do you want the names? Okay, now I tell you the players the agents are offering on the market, officially or not: [Carlos] Tevez, [Fernando] Torres, [Dimitar] Berbatov, [Roman] Pavlyuchenko, [Edison] Cavani, [Fernando] Llorente.”

Now Ancelotti was the Chelsea manager when Torres was signed and he said that Chelsea’s big mistake was not signing Torres, is was not getting rid of Didier Drogba to make room for the Spaniard in the team.

“If you decide to invest on Torres, you have to sell Drogba. He’s like [Filippo] Inzaghi, he tends to devour whoever competes with him. He’s not bad, but this is his personality.”

What do you think of Ancelotti’s comments? Should Chelsea have gotten rid of Drogba either last January or in the summer to create room for Torres in the team?

Romelu Lukaku has admitted he is open to the idea of going out on loan next season as he is becoming frustrated at a lack of opportunities to play at Chelsea..

Chelsea signed Lukaku from Anderlecht during the summer for £18million, but he has rarely got off the substitutes bench this season.

He cannot go out on loan in January because of the summer transfer, which has left Lukaku considering a short-term move away from west London next season.

“You have to be willing to make sacrifices if you really want to succeed at a big club, so I have to be patient,” Lukaku told Sporza. “However, if my situation doesn’t change in the next six months, I might opt for a one-year loan spell elsewhere. That could be in England or in a country like France. I could have a good year at another club, and then return to Chelsea as a better player.”

Interestingly Lukakualso revealed his fear that making a vital mistake could damage his entire career under Andre Villas-Boas.

“It’s frustrating that I don’t get much playing time, but I also have to think about the team,” he added. “We were very lucky against Sunderland the other day for example. Imagine what it would mean if I came off the bench and lost possession, resulting in a goal. That could be the end of my Chelsea career.”

Wow. I am sure that Lukaku is not the only Chelsea player who is afraid that is he makes a mistake that he will be dropped liked Anelka or Alex were. Which begs the question, How can you be successful if you are playing with that much fear?

Andre Villas-Boas assessed Chelsea’s 1-0 victory against an in-form Sunderland and insisted his side had taken great pleasure from putting an end to Martin O’Neill’s side’s recent resurgence, while ensuring a solid start to the New Year.

“It was a very good performance,” Villas-Boas said. “It was great for us to put an end to their amazing run of form. We knew it would take an incredible effort from us and that’s how it turned out. In the first half we had good possession while they defended tightly and looked to hit us on the break, and in the second half they came out a bit more and we were more threatening on the counter attack. We tried hard to score a second goal but we couldn’t find it which left the game on an edge, but it was an important three points.”

Michael Essien was surprisingly named on the substitutes’ bench prior to kick off, ahead of schedule, and the midfielder received one of the largest cheers of the afternoon when he replaced Lampard midway through the second half, and the manager was eager to pay tribute to those who had aided his recovery.

“To see a player make the switch so quickly from reserves to first team intensity in a short time is amazing,” AVB said. “We have to congratulate the medical department, it’s very gratifying to have him back due to the type of person he is and the player he represents and its fantastic to have a player of his quality back in the team.”

Here are some thoughts from Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Sunderland at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

• With the win and Arsenal’s defeat on Sunday, Chelsea are now four points clear of the fifth placed side in the all-important race for a Champions League place. Neither Arsenal, Liverpool or Newcastle are consistent enough to really challenge Chelsea and fourth-place is theirs to lose
• Frank Lampard started and scored again, showing AVB why he needs to play on a regular basis. No other Chelsea midfield player can get into opponents penalty box as well as Lampard can.
• Yes Fernando Torres did not sure, but it was his stunning overhead kick that smashed off the bar and pinged into the net off Lampard before anybody could react that gave Chelsea the lead. Torres’s movement, alertness and desire were all on display against Sunderland were all on display. With Drogba and Kalou away, Torres knows he will get the full 90 minutes and that seems to have brought some of his confidence back
• It was great to see Michael Essien back in a Chelsea shirt. Not sure what he contribute due to the horrendous knee injuries he has suffered in recent years, but his return has to be a big boost to the team. It’s like signing a top-qualtiy midfield player.
• The scoreline shows a clean sheet but that is only because of Sunderland’s poor finishing. I have came to the conclusion that David Luiz and John Terry cannot play together. Too often forwards are being allowed to run down the channels free with Terry and Luiz both looking at each other as to ask “Is that your man?” Hopefully the addition of Gary Cahill will fix some of the gaping holes in the heart of the  Chelsea defence

What did you think about the win over Sunderland ?

After two weeks of negotiations, Chelsea have signed Gary Cahill to a five-year contract. Cahill is expected to officially sign his new £80,000 a week on Saturday and is scheduled to make his Chelsea debut at Norwich next Saturday.

Cahill will complete a medical at Chelsea’s training ground on Saturday, and should be presented to the Stamford Bridge crowd before the Premier League game with Sunderland.

The total cost of the Cahill deal (transfer fee + wages) is estimated to be worth £30m, and the big question now is what will Chelsea’s back-four look like at Norwich?

I would expect Cahill to partner John Terry in the middle of the Chelsea defence, with Ashley Cole on the left. Will Andre Villas-Boas move David Luiz to right back, or will Luiz be dropped to the bench to make way for Cahill?

What do you think the Chelsea back-four will look like at Norwich?