No time to waste for Ancelloti’s men
The Boxing Day sales have already been underway for a couple of hours, with clothing store Next doing their usual madness of 06:30 for their sale start. The Next Sale? We never even made the last one!
However, with Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti promising to not splash the cash in January, Chelsea have to get back to winning ways quickly.
A terrible run of form of late has only not been punished further due to Manchester United also suffering but Arsenal have edged back into a title race.
With Chelsea losing a number of players to the African Cup of Nations in January, they need to rediscover that winning formula. If they can do that today, they will open up a seven point lead over Manchester United before the Red Devils play their next match.
One win in six games is not the sort of form for visiting a team who have won five and drawn one in their last six, so the form guide may be more representative than the league tables.
Alex McLeish has got his team performing really well at the moment and did any Brummie dream their side would be above Liverpool on Boxing Day?
Neither side has any fresh injury worries (although there are slight knocks for Birmingham pair Johnson and Ridgwell to shake off) but with so many games at this time of year, squad rotation may play a part.
There was a concern that Didier Drogba may have been wise to pick up a booking to enable a suspension to be played out whilst he was in Africa but changes to the FA’s amnesty dates will see this as a rather pointless move.
WeKnowFA reader M was graceful enough to point this change of date out, so the tact of this section of the article has been been altered to relfect that information.
Just as well for Didier, it is far too cold to be whipping off your top in gola celeberation to pick up a silly booking anyway. That said, would you rule out a Drogba booking regardless of any tactical need for it?
Who do you fancy in the Battle of the Blues?
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There is a yellow card amnesty at the end of December so there wouldn’t be any point going for a tactical booking.
Thanks M,
okay, there has been an overhaul this season with the deadline date brought forward;
“The yellow card amnesty cut-off date will also be brought forward to December 31. Previously, players who collected five yellow cards before the final day in February were given a one-match suspension. This will now only apply if a player reaches five yellow cards before December 31. “
With Drogba being off in January, it would be rather pointless..although not ultimately harmful…unless he went on to pick up ten bookings before the next deadline.
Best keep your shirt on Didier…it is rather cold out.