we know that Terry will not be back, and we can assume Sheva is not available.

i have no idea what formation we will see, or who will start. are our ACN boys eager to get back out there, or are they just as tired as our regular players who have played so much lately? will Carlo get a start? will Drogba and Anelka play together?

---------------Cudicini--------------------

---Ferreira----Alex----Carvalho----Bridge---

-----Essien-----Lampard-----Mikel---------

---Kalou------------------------Malouda---

----------------Drogba--------------------

subs: Hilario, Anelka, J. Cole, Ballack, Ben Haim

This is a game where we can give some youngsters a chance. I mean, if we can't let them show off against Huddersfield, then when can they?

Therefore I think we should let players like Woods, Sahar and Sinclair (maybe even Di Santo?) have a go. Let players like Maka rest and put Essien, Mikel and Drogba on the bench.

Lampard needs to play so let's rest Ballack.

Cudicini

Ferreira - Ben Haim - Riccy - Cole

Lampard - Woods - Mikel

Sinclair - Pizarro - Sahar

Subs: Cech/Hilario - Drogba - Anelka/Ballack - Alex - Essien

I'd like to see Ivanovic given a chance. If we wont try him against this lot then just who th hell will we play him against!?!?! I'm sure he must be close to some sort of fitness by now, and there is no way to get match fit unless you get to playing some matches. Free bane!

I'd like to see Ivanovic given a chance. If we wont try him against this lot then just who th hell will we play him against!?!?! I'm sure he must be close to some sort of fitness by now, and there is no way to get match fit unless you get to playing some matches. Free bane!

Yeah, forgot about Ivanovic. I wanna see him play too.

Amazing. We buy a guy and less than a month later I've already forgotten about him. Does that say something about the club or about me

I remember playing an FA Cup round where we let a few of the youngsters play..names escape me right now as I am a few beers deep...but one was greek-UK, and the other was german (think he went up to scotland), and I think we played some seaside town away....was a great FA Cup game that we liked to watch. It was their final

Normally, I'd agree that this type of match would be an opportunity for some of the fringe players and youngsters. However, with the league looking unlikely at best, I think we need to focus on retaining this trophy and use the match to get our injured and recently absent players back playing together.

I would go with something along the lines of:

---------------Cudicini

Ferreira-----Alex--------Carvalho-----Bridge

---------------Mikel

-----Essien-------------Lampard

---------------Cole

--------Anelka--------Drogba

Subs from: Cech, Hilario, Belletti, Cole, JT, Ben Haim, Ballack, Makelele, Sidwell, Malouda, SWP, Kalou, Sheva, Pizarro

We can then swap things around once we get comfortably ahead.

The squad is starting to look pretty strong now. I don't think any of the younger players like Sinclair will really get anywhere near the squad again this season.

Let's not waste anytime, declare our intentions that we are going to retain the cup

Cech

Belletti

Alex

Ricky

Bridge

Mikel

Essien

Ballack

Cole

Anelka

Drogba

Subs

Carlo

TJ

Lamps

SWP

Kalou

Frank Sinclair back at the bridge

I think that we may play a strong team to show our intentions of winning the Cup. It is almost, not quite fully, but almost to the point where I feel we should maybe realize that the premiership is out of reach, and focus on winning as many of the cup games as we can

Its a great opportunity to give Drogs and Anelka in particular a chance to play together, assuming Drogs is fully recovered from significant injury sustained prior to ANC.

I do think Ivanovic could be given a run at some stage.

I'd be all up for fielding a full strength team, if it wasn't for the fact that some of the players have been playing A LOT lately and some of them could definitely do with a bit of rest. Especially when we've got a tough away match in UCL and the League Cup final coming up next week.

Isn't Anelka cup-tied?

no he isnt cup-tied

No...quite convienently Nic wasn't involved in Bolton's domestic cup campaigns.

Frank Sinclair back at the bridge

One of my all time fav's Mad Frank !! Hope he gets a warm welcome

Just shows how far we have come. He might have been a fans favourite and he always gave 100%, but could you imagine a Fraank Sinclair type player making the side now?

At times he was "frankly" hopeless!!!

How many own goals has Frank scored in his career? He was known for that at one point.

None playing for Chelsea though.

Will this game be shown on tv? I can't find it on any swedish channel and I've heard that it won't be shown anywhere.

Sad if it's true

Just shows how far we have come. He might have been a fans favourite and he always gave 100%, but could you imagine a Fraank Sinclair type player making the side now?

At times he was "frankly" hopeless!!!

Fair point then again I doubt half of the players he played with would get a look in , John Spencer, Gavin Peacock , Eddie Newton , Mark Stein .

I will never forget watching Ruud give Frank and almighty rollocking one game . I was sat at the front of the MHL and could see and hear it going on can’t recall who we were playing but we were 2, 3-0 up and coasting but every time Frank got the ball he kept passing it to Ruud . Ruud got the hump with this and in a nutshell told him “stop passing the ball to me , you train all week to be out here start playing football . You’re here because your good enough get up the f**kin pitch and enjoy yourself “ The next 20 minutes Frank was bombing forward like a man possessed and caused havoc on the flanks .

That spoke volumes to me about Ruud and why he would be a good manager for us if he was given the chance .

I was randomly watching a history of Chelsea DVD a couple of nights ago, and some of the games were right on the cusp of when I started supporting Chels. I think when you're that young you often don't really know what you are seeing and can't assess things as clearly, so I had completely forgot how good Peacock was for us! (although I agree that in today's team he probably wouldn't get a look in)

Also saw the game when Eddie 'Jack of all Trades' Newton scored a brace against Sp*ds at 3 Point Lane.

I had also completely forgot about Terry Phelan! My how much we've changed in the last 15 years or so!

newton was one of my favourite players. him and super dan petrescu (sorry, cant think of his name without the super bit) were very, very underrated in that team.

The 36-year-old defender is relishing returning to his former club on Saturday in the FA Cup fifth-round tie at Stamford Bridge and hopes to receive one final standing ovation from the home fans, which he expects will leave “a little lump in my throat”.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle3365713.ece

A good interview witn Minto:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/ ... article.do

Anyone think Di Santo will get a chance in this game?

No, me neither.

Will this game be shown on tv? I can't find it on any swedish channel and I've heard that it won't be shown anywhere.

Sad if it's true

It's live on BBC One (according to BBC website). K/O is 3pm so I expect the programme to start at 14:59.

Looks like Terry could feature, he'll probably start.

Will this game be shown on tv? I can't find it on any swedish channel and I've heard that it won't be shown anywhere.

Sad if it's true

It's live on BBC One (according to BBC website). K/O is 3pm so I expect the programme to start at 14:59.

Looks like Terry could feature, he'll probably start.

Maybe on the radio - it won't be on BBC 1 with a 3pm kick off